Irina Alferova was born in Novosibirsk on March 13, 1951. From very early age the girl was in love with the theater. As a school girl yet, she started playing at  a local amateur theater. After fnishing school Irina Alferova left for Moscow,  where subsequently graduated from the Lunacharsky State Institute of Theatrical Art (GITIS, 1972).
She made her film debut in a short-length film Alekseich at the age of 20.
In the early 1970s the beginning actress was married to the Bulgarian diplomat Boyko Gurov and lived abroad. On May 24, 1974 she gave birth to their daughter Ksenia.
Irina Alefrova had her way to film glory paved with Dasha's role in the teleepic The Road to Calvary directed by Vasily Ordynsky and based on the same-name novel by Leo Tolstoy. For this large-scale and long project Irina Alferova had to return to Moscow and stop her stage acting. Working with great actors of the Soviet cinema, such as Yury Solomin, Mikhail Nozhkin and Mikhail Kazakov became a profound learning experience for the debutant. After five years of working on this film project the actress resumed playing on stage.
In 1976 Irina Alefrova was invited to the Moscow Lencom Theatre, but did not get big roles for a long time. It was here that the actress met her future husband, renowned actor Alexander Abudlov. They were together till 1993, the year when Irina Alferova left the Lencom Theatre.
Her next starry film role was that of Constance Bonacieux in the popular  "D'Artagnan and Three Musketeers". The historical adventure series was a resounding success all over the Soviet Union whereas the role of a young beauty, D'Artagnan's beloved, gained universal acclaim and won viewers' hearts to Irina Alferova.
Very fast Irina Alferova became one of the most popular actresses of the 1980s. She made her appearance in some other remarkable works of the Russian cinema, such as "Do Not Part with the Darlings" (1979), "Anticipation of Love" (1982), "Vasily Buslayev" (1982), "TASS is Authorized to Declare …" (1984), and "Night Entertainments" (1991).
Among theatrical projects with her participation is the legendary "Juno and Avos" of the Lencom Theatre, and one of the leads in Chekhov's The Seagull on  stage of the theater School of Modern Play, where she acted from 1993.
Altogether Irina Alferova has performed about 50 film and 20 stage roles.
Actor Sergey Martynov, whom Irina Alferova met while filming in "The Sheriff's Star" became her third husband. She has raised four children: her own daughter Ksenia Alferova from the first marriage and three adopted sons, including two children of her husband and the son of her belate elder sister.
In 2007 Irina Alferova was awarded the title of the Honoured Actress of Russia, and in 2011 received the Order of Friendship.

Read about other Russian Actresses