Andrey Smolyakov was born in Podolsk Moscow Oblast in 1958 He studied for three years at the Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute before graduating in 1980 from the State Institute of Theatre Arts and beginning his acting career on the stage of the Moscow Art Theatre Between 1984 and 1986 he worked with the Satyricon Theatre and in 1987 joined the Oleg Tabakov Studio Theatre in Moscow Smolyakov made his big screen debut in 1978 and has since appeared in more than 80 films working with many of Russias leading directors Notable credits include Daddy Vladimir Mashkov 2004 Escape Egor Konchalovsky 2005 Stalingrad Fedor Bondarchuk 2013 and Viking Andrey Kravchuk 2016