Ivan Andreyevich Urgant (born 16 April 1978) is a Russian television host, presenter and actor.[1] His best known roles in film are Boris in the Yolki series and as Danila in Lucky Trouble. Between 2012 and 2022 he hosted Evening Urgant, a late-night talk show, which was suspended in February 2022. According to the 2008 and 2011 surveys, Urgant is Russia's most popular TV presenter.[2] He is the chairman of the board of trustees of the Friends Charitable Foundation.[3][4]
Biography
Early life
Urgant was born in Leningrad, USSR into a family of actors, the son of Andrei Urgant and Valeriya Kiseleva. His paternal grandparents were actors Nina Urgant and Lev Milinder. His Estonian surname Urgant comes from Nina's father, Nikolai Andreyevich Urgant, a NKVD Major from Luga and a son of Räpina-born Hindrik Urgand.[5][6] He is of mixed Russian, Estonian, and Jewish heritage.[7] About a year after Ivan's birth the family separated. After his parents broke up, he lived with his mother and stepfather - Leningrad actor Dmitri Ladygin.[8]
Urgant studied at the Leningrad Children's Music School No. 18, at the Gymnasium at the State Russian Museum. He graduated from Saint Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy.[9] After receiving his acting education, Urgant did not engage in theater as the main profession. He worked as a waiter, bartender, and then as a host in nightly shows in clubs. In 2018, it was reported he had taken Israeli citizenship.[10]
In 1999, Urgant managed to get a job at a St. Petersburg radio station. In addition, he appeared on television, where he was the host of the program Petersburg Courier on 5TV. Later, he was moved to Moscow and continued his career on the radio - first on Russian Radio, and then on "Hit-FM."
In May 2001, Urgant first appeared on Moscow television, on the television channel MTV Russia.[11] He received an invitation to a casting at a time when Olga Shelest and Anton Komolov were looking for a couple of hosts to team up with on the show Cheerful Morning.[11] Since 2002, after the departure of the original team of VJs of "MTV Russia", he began to host the programs Total Show[12] and Expresso.[13]
On 24 February 2022, he posted "No to War" on his Instagram account following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia after which his late-night programme was taken off-air.[20]
Since 2011, Urgant has co-owned a restaurant in Moscow, The Sad (Russian: Сад) Garden, with Aleksandr Tsekalo.[21] He has been a board member and co-owner of the real estate agency W1Evans since 2016.[21][22]
In search of Don Quixote together with Vladimir Pozner (Channel One; 2017)
The Most. The Most. The Most together with Vladimir Pozner (Channel One; 2019)
Japan. The reverse side of the kimono together with Vladimir Pozner (Channel One; 2021)
Music
Ivan Urgant plays guitar, piano and drums.[23] In the late 1990s he acted under the pseudonym Vnuk (Russian: Внук - Grandson). In 2011 Ivan renewed his own singing career and now is acting under the pseudonym Grisha Urgant.[24]
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