Meet the Russian star of ‘Anora’ Yura Borisov (PHOTOS)

News about the nomination for the prestigious award coincided with the actor's birthday, which Yura Borisov celebrated on December 8. On his ‘Vkontakte’ page, there are congratulations from fans and colleagues, including from Mark Eidelstein, with whom Borisov starred in the movie ‘Anora’.

Borisov was born in Reutov near Moscow in 1992, graduated from the ‘Shchepkin’ Moscow Theater School. In an interview, he admitted that he was embarrassed by the limitations and boundaries of classical theater. In 2010, Borisov made his movie debut – he played the illegal intelligence agent named Alexei Kozlov in his youth. "Cinema for me is a second life. The ability to see the past or the future or some version of the present,” says the actor.

Borisov’s filmography includes many war dramas, such as playing the lead role in the biopic about legendary gunmaker Mikhail Kalashnikov. In 2018, he played in the Belarus movie ‘Crystal’ directed by Darya Zhuk, which was nominated for an Oscar.

In 2021, Borisov became known to the international public thanks to the movie ‘Compartment Number Six’ by Juho Kuosmanen, which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival that year.

The story of a Finnish student’s journey to Murmansk and her fellow traveler Lekha charmed critics. The movie was nominated for the Cesar and Golden Globe awards and was also nominated for an Oscar. That same year, Borisov was applauded in Venice, where he presented the movie ‘Captain Volkonogov Escaped’ about Leningrad in 1938 from an alternate reality.

The actor and his wife Anna Shevchuk are currently raising two daughters, Marfa and Akulina. He says his family is the most important thing in his life. “The main constant in my life today are my wife and children. It would seem so obvious – and so surprising,” he says.

This year, Borisov starred in several high-profile projects simultaneously. He voiced Behemoth the cat in the latest movie adaptation of Bulgakov’s novel ‘The Master and Margarita’, as well as a space pirate in the movie ‘One Hundred Years Ahead’, based on the novel by famous Russian science fiction writer Kir Bulychev.

The role of the bouncer Igor in Sean Baker’s film ‘Anora’, about a stripper who begins a complicated relationship with the son of a Russian oligarch, meanwhile, turned out to be mega-successful for the actor.

At the premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, the audience applauded wildly for 10 minutes and the movie itself won the Palme d’Or.

Hollywood stars have also appreciated ‘Anora’: at the Toronto Film Festival, Angelina Jolie approached Borisov to say how much she liked the movie. According to Rolling Stone, Baker's movie is included in the list of the best movies of 2024.