Makar Khlebnikov, Mark Eidelstein and others: 7 rising stars of Russian cinema

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Mark Eidelstein

Mark started his acting career just a couple of years ago, but has already made a name for himself in several major projects. The actor from Nizhny Novgorod studied violin and piano since childhood, participated in literary competitions, and at the age of 18 he entered the Moscow Art Theater School, graduating from 11 classes as an external student.

Mark began his first filming in 2020, playing a small role in the TV series “The Fool Itself”, after which he was noted for his more prominent participation in the anthology of short films “Sixteen+”. In larger projects, the young actor appeared only this year. In the spring, the premiere of Natalia Konchalovskaya’s film “First Snow” took place, where Eidelstein and Yulia Shulyeva played a couple in love. And the most noticeable for Mark was the 8-episode drama “Bow” on the START platform. The main character Senya, following his dream, goes to enter the St. Petersburg Conservatory, but gets involved in the drug trade and succumbs to the temptation of easy money. The actor praised the series as a sharp statement of modernity, and to prepare for the role, he spent several months with a violin teacher, although he had previously received education at a music school. Among Mark’s upcoming projects is the military drama “The Righteous” with Konstantin Khabensky and Chulpan Khamatova, and on November 19, Kinopoisk hosted the release of the series “Monastery” about a girl who is hiding from problems with the law within the walls of the monastery. Eidelstein’s partners on the set were Nastya Ivleeva and Philip Yankovsky.

Anastasia Krasovskaya

The young actress and fashion model, originally from Minsk, was named the discovery of 2021 after her breakthrough debut in the film “Gerda”. Director Natalya Kudryasheva chose Krasovskaya among several thousand applicants, and for this role Anastasia was awarded the Golden Cheetah award as the best actress at the international film festival in Switzerland. In Russia, the film was also not ignored and was awarded a special prize by the Kinotavr jury. The central heroine of the drama is a student from the province of Lera, suffering from moon sickness. During the day, the girl studies at the institute and conducts opinion polls, and at night she dances in a local strip club to help her mother. After the success of “Gerda” and positive reviews from film critics, Anastasia actively took up the development of her acting career.

She can be seen in the role of the troubled girl Vlada in the new seasons of the youth series “Difficult Teens” on the more.tv platform, in Mark Gorobets’ series “The Pack” about a tragic and extreme hike in the mountains and in the sports drama “Bull Terrier” with kickboxing champion Vladimir Mineev . In the next year, Krasovskaya will appear in several major projects – Fyodor Bondarchuk’s multi-part dramedy “Actresses” with Svetlana Khodchenkova and the film adaptation of Mike Omer’s bestseller “Inside the Killer” from the creators of the series “Swamp”.

In addition to her acting career, Anastasia is seriously involved in the modeling business – she acted as the face of several fashion houses, walked the catwalks in Italy, China and South Korea, starred in commercials and Tima Belorussky’s video for the track “Vitaminka”.

READ ALSO: Interview with Anastasia Krasovskaya for HELLO!

Maria Matsel

The 21-year-old actress from Minsk has been studying in a theater studio since early childhood and showed interest in acting. On the advice of her creative director, Matsel attended her first screen test at age 10, but failed. This only strengthened the interest and desire of the aspiring actress to get the role. After school, the girl left for Moscow and entered VGIK, where Igor Yasulovich, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation, became her mentor.

Maria’s acting debut took place in 2011 in the serial melodrama “Blind Happiness” on the Russia-1 channel, and six months later, viewers saw Matsel in the mini-series “Mother and Stepmother”. The springboard for Maria’s acting career was the mystical drama “Dyatlov Pass” on TNT. She fit perfectly into the project about a student group of skiers and played the role of radio operator Zinaida Kolmogorova. After the success of the series, Matsel took the risk and refused the role in the new series about the war, citing the fact that she no longer wants to appear on the screen “in the same role of a Soviet person.” According to the actress, she does not see herself in long-running sitcoms and would like to play in a musical film or try on the image of a negative heroine. The number of new proposals allowed Macel to choose more suitable projects for herself. She reincarnated as a modern-day Juliet in a crime series with references to the Shakespearean tragedy “UZZZ” from the PREMIER online cinema. And later she appeared in the key female role of the series about the new generation of teenagers “Country Sasha”, where she helped the hero of Mark Eidelstein grow up, leave his parents’ house and go on a trip to Russia.

Maria Matsel continues to work in the theater – in 2022 she staged the play “Juliet” on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater named after G. A. Tovstonogov and played the main role in it, earning an enthusiastic response from viewers and critics. In addition to acting skills, the versatile artist feels confident in jazz and pop vocals, writes music and poetry, and knows how to dance in contemporary and jazz modern styles.

READ ALSO: 9 new female faces in Russian cinema that are worth remembering

Makar Khlebnikov

The son of the famous Russian film director, producer and screenwriter Boris Khlebnikov never aspired to become an actor. Makar planned to follow in his father’s footsteps – he assisted Khlebnikov Sr. on the set of the series “Comrade Major” and entered the directing department at the studio of Alexei Pogrebsky of the Moscow School of New Cinema.

Director Natalya Meshchaninova saw the samples of a young man who was just finishing grade 11 and was preparing to enter the film studies department. So, Khlebnikov was in the lead role of the drama series “My Mom’s Penguins”. According to the plot, his hero Gosha finds an outlet in a stand-up club, going through hard times in his personal life, relationships with peers and parents. To prepare for filming, Makar learned to ride a skateboard, went to stand-up concerts, watched materials from foreign comedians, and even went on the open mic stage at Stand Up Club # 1 with a performance of “15 Minutes of Shame.” According to the actor, the character turned out to be very close to him, and a complete understanding arose between him and the director, thanks to which Makar gave his best and improvised a lot. Film critics noted the talent of Khlebnikov Jr., but the actor has not yet decided whether he will further develop his career in this direction or become a director.

Nevertheless, soon Makar will appear in the film “Summer Will End” in a duet with Yura Borisov and in his father’s drama film “Three Minutes of Silence” based on the novel of the same name by Georgy Vladimov. Khlebnikov Sr. considered many other candidates before approving his son for this role, and on the set did not give him any concessions. Boris shared:

I abstract and completely forget that this is my son. Until Makar chose acting as a profession, he is just interested in doing it. Probably, I would not really want him to follow this path, but I am not going to influence his decision in any way.

Valentina Lyapina

Valentina Lyapina is often compared to the fiery red Sadie Sink from Stranger Things and is even called the “Russian Scarlett Johansson”. By the age of 20, the actress already has an impressive filmography, which includes about 60 films and series on television. From a young age, the girl starred in advertising, participates in fashion shows and poses for the covers of Russian glossy magazines.

Lyapina began her acting career with filming in the comic magazine “Yeralash” and participation in the 4th season of the popular television series on STS “Closed School” at the age of 9. This was followed by a long string of projects where the actress played minor roles or episodic characters – daughters, girlfriends, main characters in her youth. She can be seen in “Voronins”, “Shuttle Women”, “Midwife” and many other TV series. But with each new project, the actress expanded the boundaries of her role and in 2020 she performed the most important and striking role in her career. In the youth series about the 90s “Peace! Friendship! Gum!” Valentina tried on the image of Zhenya, with whom the local hooligan Sanka falls in love, and because of which he gets into serious trouble. According to Lyapina, shooting in the series was not easy for her because of the fear of the dog, with which she had to shoot many scenes. Among the full-length projects with the participation of a promising actress, one can distinguish “Nefootball”, the preparation for which took several months of grueling training, because she had to play a professional athlete. And the next notable films were “Eterna” and “Young Man”, produced by Ilya Naishuller. The actress especially fell in love with this project due to the night shooting in the children’s camp and the experience of communicating with Danila Kozlovsky.

Igor Ivanov

The budding actor was born in 2003 in St. Petersburg and at the age of two he began to show his creative qualities in the Harlequin Theater Studio at the Aquarium Theater. After graduating from school, Igor entered the Faculty of Screen Arts of the State Institute of Film and Television.

His acting career began in 2014, when Igor took part in two short projects “I’m going to meet my brother” and “Mom” and appeared on television in the TV series “Gregory R.” with Vladimir Mashkov. Igor admits that in fact he was not going to become an actor from the very beginning and loves to write stories more, but shooting in short films and on TV is the easiest way to get on the set and get to know the directors. The next short project was “Let’s call the monster”, where Ivanov played his first prominent role. The actor’s participation in the detective melodrama “The Dark Side of the World” also became noticeable. This year, Igor took part in the adventure drama “Off-season” by Alexander Hunt. The actor liked Hunt’s previous film “How Vitka Chesnok took Lekha Shtyr to the nursing home” so much that he came to the casting with a cast and damaged ligaments and still got the role. Critics positively evaluated the picture, calling it the story of Romeo and Juliet, flowing into the version of Bonnie and Clyde. The young actor spends his free time writing stories and is actively involved in skateboarding.

Polina Gukhman

The youngest actress on our list was born in 2006 in St. Petersburg. The acting abilities of the girl were discerned by the choreography teacher at the Boris Eifman Dance Academy, where Gukhman had been studying since the age of 7, and invited her to play a small role in the series.

So, in 2015, she made her screen debut in the detective series “Chasing the Past” on the Russia-1 channel, and her parents began to take her daughter to auditions more often. A year later, Polina received her first major role as Tony’s girl in Alena Davydova’s debut film “Ivan”, where Gukhman played in a duet with the star of the films “Fool” and “Major” Kirill Polukhin. The film was nominated for the Kinotavr award, brought fame and new offers to the young actress. Polina played in the mini-series “Superfluous” and again got to “Kinotavr” with a leading role in the film “Masha”, which was later bought by the American television company HBO. With the love of the audience and the recognition of critics, a series of more massive and popular projects came. Polina can be seen in the company of Valentina Lyapina in the series “Peace! Friendship! Gum!”, in the mystical thriller “Insomnia” with Gosha Kutsenko and Irina Starshenbaum and “Pushkin’s Tales. For Adults” from Mikhail Zygar. And the upcoming projects include the film “Feat” with Fyodor Bondarchuk, “Sisters” with Nikita Efremov and the youth series “The First Time” about love and growing up.