Spouses Chubchenko and Zykova (in the circle – Tatyana Doronina)
55-year-old actor Andrei Chubchenko fell in love with viewers for the main roles in the NTV series “Chief”, “Travelers” and “Interns”. Despite the fact that the shooting brought him fame, Andrei Alexandrovich continues to consider the work on stage to be the main thing in his career. Probably because he comes from a theatrical family.
– My parents are actors, they worked in Vladimir for many years, – Chubchenko began the story. – Dad passed away this year, and mom will celebrate her 80th birthday next year. I was born in Orenburg and lived with my grandmother until the age of three. Mom had a difficult birth. When she was just waiting for me, she had her appendix removed. They entrusted this to the student, and he made a mistake – he left a tampon in the body. As a result, suppuration began, which at first was mistaken for oncology, a tumor.
As a child, I dreamed of becoming a forester or a gamekeeper so that I could be close to the animals. And while studying at school, I read the book by Academician Amosov “Experiment” and wanted to become a surgeon in order to perform heart operations – to change valves. Plus, I was interested in human anatomy and physiology. After receiving the certificate, he entered the Krasnoyarsk Medical University at the Faculty of Dentistry. Then it was considered very prestigious. My parents sent me to Krasnoyarsk to visit my second grandmother. She was seriously ill, and it was necessary to save the apartment. That’s why I was assigned to her. But he didn’t have time to learn, he was taken into the army. He served in the internal troops. And already there I realized that my vocation is to be an actor.
Once, in front of everyone at the celebration, I read Yevtushenko’s poem “The Bratsk Hydroelectric Power Station”, which I knew by heart from school. And he did it so famously that the regiment commander awarded me the rank of sergeant. Prior to that, the ensign did not like me, called me a “lousy intellectual.” When I asked why he thinks so, he replied: “And it says in your application form that your parents are actors.”
I have always been too independent. I did not want even the closest people to interfere in my personal and professional life. He entered the Shchepkinskoe school in Moscow, and at the same time worked as a stage fitter.
– Is it true that your studies gave you an acquaintance with your only wife?
– Yes, we have been from the institute together with my wife, actress Yulia Zykova, for more than 30 years already. At first they played together at the Gorky Moscow Art Theater, and now at the Maly Theater. Our daughter Sophia is 27 years old (she now lives with her husband in the UAE and works there as a financial analyst). And the youngest Evdokia is 16, she studies at school and was fond of acting courses. It will be seen what’s next.
– At one time, the press wrote that once Sophia was attacked. Is it true?
– When she just entered the major MGIMO and she was 18, all her classmates began to dress up as the achievements of their parents. And so the guys gathered for a party in a nightclub. For some reason, Sonya took with her all the family jewelry, including old grandmothers. She probably wanted to look the part. Then they robbed her in a dark passage: they pulled her purse out of her hands, hit her and ran away. Perhaps on a whim. Then the police leaked information about this to the press under the pretext that there would be witnesses and help detain the perpetrators. But in the end no one was found. The damage pulled two hundred thousand. What is there to do? If only my daughter was healthy. And money is a thing.
You know, when I studied at Shchepkinsky, similar situations happened. There was an unspoken division among Muscovites and children from the periphery. We, boys from the provinces, did not go to the Moscow girls, so that they would not think that we were meeting for the sake of a residence permit.
– Where is your future wife from?
– She comes from Kazakhstan, from the city of Pavlodar. And then her family moved to Russia. I fell in love with her after eating her delicious borscht. It happened in the first year. Our girls lined up for everyone to prepare food, and when Yulia did it, I tried it and said: “That’s who I would take as my wife.” After a while it happened.
– Did you play a beautiful wedding?
– Student, in a cafe next to the hostel of the school. Our parents arrived, fellow students gathered. And on the wedding night we were sent to a separate room. And on this day, April 25, it suddenly snowed.
Get out of your comfort zone
– They bought their own housing in the capital or received it from the theater.
– In 2000, the Moscow Art Theater allocated us a kopeck piece for free near the Borisovo metro station. Before that, they stood in a long line, and our eldest daughter was already born. Apartments for artists were beaten out by the then artistic director Tatyana Doronina, she herself went to high offices. A low bow for this to Tatyana Vasilievna. And years later, she called Yuri Solomin and asked him to take my wife and me to his Maly Theater when Boyakov headed the Moscow Art Theater. For us, Doronina is the most important person, we will always remember this. Our second teacher. She demanded quick results from the artists. And it was simply impossible not to spend money on stage with her. She took everyone out of their comfort zone for the sake of creative growth. Of course, not everyone liked it, and those who could not cope were expelled. Because of this, they had a colossal resentment towards Doronina and her theater.
– Many of the Gorky Moscow Art Theater did not even consider it a theater …
– I heard such talk. My colleague in the troupe somehow came to the Moscow City Council theater, went to the administrator’s window to ask for a free pass. And he, looking at the crust of the Moscow Art Theater actor, said: “There is no such theater in Moscow!” Doronina spoke about the destruction of the Russian realistic theater 30 years ago. And carefully, in its original state, she kept everything that she took from working with Tovstonogov, Goncharov. Her school turned out to be unacceptable for that liberal majority, which gradually occupied all creative teams. Mark Zakharov, Galina Volchek, Oleg Tabakov followed the liberal beginning and completely reshaped the work, including switching to a commercial track. And we still had an even more academic theater than the Maly is now. Classical performances, costumes, scenery, classical music and most importantly – no vulgarity.
By the way
- In 1999, in front of Chubchenko, a car hit his wife with her daughter in her arms. Julia stopped seeing and almost completely lost her sight. But Andrei’s wife was saved by doctors. Faith in God helped the family survive the terrible events.
- Chubchenko and Zykova could have had another child. But between the birth of her daughters in the fourth month of pregnancy, Julia had a miscarriage.
- Zykova and Chubchenko regularly perform in hospitals in the Moscow region and in the Donbass. They are sure that it is their duty to be together with their country, to support our soldiers.
