Mikhail Boyarsky

Mikhail Sergeevich Boyarsky (born 26 December 1949 in Leningrad) is a Soviet and Russian actor and singer. He is best known for playing swashbucklers in historical adventure films; the role of d'Artagnan in the 1978 Soviet adaptation of Alexander Dumas' Three Musketeers elevated Boyarsky to the nationwide fame. In the 1980s, he was also popular as a singer. Boyarsky is an Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1984) and a People’s Artist of the RSFSR (1990).

Biography

Mikhail Sergeevich Boyarsky was born in the family of Sergey Boyarsky [ru] and Ekaterina Milenteva, both Komissarjevsky Theatre actors. He studied piano in a music school affiliated with the Conservatory. After school, Boyarsky entered Institute of Theatre Music and Cinema, finishing in 1972, and began working in the Lensoviet Theatre for Igor Vladimirov.

In the cinema, the actor made a debut in the films Bridges and The Straw Hat (1974), becoming well known in 1975 after his role in the picture Eldest Son. He found much greater popularity in the main role of Troubadour in the theatre musical The Troubadour and His Friends, with the princess played by Larissa Luppian, who soon became his wife. In 1976, he played the big bad wolf in the movie Ma-ma.

His popularity really took off in 1978 after Boyarsky starred in the musical film d'Artagnan and Three Musketeers. After that, he was typecast as a swashbuckler for two decades; he reprised his role as d'Artagnan in three sequels and portrayed other "sword and hat" characters in adventure movies like The Dog in the Manger (1978), The Prisoner of Château d'If (1988), Gardes-Marines, Ahead! (1988), Don Cesar de Bazan (1989), Viva Gardes-Marines! (1991), Queen Margot (1996), Taras Bulba (2009), among others. Being a singer, he also often starred in musical films. Occasionally he played against type, like in Extra Ticket or The Waiting Room.

Personal life

With Larissa Luppian, he has a son, Sergei Boyarsky (born in 1979), and a daughter, Elizaveta Boyarskaya (born 20 December 1985).

Since April 2013 - the leader of the Movement for rights of smokers.

In March 2014 he signed a letter in support of the position of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin on the official Russia's position on the Crimean question.

As a native of Saint Petersburg, Boyarsky is a fan of local FC Zenit.