Alla Ilyinichna Surikova was born on November 6, 1940 in Kiev (Ukraine). She started her way into cinematography in 1971 with High Courses of Screenwriters and Directors under the art directorship of Georgiy Daneliya. Alla Surikova’s first independent works as a film director were short length films The Girl and Sunlight Spot (1971) and The Live Hat (1972). She was the author of the concept of the would-be popular children's comic newsreel Eralash (Jumble), for which she later filmed two series.

Alla’s graduation work Small Lie and Big Troubles (1973) based on her own scenario was awarded the State Cinema Prize of the Udmurt Soviet Socialist Republic for the Best Direction in 1974. The beginning film director shot two more pictures: the documentary film concert The Birth of Dance (1975) and her first full-length feature Let's Assume, You are a Captain... (1976) at the A.Dovzhenko Film Studio. She gained her first big success and popularity with wide public in 1979, after the release of the comedy film Vanity of Vanities. More than 30 million people watched the movie. The movie started a brilliant train of Alla Surikova’s comedies, which established her as an outstanding film director. In the following years she created a whole collection of unforgettable comedies, such as Be my Husband (1981), Find the Woman (1982), Sincerely Yours (1985). Her film A Man from the Boulevard des Capucines (1987) was a tremendous success.