Natalia Nazarova, actress, screenwriter, director. Biography

Natalia Nazarova (nee Sotnikova) was born in 1969 in the Moscow suburb of Ramenskoye. During her school years, she was interested in drawing and literature, studied at a local art studio and sang in the school jazz ensemble. Even then, she dreamed of connecting her life with cinema and theater.

After school, Nazarova applied to the acting department of GITIS. However, as the actress said in an interview with the Express Newspaper, she was accepted only the fourth time.

"I went to some rounds, that is, the examiners clearly saw something in me, but they could not determine what exactly," she shared.

Nazarova's dream university was helped by a meeting with GITIS teacher Natella Britaeva, who pointed out to the young actress her strengths — bright charisma and eccentricity. After that, Natalia stopped "pretending to be a muslin heroine" and successfully passed the exams.

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After graduating from GITIS in 1995, Nazarova became an actress at the Moscow Theater of the Young Spectator. She participated in the productions of "The Marriage of Balzaminov" and "The public is forbidden to watch", as well as in the entreprise performances "Crow's Feet" and "Two smaller ones". At the same time, the actress studied at the directing faculty of VGIK, however, due to family reasons, she could not finish it.

Nazarova's film debut was unusual — in 2000 she played the main role in the film by American director Thompson Clay "Postal Paradise". She played a Russian girl invited to the United States by a marriage catalog. As the artist herself recalled, she found herself abroad by a happy accident.

"By that time, I had already worked in the theater for three years. And at the same time she was a member of the Max acting agency. The Americans sent a request there: they needed a Russian actress for the main role," she said.

During the video casting, the applicants had to read a tragic monologue. Nazarova found the text boring, and she decided to add improvisation to it. However, in front of the camera, she forgot all the lines in her excitement and instead of a prepared speech, she gave out "a mess of Russian-English words." Nevertheless, the film crew liked her performance, and after a few months the actress was invited to the United States.

For her participation in the "Postal Paradise" in 2001, Nazarova received the "Legionnaire" prize at the Constellation Film Festival. Her work on this film brought her fame not only in the film industry, but also in the music world. During the filming, the actress recorded the jazz album Listen With Your Heart, with compositions from which she performed at several festivals in the USA.

In 2000, Nazarova made her debut on Russian television screens. She played the main role in one of the episodes of the almanac series Rostov-Papa. In subsequent years, she starred in such projects as "The Turkish March" (2001-2002), "The Lion's Share" (2001), "Diary of a Murderer" (2002), "Kamenskaya–3" (2003), "Formula" (2004) and others.

Since 2005, Nazarova has also worked as a screenwriter. Her portfolio includes more than two dozen projects: "Fool" (2005), "Listening to Silence" (2006), "Rusalka" (2007), "Ranetki" (2008-2010), "My Boyfriend is an Angel" (2011), "Demons" (2014), etc.

However, as Nazarova herself admitted in an interview with the Bulletin of the Film Distributor portal, she always dreamed of making a film as a director and even wrote a suitable script, "Daughter," but it took a long time to realize it. In 2012, director Alexander Kasatkin offered Natalia to work together on the film. The film was released the same year and won Nazarova the Kinotavr Award for Best Debut, as well as the FIPRESCI European Film Academy Award.

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Other directorial works of the actress were also awarded prestigious awards. The film "A Simple Pencil" won two awards at the Russian Film Festival in France, including the best film. The Regional Center won the Grand Prix of the Amur Autumn International Festival.

The most titled was Nazarova's last film "Philately", released in 2024. He won three awards at the Cairo International Film Festival at once: for best director, as well as for best male and female roles. The director was also awarded the Golden Vine Award for this work.

In addition, in 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded Nazarova the medal "For his Work in Culture."

Natalia Nazarova — personal life

Natalia met her husband, actor Gennady Nazarov, while studying at GITIS. At the dance exam, she was given the task of teaching any guy present to dance. The girl chose Gennady.

"As soon as the exam ended, of course, I immediately forgot about it. But he decided that since I chose him, it was no accident. And he invited me to eat chicken at his house," the actress said.

After this dinner, the young people did not leave each other and soon had a wedding. They lived together for 30 years, until Natalia's death.

Natalia Nazarova — death

The death of Nazarova on April 2, 2025 was reported in the Telegram channel of GITIS.

"There is great grief at GITIS — Natalia Vadimovna Nazarova, our outstanding graduate and beloved master, has died. Natalia Vadimovna was an amazingly gifted Renaissance man. A multifaceted artist, playwright and screenwriter, director of theater and cinema," the publication says.

As university rector Grigory Zaslavsky clarified in a conversation with TASS, Nazarova was struggling with cancer and spent the last days of her life in the hospital.