Childhood and youth
It was her father who instilled in the girl a love of theater and cinema. He often took his daughter to the Odessa Drama Theater for performances, and also took him backstage during his performances. My mother was Jewish by nationality and an art historian by education. I worked with antiques for a long time. Oksana grew up surrounded by antiques and jewelry.
Oksana spent her happy and wonderful childhood and youth in Odessa. The girl grew up as a tomboy, with a quarrelsome, but open and sociable character. She was called a “walking disaster.” She climbed trees and raised tadpoles in an aquarium at home, which eventually grew into frogs and jumped around the house. One day, Oksana and her sister decided to prepare a gift for their mother and cut out portraits from hundred-ruble bills. Oksana often ran to the sea with the boys. She had a nickname - Auschwitz, because of her excessive thinness.
The mother never controlled Oksana and gave her freedom of choice; she always trusted her daughter. Oksana solved many of her problems herself. At the age of 12, the girl first appeared in a movie in a cameo role, after which, becoming interested in acting, she began to attend a theater studio, where she began to improve her acting skills.
When Oksana was 14 years old, her parents divorced. Together with her mother, the girl moved to Moscow. There my mother married a second time. Oksana graduated from school in Moscow, after which she decided to enter GITIS to become an actress, but she could not pass the competition. Then the girl gets a job as a foreman for children's models on the Kuznetsky Most in the House of Models and as a cleaner at Lydia Soselia's Fashion Theater. Afterwards she worked as a secretary at the Zaitsev Fashion House.
In 1988, she was invited to participate in the first beauty contest in the Soviet Union - “Moscow Beauty” , where she took second prize (the first place was not given due to the lack of Moscow registration). After participating in the competition, many prospects in life opened up for the girl. Directors began to actively invite Oksana to act in films, this was exactly what the girl had wanted for a long time.
In 1988, Anatoly Alexandrovich Vasiliev invited the young actress to study at GITIS, in his workshop, which she graduated from in 1993. Vasiliev taught his students, first of all, to concentrate on the process, and not on the result. On the advice of the master, the girl read a lot of philosophical literature, which shaped her acting consciousness.
Creative development
Despite the obvious successes in her career, Fander was not susceptible to star fever. She understood the need for further development and professional education. Therefore, I decided to enter GITIS again (the first attempt in 1983 was unsuccessful). This time, fortune was on her side, and Oksana was enrolled in the course of the taciturn and despotic Anatoly Vasiliev. In 1993, Fandera became a certified actress.
The young star's theatrical experience is mainly associated with enterprises . She played in the production of “Of Mice and Men”, participated in the play “Moonlight, Honeymoon” and was involved in “Honeymoon” - a famous theatrical production, where she played the role of Masha.
Oksana, as the owner of spectacular external data, could easily qualify for leading roles in many films. But she always considered appearance a secondary quality and was not afraid to be ugly in the frame. This can be observed in the sensational “State Councilor”, where the actress played the terrorist Igloo. A pure and unhappy heroine appeared before the viewer in a dark, shapeless dress and without a hint of makeup.
The same characteristic images include the works in “New Year’s Flight” and “Depth”. In the latest film you can see the creative tandem of Oksana Fandera and Philip Yankovsky.
In the serial film “City Spies,” the actress played Katya Rakitina, who, together with a detective team, is investigating a conspiracy of a large criminal syndicate specializing in the mining and smuggling of rough diamonds.
In total, the star has more than 30 roles in films and TV series.
Professional activity
As a theater actress, Oksana realized herself in enterprise performances. She played in such productions as “The Honeymoon”, “Of Mice and Men”, “Moonlight” and “Honeymoon”. In 2013, the actress played one of the main roles (Karina) in Kirill Serebrennikov’s production of “Idiots” based on the film by Lars von Trier.
Oksana made her film debut at the age of 12 in the Soviet film “The Adventures of Electronics.” She played the cameo role of a schoolgirl who named the pioneer Chizhikov - Ryzhikov.
The actress's adult film career began in 1988 in the detective story "Morning Highway" in the role of Natasha. From 1988 to 1990, active filming followed in the films: “Ship”, “Winter in Paradise”, “Stalingrad” and “Fools Die on Fridays”.
The filmography of the popular actress includes more than 30 film projects. She is very picky when choosing roles and participating in events. She takes on a role only if the project seems interesting to her and will interest her. He wants to act only in quality films.
The actress often plays in the projects of her husband, director Philip Yankovsky, these are the films “State Councilor”, “On the Move” and “Stone Head”. In these films, Oksana works on the same stage with such famous artists as Oleg Tabakov, Nikita Mikhalkov, Oleg Menshikov, Konstantin Khabensky and others.
Among the film projects known to viewers in which the actress participates, the following films stand out : “Trash is good, rubbish is bad” (Natasha), “About Lyuboff” (Lada), “Lights of the Brothel” (the owner of the brothel Lyuba), “Nightingale the Robber” (Isabella Papayani), “New Year's Flight” (Vera). Oksana has received high awards for several roles in different films.
Recently, the talented actress has starred in the following projects: “Salyut-7”, “Violin”, “The Eternal Life of Alexander Khristoforov”, and also played the main role in the detective story “The Elusive”.
Where was Oksana Fandera born and raised?
Odessa is a city generous with talents. One of the most attractive actresses of Russian cinema was born by the sea in the glorious city of Odessa. They also say that beautiful children are born from mixed marriages. Oksana Fandera is proof of this: her father is a gypsy, her mother is Jewish. Therefore, the family is close to creativity: mom is an art critic, dad is a prominent Odessa theater actor. Oksana is the second child in the family, she has a sister. The future star Fandera Oksana Olegovna was born on the red day of the calendar - November 7, 1967. From the cradle she grew up behind the scenes of the theater stage - her father Oleg Yakovlevich played in plays. And the mother’s profession, an art critic, played a role in ensuring that her daughter finally connected her life with something elegant..
Personal life
Actress Oksana Fandera is married. Her husband is the talented director and actor Yankovsky Philip Olegovich (10.10.1968 – date of birth). Philip is the son of People's Artist of the USSR Oleg Yankovsky. We met in the company of mutual friends. At that time, the actress was more famous than Philip. A month after they met, the young man proposed to Oksana. We got married in 1990.
They have two children: Ivan (10/30/1990 – date of birth) and Lisa (05/01/1995 – date of birth). Oksana considers herself a strict mother who praises only on the merits. I tried to set priorities correctly in their lives: I taught in a regular school, there were no expensive cars with drivers, and no expensive clothes. Their children were not interested in fashionable parties. Since they grew up in an artistic atmosphere, Ivan and Lisa decided to follow in the footsteps of their parents and take up acting and directing.
Oksana Fandera and Philip Yankovsky are considered one of the strongest couples in the world of Russian show business. They have been living together amicably for 28 years. The secret of their happy marriage is respect for personal opinion and space, the absence of leashes in relationships. Spouses often work together. Their family has a pet - a white dog named Fira (Kefir). You can read more about their personal life here.
Moscow life
In 1981, a turning point came in Ksyusha’s life. Mom was invited to get married in Moscow, she agreed. The sisters and two beloved family dogs followed their mother. After the cozy streets of my native Odessa, the capital greeted me with stiffness. But having scored a couple of bumps, the Odessa native quickly drew conclusions and began to learn to control her southern temperament in public. Before this, I had to listen to a lot because of my openness at one time and after participating in the first beauty contest of the USSR (“Moscow Beauty”, 1988), where she won second place, and when trying to enter GITIS.
Oksana Fandera in her youth. Still from the 1988 film “Morning Highway.”
The girl’s appearance predisposed her to quick success in modeling or show business, but the frivolous life did not appeal to her. The young beauty only wanted serious acting work. Having started with fashion in order to gain initial experience, by the age of 23 the future actress managed to:
- work in the modeling business as an assistant in the empire of Slava Zaitsev (1983);
- fail the entrance hearings at GITIS (1983);
- work as a model at the Fashion House on Kuznetsky Most (1984);
- star in his first significant role (“Ship”, 1988);
- go to GITIS (1988);
- win vice-miss in the 1st All-Union Beauty Show (1988);
- star in 4 more serious films (“Morning Highway”, 1988, “Winter in Paradise” - “Stalingrad”, 1989, “Fools Die on Fridays”, 1990).
At the age of 23, Oksana Fandera was already a promising young, eye-catching actress with an unusual, original soul. This is exactly how Philip Yankovsky saw her in 1990. A month later, the lovers got married, and the same year the couple had their first child. Oksana entered her newest story, which continues to this day.
Interesting Facts
- Oksana Fandera’s height is 171 cm, weight – 62 kg. Doesn't like to celebrate his birthday. He prefers to congratulate someone and give gifts.
- Has a bad habit - smoking.
- Likes to drive a car at high speed.
- In 2021 I got my tongue pierced.
- She doesn’t play sports because she considers herself lazy.
- Doesn't follow fashion. Clothes for her are a means of self-expression. When he is nervous, he cannot eat at all. Afraid of heights. Doesn't like elevators or airplanes. He always tries to develop and not stand still.
- As a child, Oksana dreamed of becoming a trainer; for some time she worked part-time in a circus, looking after tiger cubs. I wanted to enter a circus school, but my mother dissuaded me. The girl's reference book was the publication of Irina Bugrimova (the first woman to be a wild cat tamer).
- Father - Fandera Oleg Yakovlevich (1934-2002 - years of life) People's Artist of Russia. In the 2000s, the actress's mother died. Her sister died tragically.
- Oksana rarely appears at crowded social events and film premieres. He thinks it's boring. She loves her profession because she can bring any paper story to life. He loves his small homeland very much - the city of Odessa. He tries to go there every year.
- The actress believes that every person has their own talent, the main thing is to follow your own path, then everything will work out. If a person is always struggling and pushing through, perhaps it is not his business.
- She considers self-confidence to be the main secret of female beauty. It is a harmonious and positive woman who attracts men. Life's credo (Madonna's statement): never take anything seriously!
- Oksana registered on Instagram thanks to her son Ivan. Later, due to an argument with a friend, which she lost, the actress had to post one publication every day for a year. So, over time, Oksana became interested in photography and began posting her pictures on Instagram. She loves to capture exclusive moments in the world around her and take photographs from them. On Instagram, the artist has more than 168 thousand subscribers and more than three thousand publications.
Happy birthday, Oksana Fandera: 20 most interesting facts about the actress
Oksana Fandera in the film “The Eternal Life of Alexander Khristoforov”
Today the bright and mysterious Oksana Fandera celebrates her birthday: you won’t believe it, but the star of the films “State Councilor”, “Red Pearl of Love”, “About Love” and many others turned 51 years old. SPLETNIK collected the most interesting facts from the biography of the birthday girl.
1. Oksana’s bright, memorable appearance is the result of a mixture of blood: Gypsy, Ukrainian and Jewish. The actress is from Odessa.
Oksana Fandera with her parents
2. Fandera played her first role in the children's film “The Adventures of Electronics”, however, the character was minor: the future celebrity played “a schoolgirl who called Chizhikov Ryzhikov.” 12-year-old Oksana found herself in this project when she passed a casting for schoolchildren at the Odessa Film Studio. At first she was approved for one of the main roles, but then they decided to give her place to another girl.
3. Oksana’s attempt to enter GITIS failed: so as not to be seen as a lyrical heroine, the girl decided to act decisively in the exam - she came in a baggy outfit, performed a song by Willy Tokarev and showed a circus act. The selection committee did not appreciate the originality.
4. After failing the exam, Oksana got a job at the Vyacheslav Zaitsev Model House as a secretary-typist. There she began working as a model. Later she was offered to head the children's studio at the Model House.
5. In 1988, Fandera took second place in the Moscow Beauty competition. They say that the only thing that prevented her from winning was the fact that she was not a native Muscovite: supposedly the organizers considered it illogical to award an Odessa woman victory in the first Moscow beauty contest. In the end, Masha Kalinina became the winner.
6. Successful performance at the competition helped Oksana fulfill her old dream of cinema: she began to be offered roles in films, and this time she also managed to enter GITIS.
7. At the same time, Oksana says that since childhood she dreamed of becoming... a trainer:
My reference book was Irina Bugrimova’s book. She was the first female trainer, I think she was even listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the first female wild cat tamer. And, in general, it was a rather serious dream, because until I was 14 years old, until I moved to Moscow, I had already worked at the zoo, I took care of tiger cubs... Well, somehow I was moving in this direction. And then my mother got married, and I was forced to move to Moscow. In Moscow there are slightly different circuses and slightly different people, and a slightly different atmosphere. And, in general, the dream of a circus was replaced by another dream - to return back to Odessa.
8. In 1988, Fandera met her future husband, Philip Yankovsky, the son of the famous Oleg Yankovsky and his wife, actress Lyudmila Zorina. They met at a friend's birthday party.
Oleg and Philip Yankovsky
Oksana Fandera, Oleg and Philip Yankovsky and Lyudmila Zorina
9. Philip proposed to Oksana a month after they met. At that time they were already expecting their first child.
10. The famous parents of the groom, according to one version, immediately approved of his choice; according to another, they were not delighted, but did not oppose the wedding when they learned about Oksana’s pregnancy.
Oleg Yankovsky and Oksana Fandera with their daughter Lisa
Oleg Yankovsky with his grandchildren Vanya and Lisa
11. The son and daughter of Fandera and Yankovsky also connected their lives with the acting profession: 28-year-old Ivan actively acts in films and plays in the theater, 23-year-old Elizaveta studies at the Moscow Art Theater School.
Ivan Yankovsky
Elizaveta Yankovskaya
Ivan and Elizaveta Yankovsky
12. Oksana calls herself a strict mother:
She praised only to the point. When they were little, I was clearly not the kind of mother who supported the child, no matter what and no matter how he did. I admit this with regret. Now I would behave differently, but apparently the fact is that my mother raised me that way, and my grandmother raised her that way.
Oksana Fandera with her daughter Lisa
Oksana Fandera with children
13. According to Fandera, the secret of her and her husband’s strong marriage is mutual trust:
I never torment Philip with jealousy or suspicion. I don’t sort things out, I don’t dictate my terms, I don’t give ultimatums, understanding that a creative person must be free.
14. Nevertheless, rumors about separation appeared more than once: they say that the famous family almost came to the point of divorce more than once - including when Yankovsky, according to press reports, became interested in illegal substances, and also when on the set of his film “On the Move” he allegedly started an affair with Lena Perova. According to journalists, Philip’s father helped prevent the divorce every time.
15. In general, there have long been rumors in the media that the secret of the strong union of Fandera and Yankovsky is in the correct behavior of the husband’s parents. Even during periods of crisis for the marriage of Philip and Oksana, the Yankovskys carefully monitored the impeccable image of the star family: no divorces.
16. “The key to my nature is the word “Odessa,” admits Fandera. The actress often talks about her hometown in interviews, mentioning that when she arrived in Moscow, it was as if she had “arrived on another planet”:
...I looked strange with my Odessa temperament, openness and desire to communicate. In Moscow I had to button up my soul and tame my southern ardor. We had a free, courtyard-street Odessa childhood... In the good sense of the word. There was a huge group of us, we climbed through the vineyards, early in the morning we ran away to the sea secretly from our parents. Everyone is friendly and cheerful. Southern people are different from metropolitan people. Maybe because they are closer to the sea, to nature. In general, I really miss the sea in Moscow. I feel very comfortable in Odessa, I try to go there every year, and the sea there seems to me the best.
17. Oksana’s Instagram is very different from the accounts of most celebrities: instead of endless perfectly retouched selfies and photos from social events, there are shots of nature, the most natural portraits and sometimes family photos. There are no millions of followers either: only 168 thousand subscribers.
Oksana admitted in an interview that some time ago she lost a bet with a friend and was given the task of posting one photo every day for a year. In the process, the actress, in her words, “learned how to take photographs and completely fell in love with this world through the eyes of a phone.”
18. Fandera says that he doesn’t follow fashion at all:
Sometimes fashion follows me, because when I act hooliganly or dress something very casually, after some time my friends and acquaintances say: cool, it’s probably fashionable!
19. Oksana’s mother is an art critic, and from her the actress inherited a love for antiques: Fandera prefers jewelry that has “not only jewelry value, but also temporary value.”
20. Fandera admitted in an interview that she does not play sports because she is “extremely lazy”:
I’m that nervous type of woman who, when she’s worried, doesn’t eat at all, she just can’t.
Children of Oksana Fandera
Ivan and Elizaveta grew up in a creative atmosphere, and, having matured, they also decided to connect their lives with cinema and theater. Ivan Yankovsky’s first serious film work was his role in the film “Indigo”. True, according to many, the debut was unsuccessful, in addition, the film was also not a success, and such a crushing beginning almost put an end to the career of Ivan, who then refused to act in film for a very long time. Nevertheless, he graduated from the directing department of GITIS, after which he was admitted to the Studio of Theater Arts.
Pictured with her husband and children
The daughter of Oksana and Philip Elizaveta, after graduating from the Moscow Film School, entered the Moscow Art Theater School.
Oksana Fandera with her husband and children often appear together at social events, and this is further confirmation that this family, having gone through difficult moments, continues to exist and develop harmoniously.
Oksana tries to be as close to her children as possible, understanding how important the support and understanding of a loved one is for them. In contact with
First attempt at admission
At the age of 16, Oksana faced the choice of her future profession. She never doubted for a minute that she wanted to become an actress. This desire pushed her to storm GITIS, for which she, of course, was not particularly prepared. Despite this, Vladimir Andreev, who was part of the selection committee, drew attention to her. He saw in the future actress an amazing lyrical heroine.
However, here the spirit of contradiction came into play, which often ruined Oksana’s life. She felt that being fragile and romantic on stage was not her role. And of course, I decided to immediately show myself from the other side. At the next exam, she performed some kind of circus act, which led to a resounding failure.
However, this did not upset Oksana much. She was firmly convinced that her dream would not escape her. In the meantime, I had to somehow earn a living. And the girl found a job at Zaitsev’s fashion house. At first she worked as a secretary, then led a children's group, while also performing the duties of a cleaner.
