Theater named after Evg. Vakhtangov

Biography of Yulia Rutberg

Yulia Rutberg is a People's Artist of Russia, a unique actress whose roles cannot be confused with others thanks to the inimitable timbre of her voice and manner of performance. For creating the image of Medea in the play of the same name, she was awarded the Crystal Turandot theater prize.

In the photo: Yulia Rutberg

In cinema, the roles of Anna Akhmatova in the biographical television series “Anna German”, Coco Chanel in the melodrama “Autumn Flowers”, Faina Ranevskaya in the film “Orlova and Alexandrov” became especially bright and poignant. As a producer, she created the musical cabaret “All This Vanity,” where she independently presents numbers of different musical genres and trends.

Solo performance by Yulia Rutberg “All this fuss”

What was unexpected for many was the participation of the actress, who had worked in the repertory theater for a long time, in a one-woman show when she appeared on stage solo. According to Yulia, she felt a desire to go on stage alone and perform a performance.

In 2004, Rutberg created her own project. The name of the play is “All this fuss” or “All that Jazz”. This is a cabaret style production. While on stage, the actress communicates with Michael Jackson, Liza Minnelli, and Edith Piaf.

Childhood, youth, family

Yulia was born in the summer of 1965 into the creative Moscow family of Irina Suvorova and Ilya Rutberg. Mom, Irina Nikolaevna, is a music teacher, at one time she graduated from the famous Gnesinka. Father, Ilya Grigorievich, is a popular actor and teacher who founded the world’s first department of pantomime and plastic culture. He has written several monographs and textbooks that detail the art of pantomime.

Yulia Rutberg in childhood

The actress recalled that almost from early childhood she began to attend the student theater “Our House”, co-founded by her father. Soon they began to call her “Andronnikov in a skirt”, since the girl knew how to talk about anything with great inspiration, copying Irakli Luarsabovich, a master of artistic expression and an admirer of the talent of Mikhail Lermontov.

Yulia Rutberg with her parents and ex-husband

Julia learned to read early, wrote interesting essays at school, but was cool about the exact sciences. Mom recommended that her daughter take up music, and the girl graduated from music school at the Gnessin Sisters Academy. Later, the actress recalled with pride and gratitude that she was raised precisely in the value system of her parents and their environment: After graduating from school, Rutberg took her documents to the Boris Shchukin Theater School, which she had dreamed of since the fifth grade. The girl failed to get in the first time, so she immediately made a second attempt and became a student at GITIS. But the strong desire to study at Shchuk did not go away.

Julia Rutberg in her youth

Another two years passed before Yulia achieved her goal: she was enrolled in Alla Kazanskaya’s course. The girl studied with enthusiasm, and after graduating from college in 1988, she was immediately accepted into the theater named after Evgeniy Vakhtangov, which was directed at that moment by Mikhail Ulyanov.

Theater

During the first eight years of her service in the theater, Julia played mainly leading roles. Her track record includes Zoya Denisovna in “Zoyka’s Apartment” based on the play by Mikhail Bulgakov, Dvoyra in “Sunset”, Goneril in the play “Lear”.

Photo from the play “Zoykina’s Apartment”

The actress also played Adelma in “Princess Turandot”, Madame Durandas in the play “Two Hours in Paris with One Intermission”, Hetty in “The Lady Without Camellias”, Sarah Bernhardt in “The Cry of the Lobster”, where Andrei Ilyin became her partner on stage.

Yulia Rutberg in the production of “The Cry of the Lobster”

More than once, in her reviews of working in the theater, Yulia admired the actors, but especially its artistic director Mikhail Ulyanov: The actress’s creative range expanded, and other theaters began to invite Yulia to cooperate. So, in tandem with Maxim Sukhanov, she appeared in the production of “Khlestakov” on the stage of the Konstantin Stanislavsky Theater. For the role of Anna Andreevna in 1997, Rutberg was awarded the Seagull Award.

Yulia Rutberg in the cabaret play “All This Vanity”

She also appeared in the role of Alice in the play “Playing Strindberg Blues” in the Russian enterprise of Mikhail Kozakov. In 2001, Yulia was awarded the title of Honored Artist of Russia. Julia Rutburn at the Variety Theater Theatergoers were shocked by Rutberg's performance in the existential tragedy "Medea", where she again played the main character. The filigreely honed role performed by Yulia, despite the long-known plot, appeared in a completely new way before the audience, who left the performance in tears. The actress’s partner in this production was Grigory Antipenko, with whom she starred in the TV series “Don’t Be Born Beautiful.”

“Medea”: Yulia Rutberg and Grigory Antipenko

Filmography

Film roles

Julia's first appearance in a movie took place in 1984.
The first-year student of “Pike” played the episodic role of the shooting gallery owner’s daughter in the dramatic film story “The Detachment” diligently. But during the final editing, only frames were left in which the actress stood with her back to the camera. Later, she joked more than once that she entered the movie with her back turned. Rutberg appeared in several more episodes immediately after graduating from college. These were the paintings “Primorsky Boulevard” and “Two Arrows. Stone Age detective." In 1989, she got a small role as Fernanda in the television play “The Maid of Rouen, Nicknamed Puffy.” It was directed by Evgeny Ginzburg, and Yulia’s spiritual kinship with the director turned out to be so high that in the future he invited her to almost every film of his.

Julia Rutberg in the film “The Maid of Rouen Nicknamed Puffy”

Julia’s serious artistic claim was the role of Dvoira in Alexander Zeldovich’s dramatic fantasy “Sunset” based on the works of Isaac Babel. On the set she worked with such masters of cinema as Olga Volkova, Igor Zolotovitsky, Alexander Ilyin.

On the set of the film "Sunset"

Next, the actress appeared in the role of Tsilya in Yevgeny Yevtushenko’s project “Stalin’s Funeral” and Ada in Vladimir Motyl’s drama “Let’s Part While We’re Good.” And then Julia was faced with the harsh reality of the 90s: she was offered purely the roles of “courtesans, doctors and journalists,” so for several years she completely focused on her theatrical career.

Still from the film “Let’s part while we’re good”

1999 brought Yulia roles in the television series “Kamenskaya” (Margarita Duginets) and “Male Character, or Tango over the Abyss” (Vera). In the historical drama “Empire Under Attack,” Rutberg played Lyubov Azef, and in the documentary project “More than Love” she appeared as Nadezhda Mandelstam.

Julia Rutberg in the early 2000s

In 2004, Marina Migunova invited Yulia to her comedy project “Farewell, Doctor Freud!” There she played the main role of Irina Palenina (with the memorable phrase “Little children are little troubles. And big children - damn them!”).

On the set of the film "Goodbye, Dr. Freud!"

The actress created a bright eccentric image in the television series “Don’t Be Born Beautiful,” playing the main character’s sister, Kristina Voropaeva. Another role remembered by the audience was her ballerina Arina Raevskaya in the film “Doctor Tyrsa”.

Yulia Rutberg in the series “Don’t Be Born Beautiful”

Rutberg often played prominent women: Anna Akhmatova in the series “Anna German. The Mystery of the White Angel”, Faina Ranevskaya in the film “Orlova and Alexandrov”. According to Yulia, she transferred her own attitude towards Faina Georgievna to the screen, expressing the full extent of her gratitude for her talent and creativity. For her performance in this role, Rutberg was awarded the Andrei Mironov Prize in 2021.

Yulia Rutberg as Faina Ranevskaya

Completely different, but no less significant in the actress’s track record, was the role of school principal Nadezhda Smirnova in the children’s film by Alexander Karpilovsky “Private Pioneer”. This film collected an incredible number of film awards in the country and abroad, and Yulia received a prize at the “With All My Heart” festival in Ulyanovsk.

Still from the film “Private Pioneer”

Unfortunately, directors rarely find leading roles for Rutberg, but she can also play secondary roles in such a way that the audience can laugh tirelessly and cry without hesitation when her heroines appear on the screen. This is her Sofya Mikhailovna from the drama “Moths”, Irina Volina from the series “The Alchemist. Elixir of Faust”, Nina Mochalova in “Silent Hunt”, Alla Kukushkina in “A Remedy for Death”.

Fans believe that Yulia Rutberg had plastic surgery on her face

In recent years, Julia has begun acting less, but she often holds poetry evenings and solo performances. So, in 2021, Rutberg again came out to the audience with her program “13 Questions for Akhmatova.”

Films with Yulia Rutberg

Rutberg did not immediately have worthwhile film roles. In 1989, Evgeniy Ginzburg played one of the roles in the musical “The Maid of Rouen Nicknamed Pyshka” along with Leonid Yarmolnik, Valentina Talyzina, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan and Konstantin Raikin. A year later, the artist played a role in Yevgeny Yevtushenko’s drama “Stalin’s Funeral.”

Yulia Rutberg is now known as a serial actress

Soon, viewers saw Yulia in the role of a killer in a drama called “Male Character, or Tango over the Abyss,” and then she appeared in the thriller “Check,” where Nikolai Fomenko and Nikolai Rastorguev also played.

Personal life of Yulia Rutberg

During her student years, Yulia met Alexander Kuznetsov, a student at the Shchukin School. He was already the famous “Jack Vosmerkin - American” from the film of the same name when feelings flared up between him and Rutberg. In 1987, the couple officially registered their relationship, and in the same year their son Gregory was born.

Yulia Rutberg and Alexander Kuznetsov

The actress dreamed of a family as strong as her parents, but when in the early nineties her husband invited her to emigrate to the States, Julia flatly refused, and the marriage broke up. Kuznetsov left alone, but always took care of his son, who with age began to remind him of the Hollywood actor Jim Carrey. Returning to Moscow in the 2000s, Kuznetsov became a producer and director, and sometimes acted in films. In 2021 he passed away, he died of cancer.

Yulia Rutberg with her son Gregory

The actress’s second husband (civilian) was the popular musician and actor Alexei Kortnev. One day, Yulia attended a skit party held in the House of Actors, where she became better acquainted with the charming Alexey, who participated in the performance with his group “Accident”. For eight years they lived together, often appearing on the pages of glossy publications, until Alexei began an affair with gymnast Amina Zaripova, whom he later married.

Yulia Rutberg and Alexey Kortnev

Soon, Yulia began to be seen in the company of actor Anatoly Lobotsky, who played the main role in Vladimir Menshov’s film “Envy of the Gods.” They did not live together for long and separated, remaining on friendly terms. However, it’s in Rutberg’s character not to lose touch after a breakup.

With Anatoly Lobotsky

Yulia’s only son studied at the same school as her for three years, but later decided to get an education at the Moscow School of Management Skolkovo, from where he went to practice in the USA. Now Grigory lives with his family in Moscow; Rutberg has a grandson, Grisha, and a granddaughter, Nikolenka.

All the husbands of Yulia Rutber

Yulia Rutberg is a Soviet and Russian actress not only of theater, but also of cinema. Over the many years of her career, she managed to deservedly receive the title of “People’s Artist of the Russian Federation.” He is also a laureate of the Russian theater awards “The Seagull” and “Crystal Turandot”. Yulia Rutberg is an incredibly talented actress who, without much difficulty, was able to earn the love and recognition of millions of viewers. But her personal life is not going as well as she would like.

Julia impressively knows how to combine not only brilliant talent, but also original appearance features. For this reason, she easily attracts the positive attention of millions of fans. She has quite a few haters. And representatives of the opposite sex pay even more attention to Julia.

Yulia Rutberg is quite lucky, because she was born into a creative family. Almost from early childhood, she was completely absorbed in becoming an actress. In many ways, she followed the example of her family. Immediately after school, the artist applied to a theater school, but she was not accepted the first time. After that I had to try my strength again, this time the attempt was successful.

As soon as she graduated from higher education and became a real professional actress, Yulia immediately went to work in the theater. In a short time, she managed to become an iconic figure in the art world. Success came to her thanks to the combination of talent and unusual appearance. Many consider her a special actress who has her own zest.

She primarily developed a theatrical career, which developed quickly. True, very quickly she felt cramped within the walls of one theater. She was repeatedly called to play leading roles on the stages of other institutions. And after some period of time, she even created her own theater, which was received very positively by her fans and others. All this time she paid little attention to her personal life.

All my energy went into my career. One day, Julia accepted an offer to act in a movie. Her main popularity was brought to her by one of her roles in the cult TV series “Kamenskaya”. A little later, filming followed in the television series “Don’t Be Born Beautiful.” And this is only a small part of the remarkable roles in big cinema.

It should be noted that most people believe that the actress has a very unusual appearance. True, her many suitors, admirers and husbands thought differently. Soon the woman began to think about her personal life. The first common-law husband of Yulia Rutberg was the then famous Alexei Kortnev. They met long before this. They first met back in their student years.

Yulia and Alexey fell in love with each other for real. Some thought it was strong love almost at first sight. True, for a long time they simply cohabited, because Alexey Kortnev never decided to propose to his beloved. Some believe that he simply could not make up his mind for a long time - whether he even wanted to connect his own life with a strong and independent woman. It’s not easy to come to terms with the fact that your significant other is much more famous and talented than you.

However, at some point Kortnev made his decision, but the choice turned out to be not particularly positive for Yulia. Alexey left the actress and found himself a new passion - a gymnast, to whom he proposed.

One day, the actress made an official marriage proposal. Yulia Rutberg’s husband was her colleague Alexander Kuznetsov. The artist also met him much earlier, he even courted her. But the woman didn’t let him get too close to her. Rutberg drew attention to him at the moment when he supported her after a painful breakup. At that moment, bright feelings flared up, which later flowed into the wedding. The couple also had a child.

The truth didn’t work out this time either. The relationship, happy at first glance, did not last very long. Alexander was unable to cope with his wife’s fiery temperament. Therefore, I decided not to fight for love, but to find a more flexible girl. Subsequently, he divorced his wife and left for the United States.

At this point, the woman was not disappointed in the relationship. For the third time, she decided to try her luck again and gave her heart to the famous actor Anatoly Lobotsky. It was love at first sight. At first, a passionate romantic relationship developed between them. They gradually grew into official ones. However, there was an obstacle in their way. Julia’s father then became seriously ill, for this reason the artist began to pay all her attention to him. Anatoly found himself alone at that moment.

The man tried to somehow improve relations with his wife, but she did not want to make contact. Then Lobotsky decided to stop this senseless suffering. He filed for divorce himself.

At the moment, Yulia Rutberg is single. It cannot be said that she was left with nothing. Julia managed to create a successful image of an actress. She acts in films and plays on the theater stage. She is adored by TV viewers and not only. At the same time, she has a beautiful child, to whom she gives all her love and attention. She doesn’t consider herself unhappy/

Julia Rutberg now

In 2021, the actress celebrated her 55th birthday with friends at the dacha. In 2021, she continued to collaborate with theaters, remaining one of the most prominent actresses of the Yevgeny Vakhtangov Theater. She also participates in the filming of Igor Zaitsev’s project “Bender”, prepares new poetry programs and is a teacher at the Higher School of Performing Arts.

Julia Rutberg now