Alexander Aleksandrovich Kalyagin was born on May 25, 1942 in the Malmyzh Town of the Kirov Region. In 1965 he graduated from Shchukin Theatrical School and became an actor of the Moscow Drama Theater on Taganka, and then worked in Ermolova Theatre and Taganka Theater. In 1971 the actor joined the Gorky (called Chekhov Moscow Art Theatre since 1989 name); on this stage Alexander Kalyagin created a number of memorable characters, such as for example, the role of Protasov in A Living Corpse by Leo Tolstoy and Lenin in the well-known play of the Perestroika period So We Shall Win! by Mikhail Shatrov. In 1993 he became the art director of the Moscow Theater Еt cetera.

The actor debuted in cinema in 1967 with the role of Marat in the film Nikolay Bauman. A great luck for Alexander Kalyagin was his creative collaboration with the film directors Victor Titov and Nikita Mikhalkov. His first work with Victor Titov was Every Day of Doctor Kalinnikova, and the eccentric comedy Hello, I'm Your Aunt! gained Kalyagin enormous popularity and love of the audience. The roles played by him in Nikita Mikhalkov’s films were among his best works as an actor: in the “Eastern” movie At Home Among Strangers, the melodrama Slave to Love, and the film Unfinished Piece for the Player Piano based on Anton Chekhov’s writings. The role of Platonov in the last one gained Kalyagin the title of the best actor of 1977 and the special prize of the jury at the Cartagena Film Festival. His powerful drama talent manifested in the role of Maggil in the adventure television movie Omega Option revealed itself even brighter in the role of Seyfi Ganiyev in the psychological drama Interrogation.

Interesting is the character of Aesop created by the actor in the television movie Aesop and Vasily Zhukovsky’s roles in the film about Alexander Pushkin The Last Road by director Leonid Menaker, and the role of Lyubomudrov in Victor Tregubovich's film picture Prokhindiada, or Running on the Spot. By the way, the film Prokhindiada-2 (1994) was directed by Alexander Kalyagin himself, and he debuted as the film director with the film My Girlfriend in 1985. In recent years he teaches a lot and stages performances as a director. In 1996 the All-Russia Theatrical Society elected Alexander Kalyagin to be the chairman. In 1995 the film director Galina Evtushenko shot the documentary film Alexander Kalyagin: A Monologue about Dear Ones.