At the end of the eighties, a photo of Natalia Negoda appeared on the cover of Playboy. She became the first domestic actress to star in an American erotic magazine. This almost scandalous event was preceded by the release of the film, which caused a real shock about the Soviet audience. "Little Faith" is the name of the film, which glorified Natalia Negoda and put an end to her acting career.
Childhood and youth
The future actress was born in 1963. Hometown of Natalia Negatives - Moscow. She can be said to have been born in an artistic family. Mother worked as a director on television. Father was an actor. True, even the most devoted fan of Russian cinema today will not be able to name a single film with the participation of Igor Negoda.
Natalia in her childhood dreamed of becoming a ballerina. Her mother once took her to a choreographic school, but the teachers did not see any abilities in the girl. I had to say goodbye to the dream of the scene, which was the first sad event in the biography of Natalia Negoda.
At school, the future actress studied poorly. She was not at all given the exact sciences, and even for the humanitarian sciences she did not show much zeal. Nevertheless, after receiving a certificate, Natalya managed to enter the Moscow Art Theater School.
Mikhail Efremov
The actress became famous in the late eighties. Back then, there were rumors about Natalya Negody’s personal life. It was known that, as a student, she met with Mikhail Efremov, the offspring of a famous family, the son of a famous director who taught acting at the Moscow Art Theater School.
Their romance lasted several years. During the filming of "Little Faith," they broke up. In 1989, they reunited in order to finally break off relations after two years.
TUZ
The decisive event in the life of students of the Moscow Art Theater School is a demonstration of a diploma performance. It was then that the directors of the capital's theaters looked at students and invited the most talented to their troupes.
Natalia Negoda graduated from the Moscow Art Theater School in 1986. But at the graduation performance, not one of the directors paid any attention to her. She settled in the Youth Theater, and two years later she realized that participation in the productions did not affect her professional growth. And left the theater. But before, she played a secondary heroine in the film based on the book of Boris Vasiliev.
"There was a war tomorrow"
This film was released in 1987. Natalia Negoda played Zina Kovalenko, one of the main character’s girlfriends. This film work did not bring fame to the aspiring actress, but played a decisive role in her career.
When Vasily Pichul was looking for an actress in his film Little Faith, he drew attention to the heroine of the Scoundrel in the film Tomorrow Was War. The director did not particularly like the game of Natalia, but he decided that it was she who had the appropriate character. As you know, Pichul was not mistaken.
"Little Faith"
Vasily Pichul, a native of Mariupol, graduated from VGIK that year when Natalya Negoda entered the Moscow Art Theater School. The age difference was small. It is worth saying that the film "Little Faith" began the career of both Vasily Pichul, and Natalya Negoda, and Andrei Sokolov, who played the main male role in the sensational picture. But the film could not be.
Vasily Pichul was married to the daughter of Alexander Khmelik - a man who at that time played a significant role in Russian cinema. Maria, the director’s wife, graduated from the scriptwriting department in the mid-eighties. Around that time, she first visited her husband’s small homeland - in Mariupol.
The small seaside town seemed to the indigenous Muscovite dull, and its inhabitants - unhappy. Returning to the capital, she wrote a script that she called Little Faith. This work would have been gathering dust on a shelf to this day, if not for the influential father of Maria Khmelik. It was in his power to allow or prohibit making a film according to one or another scenario. Alexander Khmelik was not afraid of accusations of using his position. He missed the script, and a few months later the filming began, directed by his brother-in-law Vasily Pichul.
The actress for the lead role for a long time could not be found. Pichul wanted her to be Irina Apeksimova. But she refused. Yana Poplavskaya agreed to play the provincial Vera. But against this candidacy was the image of Little Red Riding Hood, which had long and firmly entrenched with the actress.
Natalia Negoda directed the director, but seemed to him not professional enough. Tatyana Lioznova, who was the artistic director of the picture , spoke in her favor.
"Little Vera" produced the effect of an exploding bomb. For the first time, a frank scene was shown on Soviet screens , which today, perhaps, will not surprise anyone. But the main advantage of the Pichul film was another. The director was the first to show the gray, unspiritual life of ordinary Soviet citizens.
Far beyond the borders of the USSR, Vasily Pichul, and Andrei Sokolov, and Natalya Negoda became famous. The biography, the personal life of the performer of the leading role interested foreign journalists. The actress was invited to Hollywood. But before leaving her homeland, she played in another domestic film.
"Sochi has dark nights"
The premiere of this film took place in 1989. Director - Vasily Pichul. The main role was played by Natalia Negoda. The film was played by Alexander Tabakova, who starred in Little Faith.
Pichul devoted this film to a hot topic. The heroes of the film belong to different social strata, but equally suffer from the consequences of perestroika. The picture went unnoticed. Pichul failed to repeat the success of Little Faith either in 1989 or later.
In exile
After the release of "Little Faith," Natalia Roger did not offer roles. Firstly, a crisis was brewing in the country, and cinema, like other forms of art, fell into decay. Secondly, the presence of Scoundrels in the frame could destroy any artistic design. Spectators, having seen the actress on the screen, would immediately have recalled little Vera.
Pichula's film saved Natalya Negoda from poverty. As you know, many Russian actors in the nineties were in poverty. Natalia Negoda was invited to Hollywood. In the United States, she starred in four films. Her career did not take place, but, unlike many of her colleagues, she did not suffer from total lack of money.
Return to Russia
In 2009, the actress again appeared on domestic screens, playing in the film "Tambourine, Drum." For the role of librarian, Natalia Negoda was awarded the awards "White Elephant", "Golden Eagle". In 2018, the film “Van Gogh” was released, where Natalya Negoda played a cameo role.
Personal life
In the early nineties, the actress married a certain economist whose name is known only to her relatives. Then she left for the USA, and a little later her husband followed. Later in the press there was information that Natalia Negoda married a Native American in order to obtain citizenship, which is not true.
Five years later, the marriage broke up. Negotia spent 15 years abroad. She never married, she has no children.
Now the actress lives in Moscow. Interviews are extremely rare.
Until 2009, the actress was associated exclusively with the main character of the film Little Faith. It is not surprising, because in her filmography there were only two domestic paintings. Thanks to the film “Tambourine, Drum”, the Scoundrel managed to prove that she was not a Soviet sex symbol, long gone in history, but a talented actress.
By the way, as for Andrei Sokolov, who played a major role in Little Faith. His career has developed, unlike the Scoundrels, more than successfully. The actor has more than a dozen roles in the movie. True, even he thirty years after the premiere of "Little Faith", he remains for many viewers the hero of the scandalous film of the eighties.