Filipp Kotov

Filipp Kotov (full name — Filipp Yuryevich Kotov; born February 8, 1989, in Barnaul) — a stage and film actor, and since 2008 a member of the Moscow Taganka Theatre ^[1][10]. He grew up in Nizhny Novgorod in the family of actors at the Nizhny Novgorod Gorky Drama Theatre — Yury Kotov and Elena Turkova — and graduated from the Nizhny Novgorod Theatre School named after Evgeniy Evstigneev ^[4][5][9]. He is best known to mainstream audiences for his starring role as Sasha Zaytsev in the sitcom Zaytsev + 1, which aired on TNT from 2011 to 2014 ^[2][11].

An Acting Family and Childhood

Filipp Kotov's parents are both actors. Yuri Mikhaylovich Kotov was born in 1963 in the settlement of Sven' in Bryansk Region, and Elena Vyacheslavovna Turkova was born the same year in Kursk; both came to Nizhny Novgorod Theatre College in their twenties and graduated with distinction in 1987 from the class of People's Artist of Russia S. E. Lerman; their teachers included R. Ya. Levite and V. S. Sokoloverov ^[4][5][9]. Immediately after graduating, already married, they left to work at the Altai Krai Drama Theatre in Barnaul — and it was there, on 8 February 1989, that their son was born ^[4][5][9]. In 1991, when the boy was two years old, the family returned to Nizhny Novgorod: from that year on, Kotov and Turkova have been performing at the drama theatre named after M. Gorky ^[4][5].

Filipp Kotov considers his first role to have been the little bunny he played as a one-year-old on the stage of the Barnaul theatre: the toddler, dressed in a nappy and rabbit ears, was carried out in someone's arms. His parents kept the five-ruble note he earned that day in a frame on prominent display in their apartment for a long time ^[6][9].

The boy grew up backstage and, according to his mother, by the age of five knew his father's monologues by heart — he would recite Hamlet and Caligula, imitating the actor's gestures. Once, on a train during a tour, he turned to his father and with complete seriousness delivered a line from the conversation between Myshkin and Rogozhin, frightening the other passengers in the compartment ^[6].

Around the same time, at about six years old, Filipp appeared on the Nizhny Novgorod stage alongside visiting actors Aleksandr Abdulov and Aleksandr Zbruyev: during the performance the child was required to sit silently on stage for half an hour, and at the end the actors would sit him on their knees and feed him from a spoon. The boy was not told that Abdulov would come at him with a knife as part of the role; that night after the performance he developed laryngeal stenosis and an ambulance had to be called. He performed the second show calmly, now knowing what to expect ^[6][9].

I grew up as a backstage child. For as long as I can remember, I was always in the theatre

Son, you're like Buratino — you were made to bring joy to people!

The Barber of Siberia

Filipp Kotov's first film role was in The Barber of Siberia by Mikhalkov Nikita, for which location scenes were shot in the Nizhny Novgorod Region. The film crew came to the drama theatre looking for extras: nearly the entire company left for the shoot, except for Filipp's father and one director, who were preparing a production of Caligula. Elena Turkova became Julia Ormond's stand-in, and the boy was given the role of the governor's son ^[9][12].

The film was released in 1998 ^[12]. Sources differ on when exactly the filming took place: the actor himself recalled that he left for the set as a first-grader, having been in school for only three months, and returned at the age of seven ^[9], while Komsomolskaya Pravda, citing his mother, reported that the boy was six at the time ^[6]. His co-stars on set included Julia Ormond, Richard Harris, and Oleg Menshikov; Ormond, as Kotov remembers, would warm his frozen fingers ^[6][9].

When they were introduced, Mikhalkov asked the boy his name and, upon hearing the surname, replied: "With a surname like that, you'll go far" — by that time, the whole country knew the divisional commander Kotov from *Burnt by the Sun* ^[6][9]. Another story that has lived on in family memory concerns the local villagers who were used as extras: two weeks before Ormond's arrival they had grown used to her stand-in, and a whole delegation went to the director to demand why he was replacing a Russian actress with a foreigner ^[6].

Nikita Sergeyevich shoots in Nizhny Novgorod Region quite often, generally. That time he came with his team to the theatre where my parents worked to recruit actors for the crowd scenes

Theatre School

Filipp Kotov left school after the ninth grade and enrolled in the same Nizhny Novgorod Theatre School where his parents had studied; he had made up his mind to go there before his final year ^[9]. He received no special treatment on admission, and by his account his entire first year was spent proving to his classmates and teachers — many of whom had once taught his mother and father — that he had earned his place rather than inherited it. He graduated from the school in 2008 with honours, as his parents had, from the class of Lev Belov and Riva Levite ^[1][9][10].

By the time of his graduation the school was ninety years old: it traces its history to the autumn of 1918, when a studio was opened at the city theatre, and it was given the name of Evgeniy Aleksandrovich Evstigneev in 2003. Since 1970 the school had been headed by Tatyana Vasilyevna Tsygankova — whom Kotov named among the teachers who had taught his parents as well ^[9][13]. Among graduates of various years are Evstigneev, Lyudmila Khityayeva, Aleksandr Pankratov-Chorny, Andrey Ilyin, Irina Pegova, Natalya Bochkareva, Artyom Bystrov, and Ekaterina Vilkova ^[13][14].

In his fourth year, Kotov took first place at the Shukshin competition in Samara, and as the top graduate received a presidential scholarship in Moscow named after V. S. Sokoloverov. The ceremony at the Theatre of Nations was hosted by Chulpan Khamatova, and the scholarship was presented by Oleg Tabakov ^[9][10]. Students of the school became recipients of the Cultural Foundation scholarship under the Presidential Council in 2006, 2007, and 2008 ^[13].

• Our Town by Thornton Wilder — George Gibbs ^[10]
• The Last Sacrifice by A. N. Ostrovsky — Vadim Dulchin ^[10]
• The Threepenny Wedding by Bertolt Brecht — the groom's friend ^[10]
• physical theatre performance Unexpected Nearby ^[10]

Taganka Theatre

In April of his fourth year, Kotov traveled with his classmates to audition at Moscow theatre schools — the Moscow Art Theatre School, the Shchukin Theatre Institute, GITIS, and VGIK — but got no further than the second or third round anywhere. In June he returned to Moscow, this time to audition for theatres, and went to the Taganka simply for company; on the Small Stage the Nizhny Novgorod students introduced themselves briefly: "Nizhny Novgorod theatre school! We can do everything!" A couple of days later he was told his name was not on the list, and he left for Petersburg. A few days after that, the company manager called: "Filipp Yuryevich, where are you? Today is, in fact, the second round" — and suggested he come in September to sign a contract ^[9][10].

In August 2008, the actor moved to Moscow. His first production there was the legendary Lyubimov staging of *The Master and Margarita*, in which newcomers were initially placed in the crowd scenes; later, Kotov played Yeshua in it ^[9][11]. The artistic director of the theatre at the time was Yuri Lyubimov, and it was Valery Zolotukhin who gave the young actor his support: upon learning that he had been born in Barnaul, he said: "There you go! Another Altai man in our theatre! Everything will work out fine for you" ^[9].

By the early 2010s, Kotov was appearing in seven productions at the Taganka. In February 2019, when congratulating the actor on his anniversary, the theatre called him one of its leading performers, noting that he had been working there for more than ten years — both in classic Taganka productions (*The Good Person of Szechwan*, *Tartuffe*) and in contemporary ones (*8 (Eight)*, *Viy*, *The Elder Son*) ^[2]. On 25 March 2019, together with Marfa Koltsova, Nikita Luchikhin, Dmitry Mulyar, and Sergey Trifonov, he was awarded by the Mayor of Moscow for his contribution to the development of culture ^[3][11].

The actor builds his roles, as he puts it, brick by brick, inventing something of his own for each one: for the affected Signor Florindo in the commedia dell'arte piece *The Venetian Twins* he selected a particular cologne and got a manicure, while for *Enough Stupidity in Every Wise Man* he used two hair ties — a plaid one for the first act and a black one for the second. He also has his theatre superstitions: if his script falls to the floor, he always sits on it before picking it up ^[9].

For every role I come up with something special — not so much for the audience as for myself… I build my characters brick by brick. I love being different. I am both Pierrot and Harlequin.

Zaytsev + 1

The sitcom Zaytsev + 1 was directed by Maxim Pezhemsky; Kotov was invited to audition in June and was cast two weeks after his screen test. The central character is Sasha Zaytsev, a shy student who has a complete opposite — his alter ego Fyodor; Fyodor was played by Mikhail Galustyan, and Kotov himself compared the pair to Fight Club, with the difference that the audience here knows everything from the very start ^[8][10][11]. The series premiered on TNT in 2011; the first season ran for 24 episodes, and the show stayed on air until 2014; in the third season, Zaytsev's father was played by Gérard Depardieu ^{[2][8][10][11]}.

The role demanded countless transformations: over the course of the series the actor played Hitler, Sigmund Freud, and an aged Sasha Zaytsev. He turned down a stunt double — in the scene where his character was lowered headfirst into a bathtub full of water, he performed it himself. Among the on-set curiosities Kotov recalled was being made to get behind the wheel of an expensive car, despite not having a driver's licence ^[8][10].

In April 2011 the actor came to Nizhny Novgorod for a preview of new episodes and combined the work trip with a visit to his family. The role of the nerdy student came to him almost immediately: the director cast him without lengthy auditions, and the only reservation, in Kotov's own words, was that according to the script the character was supposed to look far less attractive. With the fee from the series, Filipp sent his parents on a seaside holiday ^[6][7].

The actor took a reserved attitude toward fame: he wore tinted glasses so people would not recognize him, while he kept his character's glasses as a memento ^[7][9].

Philipp, in this series you played everything an actor wants to play in a lifetime

I know that many actors remain known for a single role, but I have no intention of being Sasha Zaytsev for the rest of my life

Film

Before "Zaytsev," Kotov had only bit parts; the lead role in the sitcom was his first major on-screen work ^[2][8]. He later appeared in Vladimir Mirzoev's historical drama "Boris Godunov" (as Russian prisoner Rozhkov) and in several television series ^[10][12]. By 2024, his filmography comprised nine works, the most recent being the 2022 film "Magdalina"; around that time the actor mentioned that he occasionally writes poetry and that the theatre leaves him almost no time for other pursuits ^[11][12].

Parents

Yuriy Mikhaylovich Kotov was born on February 21, 1963, in the settlement of Sven' in Bryansk Region. In 1987 he graduated with honors from the Nizhny Novgorod Theatre College and until 1991 worked at the Altai Kray Drama Theatre in Barnaul, after which he joined the Nizhny Novgorod Drama Theatre. He has held the title of Honored Artist of the Russian Federation since 2005 and is a two-time laureate of the Nizhny Novgorod Prize — in 1995 and 2002. His roles include Hamlet and Mercutio in Shakespeare, Caligula in Camus, the Master in The Master and Margarita, Chichikov in The Adventures of Mr. Ch., the Actor in The Lower Depths, and Porfiry Golovlyov in The Golovlyov Family ^[4].

Elena Vyacheslavovna Turkova was born on January 24, 1963, in Kursk. She also graduated with honors in 1987 and followed the same path: Barnaul, and from 1991 onward — the Nizhny Novgorod stage. In 2026 she was awarded the title of Honored Artist of Russia. Her roles include Juliet and Aksyusha in The Forest, Zoya Pelts in Zoya's Apartment, Arina Petrovna in The Golovlyov Family, Ranevskaya in The Cherry Orchard, and Izergil; in 2009 she graduated from the Nizhny Novgorod branch of the University of the Russian Academy of Education with a degree in arts management ^[5].

In the early 2010s, Yuriy Kotov had seven roles in the theatre's current repertoire and Elena Turkova had six; in the 2026 season the figures were nine and four respectively ^[4][5].

• Elena Turkova is a laureate of the prize at the 1st Evgeniy Evstigneev Festival-Competition for Best Supporting Role (Makarskaya, A Rendezvous in the Suburbs) ^[5]
• a laureate of the prize at the 2nd Evgeniy Evstigneev Festival-Competition for Best Female Role (Zoya Pelts, Zoya's Apartment) ^[5]
• a laureate of the Nizhny Novgorod Region's Maxim Gorky Prize for the role of Anna in the production Vassa, 2012 ^[5]
• a laureate of the N. Kh. Rybakov Prize "Actress of Russia," Tambov, 2019 ^[5]

Sources

1. tagankateatr.ru — Taganka Theatre — official website, artist page — Filipp Kotov
2. tagankateatr.ru — Taganka Theatre — Actor Filipp Kotov's Anniversary
3. tagankateatr.ru — Taganka Theatre — Letter of Thanks from the Mayor of Moscow to the Artists of the Taganka Theatre
4. drama.nnov.ru — Nizhny Novgorod Drama Theatre named after M. Gorky — company artist page — Kotov Yuri Mikhaylovich
5. drama.nnov.ru — Nizhny Novgorod Drama Theatre named after M. Gorky — company artist page — Turkova Elena Vyacheslavovna
6. KP — Nizhny Novgorod — Komsomolskaya Pravda — Nizhny Novgorod, June 27, 2011, an account by the actor's parents — Filipp Kotov, star of the series Zaytsev+1, was blessed into the acting profession by Nikita Mikhalkov
7. KP — Nizhny Novgorod — Komsomolskaya Pravda — Nizhny Novgorod, April 27, 2011, report from the Nizhny Novgorod premiere of the series — Nizhny Novgorod native Filipp Kotov plays "nerd" Sasha Zaytsev in the eponymous series
8. MK — Nizhny Novgorod — MK v Nizhnem Novgorode, May 27, 2011, interview during the actor's visit to the city — Filipp Kotov: "I have played everything an actor could wish to play in a lifetime"
9. ok-magazine.ru — OK! Magazine, January 17, 2014, extended interview by Lilya Chumicheva — Filipp Kotov: "I am both Pierrot and Harlequin"
10. 93.ru — Online publication 93.ru, January 20, 2014, interview with biographical notes — Filipp Kotov, stage and screen actor: "Galustyан will be filled with goodness!"
11. news.ru — January 25, 2024, review of the actor's biography and current projects — Mikhalkov, a letter of thanks from Sobyanin, the theatre: what became of actor Filipp Kotov
12. kinonews.ru — KinoNews — filmography with years and roles — Filipp Kotov (08.02.1989) — actor, biography and filmography
13. nn.aif.ru — AiF — Nizhny Novgorod, November 24, 2008, marking the theatre school's 90th anniversary — Today the Nizhny Novgorod Theatre College named after E. Evstigneev celebrates its 90th anniversary
14. Kommersant (Volga Region) — Nizhny Novgorod, photo gallery about graduates of the theatre college — Their Lives