Alexey Veselkin, theater and film actor, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation. Biography

Alexey Veselkin was born in 1961 in Moscow into a family of Mosconcert pop dancers. According to the artist himself, his childhood was bright, but lonely — because of his parents' constant tours, he was left to himself most of the time.

During his school years, Veselkin's main hobbies were hockey and rock'n'roll. He played in the band as a lead guitarist, rehearsed a lot and experimented with the instrument.

"Actually, music has changed my mind to some extent. Naturally, I wanted to play — it's such a very concentrated opportunity to influence someone, show myself, and even find myself in a sense, because at that moment you're awesome," the actor said in an interview with the newspaper Ramtograph.

Veselkin was inspired to play hockey by the super series of matches between the national teams of the USSR and Canada, which took place in 1972. He joined the Spartak Moscow club team and played for it until the 9th grade. The future actor abandoned professional sports after a serious injury — during training, a teammate accidentally hit him on the head with a stick, almost knocking out his eye. After that, Alexey sold his equipment and never returned to the ice.

However, Veselkin did not stay idle for long, because at that time he already had a new passion — acting. He got his first screen test in the 7th grade, and by pure chance. During recess, the teenager and his friends went out to play soccer, and at that moment a woman from the Gorky Film Studio passed by, selecting children for filming. At first, she didn't pay attention to Alexey, but all his friends refused to participate in the project.

"She's like this, already out of desperation, according to the residual principle: "Well, you go ahead then." And everything. I came to the audition, and after the first sketch I was immediately accepted," Veselkin said.

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After that, Alexey realized that he wanted to connect his life with the stage. During the auditions, he also met the guys from the Shchepkin College Theater School, who recommended that he enroll with them. In the 9th grade, Veselkin changed his place of study and began studying the basics of acting. Around the same time, he made his film debut, having received a cameo role in the film "Field to Cross" (1976).

After graduating from school, the young artist entered the Shchukin College and graduated in 1983. In the same year, he began working at the Central Children's Theater (sovr. The Russian Academic Youth Theater (RAMT), to which he devoted his whole life. For more than 40 years of service, he participated in several dozen productions, including "Woe from Wit", "The Problem", Pushkin's "The Shot", "Nuremberg", "Scarlet Sails", "The Coast of Utopia", "King Lear" and others.

Veselkin has also directed his own theater projects, such as the play "The Wizard of Oz" and the Rock'n'roll Life concert. In 1987, he became a laureate of the Theatrical Spring competition, and in 1996 he received the honorary title of Honored Artist of Russia.

Since the 1980s, Veselkin has also appeared regularly on movie screens. His filmography includes more than 20 full-length films and TV series, including "Two Hussars" (1984), "The Right People" (1986), "Discjockey" (1988), "Armavir" (1991), "Doctors" (2001), "Don't be Born Beautiful" (2005-2006), "To All joy to those who grieve" (2013) and others.

At the same time, Veselkin actively worked on television and radio. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he hosted popular programs for children and teenagers: "Alarm Clock", "King of the Mountain", "Children's Hour", "Under 16 and older". Since 2011, he has collaborated with the Raz TV channel, where he hosted the programs "25 Again", "Balda" and "Simply put".

From 2008 to 2012, Veselkin, together with Vera Kuzmina, hosted the show "Mind and Feelings" on the radio station "Mayak", and then the show "Program P" there. In 2012, he was temporarily suspended from broadcasting due to a scandal caused by inappropriate jokes about cystic fibrosis patients in one of the editions of Reason and Feelings. Nevertheless, in 2015, the artist returned to the radio station as the host of the Vera program. Hope. Alexey", "Sergey Stillavin and his friends" and "I want to know everything".

In 2021, Veselkin received the gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation for his contribution to the development of Russian culture and fruitful work in the field of art.

Alexey Veselkin — personal life

Veselkin met his wife, actress Tatiana Ushmaikina, in 1988 during a RAMTA tour in Yugoslavia. The romance developed rapidly, and after returning to the Soviet Union, the lovers decided to get married. In 1990, they had a son, who was named Alexei in honor of his father, and in 2000, his sister Anastasia was born. Both children followed in their parents' footsteps and connected their lives with acting.

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Alexey Veselkin — death

Veselkin's death was announced on March 27, 2025, by the RAMTA press service. The actor was 63 years old.

"Alexey Alekseevich was distinguished not only by his bright natural talent, but also by exceptional efficiency, a truly creative approach to each role, and an extremely responsible attitude to his work and his native theater. <...> This is a huge, irreparable loss for RAMT," the publication says.

As Veselkin's close friend, TV and radio host Sergey Stillavin, reported on his Telegram channel, the cause of the actor's death was blood cancer. According to him, Alexey was diagnosed with the terrible disease a year ago, and all this time he was struggling with the disease, hoping to return to work.

"Lyosha fought very courageously and with faith in victory against this evil (cancer — Ed.). Until last week, he said that after regular chemistry, you need to gain strength and return to normal life. Until last week, I wanted to work on the air, although I didn't have the strength," he wrote.

Stillavin also noted that Veselkin was a "real Russian man" who loved his homeland and did not share the position of artists who had gone abroad.