Igor Sternberg is not only a very good actor, but also a talented director, whose films do not leave the audience indifferent. The heroes of his paintings always find empathy with the audience, the ups and downs of their destinies cause either laughter or loud sobs. Despite the fact that Sternberg became famous thanks to his film works, he loves theater more.
Childhood
Igor Sternberg was born in August 1961. His parents were singer Klara Korkan and Victor Sternberg, one of Taganka’s leading actors.
We can say that he was born in the theater, and until two and a half years he lived in the dressing room of the theater. When the boy grew up a little, he walked completely freely in the theater. Igorek felt so at home there that he sometimes calmly went on stage during the performance and approached his father with a question whether they would go home soon.
He could very well have been a native Muscovite, if not for his father, who was very honest and principled. He always put art above all. In order to be able to enter the theatrical stage, he was ready to lose even Moscow registration. Therefore, when he was offered to go to Bryansk for distribution, he agreed without hesitation.
student life
Igor Sternberg still graduated from the Shchukin school. He acted easily. But from the second year he was kicked out. The guy had to get a job as an installer in Taganka. He even released a couple of plays. For a former student, these months of work were a wonderful time. But he later admitted in an interview that it was then that he felt like an adult and that was when he learned to drink a lot.
He worked for a year, and then Yu. V. Katin-Yartsev took him to his course. Then there studied as many as forty-two people instead of the thirty.
He still remembers his first performance, in which he took part not as an assembler, but as an actor. It was a production about Mayakovsky. Five actors were introduced into the play, embodying Vladimir Vladimirovich on stage - Smekhov, Khmelnitsky, Zolotukhin, Shapovalov and Sternberg, who was a student just yesterday.
For nine years - from the 83rd to the 92nd - he went on the stage of the Taganka Theater. Then he moved to the Noah's Ark Theater in Jerusalem, was the author and director of documentary historical television films.
Life in front of the camera and behind it
His first film was “Two Voice Melody”, where he played Vovchik. Then there was Bob from “The Otherwise”, a panich from “Sorochinskaya Fair”, Katya’s husband in “Sedov’s Defender”, Kochkin in “Adelaide”, a lawyer in “My Fair Nanny”, a priest in “Talisman of Love”, Kaminsky in “Enchantment of Evil ", Father Igor in the" House by the big river. "
In the sensational several years ago, the series "Wolf Messing: Seen Through Time" was played by the hero of this article. True, it was a very small role, but Sternberg did an excellent job with it. There was a lot of talk about Wolf Messing, who was one of the most mysterious personalities of the twentieth century. This series, as it were, opened the veil of secrecy of this amazing person, whose abilities were recognized even by Einstein and Freud.
Each actor who played in the film “Wolf Messing: Seen Through Time,” tried to make it very interesting, clearly enough showing the life path of a person who could easily read people's minds and manage them. After all, he even saved Vasily, the son of Stalin, by predicting the crash of the plane on which he was going to fly.
From Theater Actor to Film Director - One Step
His mother-in-law was in the Nizhny Novgorod region one of the best ophthalmologists. And once she put in a word for her son-in-law in front of the director of local television, who was her patient. The director suggested Sternberg to make television performances. For two years, his work simply engulfed him. He could do whatever he wanted. There wasn’t a lot of money at that time, but Igor Sternberg, an actor and a novice director, tried to make a good movie with a penny. He was lucky with the actors: each of them was spoiled and longed to work almost for free.
After some time, Sternberg was offered to make a movie at one of the new film companies in which his friend worked. Thus began work on the melodrama "Women's Friendship." It contains Igor Sternberg, films who occupy a certain niche in Russian cinema, starred his friends - Julia Rutberg and Igor Vernik. And then everything went like clockwork.
Now the actor and director recalls yet another addiction in his life - alcohol. He drank not just a lot, but a lot. Thanks to alcohol, he made many friends, he came up with many interesting ideas. But one day he realized that it was impossible to live like that. Sternberg tried a lot of different ways - he was sewn up, encoded, tried to recover by willpower, drank special pills. He could hold out for about a month. But then again he broke down. One simple and effective tool helped: one day Igor decided that now it’s really enough. Now his wife helps him in this. And she never forbids him to drink. Igor simply knows: if he drinks again, his Lena will be upset. And he would not want that.
A bit about personal ...
The first time he went down the aisle with Alexandra Nikolaeva. In this seemingly successful marriage, the son of Fedor was born. At first everything was very good. But over time, something went wrong as planned by the couple. They got divorced.
His second wife was actress Elena Ruchkina, which viewers know from the films “House by the Big River”, “Apple Orchard”. In this marriage, Igor Sternberg became dad twice - another son, Ivan, and daughter Mary. Now it is a rather strong and happy family, where everyone values each other.