The popular Ukrainian actor played about a hundred roles in theater and cinema. People's Artist of the USSR Yuri Mazhuga gained all-Union fame thanks to the role of the district policeman Sanko in the famous series "Born of the Revolution." The professional career of the actor lasted more than 63 years.
early years
Yuri Nikolaevich Mazhug was born on April 13, 1931 in Kiev. His father worked as a land reclamation engineer in the People's Commissariat of Agriculture, his mother taught Russian language and literature in the lower grades of the school. With the outbreak of war, the family was evacuated near Barnaul to the Altai Territory. After the liberation of Kiev, his father was appointed director of the Bucharovsk MTS, then chairman of the district executive committee. Soon the family returned.
In his school years, Yuri actively participated in amateur performances, was engaged in a theatrical circle, wrote short stories and poems. His strongest childhood memory was the public execution of the Germans, when together with their friends they were able to carefully examine the hanged criminals the next days after the execution of the sentence. After finishing eight classes, Yuri Mazhuga went to work, transferring to evening school.
Profession training
Having received secondary education, in 1949 he applied to the theater institute and to the philological faculty of Kiev University. As actor Yuri Mazhuga later admitted, he wanted to become a philologist.
But the theater exams began earlier, for the creative competition, he chose Pushkin's poems. They put him perfectly and took on the course of Vladimir Nelly, and Yuri decided not to tempt fate. His student years were very happy, he was actively engaged in creativity, trying to reveal talent. After graduating from the institute in 1953, a young specialist was assigned to the theater of Izmail, a small town on the border with Moldova. But he was lucky, the graduation performances "The mistress of the hotel" and "Ordinary man" were watched by Konstantin Khokhlov, art director of the Kiev Lesya Ukrainka Theater, who noticed Mazhuga and invited him to work.
Theatrical career
In the Russian Drama Theater, Yuri Mazhuga worked for more than sixty years, but still remembers his first appearance on the famous stage. Together with other novice artists, he played beggars near the church in the play "Gadfly". They almost all of their role just lay on the floor. The actor considers the first real role to be a miner in the play by A. D. Salynsky "Dangerous Satellite". Among other works of the young actor are the performances "In Search of Joy" and "Years of Wanderings", in which he played together with Kirill Lavrov.
During his work in the theater, Yuri Nikolaevich played more than a hundred roles, almost the entire repertoire, having been in a variety of ways: from Romeo to Lenin. Basically, he got social heroes, but there were many characteristic, and even heroic characters.
Since 1975, he taught at his native institute, supervised the course, and only in 2016 moved to the position of professor consultant. For the role of contemporaries in the performances of "Theme with Variations", "Department" and "The Limit of Calm", the actor was awarded the 1983 Shevchenko Prize. Recently, Yuri Nikolaevich calculated that together with actress Valeria Zaklunnaya he played 150 times in the play "Trees Die Standing", and each time there was a full house in the theater.
Movie work
His first work in cinema was the role of a student in the film "Bonfire of Immortality" in 1955. In subsequent years, the actor starred a lot, in Soviet times, films with Yuri Mazhuga were constantly released. Basically, he got positive characteristic roles. Fame came to him after the paintings "Born by the Revolution" and "Mirgorod and its inhabitants." His favorite role is policeman Sanko, whom he calls "my little Chapaev." In total, the filmography of the actor 65 works.
The last film of Yuri Mazhugi was the Ukrainian melodrama "Hello to you!" 2007, where he played the superintendent of a boat station. Various scenarios are still being sent to him, but the actor constantly refuses. Yuri Nikolaevich says that he always did not like cinema, even when he acted a lot, he was annoyed by the expectations of filming and constant moving. Although at one time he traveled all over the Soviet Union, starring in various films.
Personal life
The first time Yuri Mazhuga was married to actress Taisiya Litvinenko, with whom he lived for eight years. In this marriage, he had a daughter. For many years, the actor has been married to Marina Mazhuge, before retiring as a piano teacher at the Kiev Conservatory. As he himself admits, without the approval of the spouse does not make responsible decisions. Even when a play or script is brought in, Marina reads it first. And only if she gives the go-ahead, then the actor agrees to a new role.
The son of this marriage, Aleksey, works as an operator in the program for Savik Shuster. Once he also thought about the profession of an actor, but Yuri Nikolaevich categorically opposed this. Because he considers his profession difficult, in which luck is very important. The actor’s grandson is also not related to art: he is engaged in computers.