Aleksandr Bashirov

Alexander Nikolaevich Bashirov (born 24 September 1955) is a Russian film, theatre and television actor who has also worked as a director and screenwriter, amassing a career that spans more than three decades. Born in the remote village of Sogom in the Khanty‑Mansiysky District of the former Soviet Union, he grew up in a mixed family with an ethnic Russian father, Nikolay Zakharovich Kosygin, and a Siberian Tatar (Kurdak Tatar) mother, Mariya Katyrovna Bashirova, which gave him a culturally rich background that later informed many of his character portrayals. After completing his early education, Bashirov ventured abroad in 1990‑1991, marrying a U.S. citizen and enrolling at the Herbert Berghof Studio in New York, where he honed his craft while still travelling back to the USSR to appear in several film productions. Upon his return, he debuted on screen in 1986 and quickly built a résumé of over sixty films, notable for his intense, often gritty performances that have earned him critical acclaim and several festival awards, including the 1998 FIPRESCI prize in Sochi and the 1999 Tiger Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. In 1996 he founded the St. Petersburg studio Deboshirfilm, where he serves as artistic director and runs an actor‑director workshop, mentoring a new generation of Russian talent. Bashirov’s personal life is marked by his marriage to singer Inna Volkova of the group Kolibri, and together they have two children: daughter Alexandra Maria and son Christopher from his first marriage. Politically, he attracted controversy in 2014 by crossing into Ukrainian‑controlled territory to support separatist forces in the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, an act that reinforced his reputation as a figure unafraid of taking bold, polarizing stances. Despite the setbacks, his artistic output remains influential in contemporary Russian cinema, and he continues to work actively in the industry to the present day.