Vladimir Lvovich Mashkov was born on November, 27th, 1963 in the city of Tula. His father was an actor of a puppet theater, and his mother, Italian by birth, worked as the stage director at the same theater. In the mid-1960s the family moved to Novokuznetsk, and in the late 1970s they left for Novosibirsk, where Vladimir Mashkov entered a biological faculty of some university, but a year later changed his mind and entered the Novosibirsk theatrical school.

The student, who became notable for his rather tough disposition was expelled from school for a fight in 1984. However Mashkov did not resign himself to the situation and left for Moscow, where he entered the MKhAT School-studio. However, he was again turned out of the studio for his turbulent temper and then found himself as a stage designer in MKhAT.

Soon afterwards Vladimir Mashkov started to study under Oleg Tabakov, and then to play in the theatre headed by the master.

Vladimir Mashkov debuted as a film actor in The Goat's Green Fire (Zelyonyy ogon kozy) (1989) followed by Do It - One! (Delay - raz!) (1990) and Love at the Death Island (Lyubov na ostrove smerti) (1991).

In 1990 he graduated from Oleg Tabakov’s course in the MKhAT school-studio.

The year 1994 became the time of triumph for Vladimir Mashkov: this is when he played the leads in two successful works by young Russian film directors: Limita by Denis Yevstigneyev and Podmoskovnye Vechera (aka Katia Ismailova) by Valery Todorovsky. Soon Vladimir Mashkov starred in American Daughter (1995) by Karen Shakhnazarov.

At the crest of his popularity Vladimir Mashkov also tried his wings as a stage director and delivered a number of stage productions, such as A Star Hour By Local Time , Passions For Bumbarash and The Death-Defying Act in Oleg Tabakov’s Theatre. He also staged № 13 in A. P.Chekhov МKhТ, and Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera in Satyricon Theater.

In 1997 Vladimir Mashkov played the leading role in Pavel Chukhrai’s drama The Thief (Vor) (1997) that was later nominated for Oskar.

In the same year Vladimir Mashkov directed his first film Sympathy Seeker (Sirota kazanskaya) (1997). In the early 2000s Vladimir Mashkov spent a lot of time in the USA, where he worked for Hollywood films ( Dancing at the Blue Iguana (2000), 15 Minutes (2001), An American Rhapsody (2001), Behind Enemy Lines (2001)).

However, the actor did not neglect Russian cinema. He appeared in Pavel Lungin’s sensational drama Oligarkh (2002) as the Russian millionaire Platon Makovskiy, evidently a portrayal of the well-known Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky.

Brilliant was Vladimir Mashkov’s role of Rogozhin in Vladimir Bortko’s television series Idiot after the famous novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky. The director decided at once that Mashkov fitted this role best of all. He was perfectly right. For the sake of that role Mashkov decided to postpone his work with Clint Eastwood. As a result the role of Rogozhin became one of the most vivid works in the actor’s biography.

In 2004 Mashkov directed his next film - Papa, based on A. Galych's play Matrosskaya Tishina.

The historical action series Liquidation (Likvidatsiya) (director Sergei Ursulyak) starring Mashkov as the talented criminal investigation agent David Gotsman acquired enormous popularity with the viewers.

V.Ivanova