For her role in “The Peasant Young Lady,” young Lena Korikova received the Nika Award. Photo: Still from the film “The Peasant Young Lady,” 1995.
Actress Elena Korikova was considered the first beauty of Russian cinema. The sexy blonde burst into cinema with her successful roles in the film “The Young Lady-Peasant Woman”, and then in the series “Poor Nastya” and immediately became the idol of millions. The men went crazy about her, and Elena was determined to have a fruitful and long career. Many believed that with such striking external data she would be a stunning success. However, Korikova suddenly disappeared. They stopped inviting her to the cinema, she does not attend public events. What happened to your favorite actress?
Childhood and youth
Elena Korikova was born on April 12, 1972 in the family of Tatyana Korikova and Yuri Korikova. Two years later, her parents divorced.
Elena Korikova in childhood
Elena's mother was a famous ballerina and often went on tour, so Elena spent most of her childhood (until second grade) with her maternal grandmother in a village near Tobolsk. My grandmother, a school teacher, was an energetic, cheerful and creative woman: she knew how to play the guitar, balalaika and button accordion, and loved to sing.
Korikova went to third grade in Rostov-on-Don, where she moved with her mother. In high school, the girl attended classes at the historical theater-studio "Epos". If until that moment she “grew up like a flower” and did not know where she would go, thanks to the circle she firmly decided to become an actress.
Elena Korikova with her mother
After graduating from school, Elena resumed her relationship with her father, who by that time had settled in Tyumen with his family. Although conflicts often occurred between father and daughter, Yuri later bought Elena an apartment in the capital.
Elena Korikova in her youth
Immediately after graduation, the future actress went to enroll in Moscow. The 17-year-old Rostovite managed to enter Sergei Solovyov’s workshop at VGIK on the first try.
Biography
At first glance, Elena, an actress in TV series and cinema, is timid and fragile, but she spent her childhood in Siberia, and this formed in her the ability to break through and not give up. Elena was born in Tobolsk on April 12, 1972 (the fact that her birthday is Cosmonautics Day gives it a special charm; in 2022, her fans even made a funny picture, dressing the actress in a spacesuit). Her parents are ballerina Tatyana Korikova and Yuri Korikov.
Her father left the family early, Lena was raised mainly by her grandparents, and her mother was constantly busy. A ballerina is a profession that involves constant work not only on tours and rehearsals, but also on oneself. Apparently, Elena inherited her spirited character and desire for creativity from her mother.
At school, Elena Korikova went to a theater studio, it was her hobby, she did not expect more from this activity. However, the girl’s creative potential took over. And then Elena decided to change her life: she left for Moscow and entered drama school.
Actor career
Already in her first year, Elena starred in her first film “Ha-bi-assy” (1990) by Anatoly Mateshko. This was followed by filming in the works of Valery Akhadov “I promised, I’ll leave”, Sergei Solovyov’s “Three Sisters”, Alexei Sakharov’s “The Young Lady-Peasant Woman”. For the role of Lisa in “The Peasant Young Lady” in 1995, Korikova received her first awards (the Nika Award and the prize for best actress at the Kinoshock festival). Elena graduated from VGIK in 1995: at that time she was already a sought-after actress. In addition to cinema and theater, he starred in videos for such pop stars as Alla Pugacheva, Valery Leontyev, Philip Kirkorov, Leonid Agutin, Dmitry Malikov, Igor Krutoy. One of the most famous videos with Korikova’s participation is “Bad Girl” by the Vintage group. Elena Korikova and the group “Vintage” - “Bad Girl” In 1998, Elena and her family (at that time she had a husband and son) left the country and went in search of new opportunities in New York. There she tried her hand at modeling and acting. Korikova managed to establish herself well and become the face of a famous beauty salon.
from 2001 to 2004, Elena Korikova served at the Sovremennik Theater
Despite her success overseas, the actress continued to visit her homeland and participate in various projects. A few years later, the actress returned to Russia and immediately received an offer from Galina Volchek to join the troupe of the Sovremennik Theater, where she worked from 2001 to 2004.
Romance with Malakhov and Safin
After the divorce, Korikova was seen in company with Andrei Malakhov. They went out together, he went to her for filming. It was believed that they were having an affair, although to some it all seemed like PR. There was a version that the actress quickly got tired of Malakhov’s publicity and the fact that both got bogged down in parties.
Andrei Malakhov.
Photo: Anatoly ZHDANOV
In 2006, tennis player Marat Safin appeared next to Elena. At the time of the affair, he was 26 years old and she was 34 years old. Marat accompanied the actress at all social events, and was with her at the rehearsals of the show “Circus with the Stars,” in which she participated. And he even publicly presented her with a ring and invited her to marry. But the wedding did not take place. As reported, Safina’s mother, who did not have a good relationship with Korikova, was fortunate.
Fans of Korikova were Marat Safin. Photo: Roman DENISOV/Global Look Press
“Then Elena pined after Marat for a long time and could not accept that he was no longer hers,” said producer Olesya Sazykina. “It seems to me that she was never able to fully recover from that bitter love.”
After Safin, the actress was credited with various hobbies. In September 2011, Elena’s apartment was robbed. At the same time, things that belonged to the still married actor Sergei Astakhov (he soon divorced) disappeared from it.
Gossipers immediately attributed a relationship to the artists, which they did not initially confirm. Only recently Astakhov admitted that he lived with Korikova in a civil marriage for two years (from 2011 to 2013).
“Fate brought us together during a difficult period: neither I nor she had a job at all. And this is a difficult time for actors. No one is needed, it seems that everything is over, depression is falling. “We probably couldn’t survive it, that’s why we broke up,” the actor said in the program “The Fate of a Man.” — Lena had many rich gentlemen who offered her a hand and a heart, but she didn’t want to marry an oligarch. She needed real love. She was ready to give everything to the man, but I couldn’t handle it.
Elena was very upset about the collapse of their relationship. But later she summed up that the main man in her life is her son. After school, Arseny Korikov entered an economics university, where he studied computer technology. Several years ago, Arseny was detained for drunk driving, fined 30 thousand rubles and deprived of his driver’s license for 1.5 years.
Career peak
The series “Poor Nastya” made Elena Korikova one of the most recognizable Russian actresses. The role of Anna Platonova, a serf girl with a difficult fate, was ideal for Korikova. Blond hair, a pretty face, blue eyes and a modest smile were able to reflect the tenderness and immaculate image of the main character. Elena Korikova in the series “Poor Nastya” The popular actor Daniil Strakhov became the girl’s partner and lover in the series. The series was watched not only in the vast expanses of the post-Soviet space. In China, the series (there it was released under the name “Love in St. Petersburg”) was watched by more than 20 million viewers.
In the 2000s, Korikova was the most popular blonde in Russia
In 2005, the actress was given second place in the list of the sexiest women in the world (according to FHM magazine), and in 2006 Korikova became an Honored Artist of Russia. Popularity brought Elena invitations to participate in many projects (“Circus with the Stars”, “Two Stars”, “Dancing with the Stars”). Elena Korikova in the show “Dancing with the Stars” Korikova continued to actively act in films and TV series, but increasingly in supporting roles. Despite the large number of roles, the actress failed to surpass her success in “Poor Nastya” and be remembered for her other works.
Where did actress Elena Korikova go, and what does she look like today?
The beauty with blond hair has long been a thing of the past...
