Polina Kutepova

Polina Kutepova is an actress and one of the founding members of the Pyotr Fomenko Workshop Theatre. Her stage characters encompass women of remarkably different temperaments and destinies, from quiet, thoughtful figures absorbed in their private feelings to commanding, ruthless, and obsessive personalities. What distinguishes her performances is a keen understanding of human nature and an ability to discover unexpected qualities even in the most unusual characters.

Polina and her twin sister Ksenia were involved in theatre and appeared in films from an early age. Filmmakers were drawn to the girls' resemblance, which allowed them to devise unusual situations for the two on screen. Their early appearances included Georgy Yungvald-Khilkevich's musical comedy “Where Will He Go?“ and the children's fairy-tale film „Redhead, Honest, in Love”. By the time they entered drama school, both sisters were already familiar with life on a film set.

In 1988, Polina and Ksenia entered GITIS, the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts, to study under Pyotr Fomenko. The graduates of this class would later form the core of the Pyotr Fomenko Workshop Theatre's original company.

In one of their earliest student productions, Shakespeare's “Twelfth Night”, directed by Yevgeny Kamenkovich in 1990, Polina played Viola and Ksenia played Sebastian. The sisters' striking resemblance was ideally suited to the story of twins separated by a shipwreck and unexpectedly reunited.

Two years later, both appeared in Sergei Zhenovach's production of “The Sound and the Fury”, based on William Faulkner's novel. Polina played Quentin, the daughter of Candace (Caddy) Compson, portrayed by Ksenia. For actresses whose early work had been characterised by exuberance and playfulness, the encounter with tragic material marked a genuine breakthrough. The production contained scenes demanding an extraordinary degree of emotional openness from Polina, something audiences familiar with her earlier roles could hardly have anticipated.

In 1993, Polina and Ksenia appeared in Jean-Luc Godard's film “The Kids Play Russian“. For actresses who had only recently been performing in student productions, working with one of the leading figures of the French New Wave was an unusual continuation of their early experience in cinema. Godard's film explored the imagery of Russian classical literature, including the works of Chekhov.

Another important early role associated with Sergei Zhenovach was Verochka in “A Month in the Country“, based on Ivan Turgenev's play.

A special place in Polina's theatrical career belongs to Pyotr Fomenko's “Egyptian Nights“. She played Volskaya both in the original production and in its later revival. The role revealed her remarkable sensitivity to the subtlest nuances of human relationships, and her ability to change the atmosphere of a scene with a single glance, a pause, or an almost imperceptible movement.

A very different character was Josephine in “The Madwoman of Chaillot“ — a fiercely embittered old woman who continues to wait for her long-murdered president. Polina created a figure who was absurd, funny, and frightening all at once: a woman living in the past, yet whose emotions have lost none of their force.

In Pyotr Fomenko's production of “Three Sisters“, she played Masha, one of Chekhov's most complex heroines.

One of Polina Kutepova's defining performances was Molly Bloom in Yevgeny Kamenkovich's production of „Ulysses”, based on James Joyce's novel. Molly's famous monologue presents one of the most formidable challenges imaginable for a dramatic actress. There is almost no conventional action: thoughts, memories, desires, and resentments follow one another without any apparent sequence, while the human mind moves according to laws of its own.

Polina transformed this immense literary text into living speech on stage. She moves freely from memory to the present, from tenderness to irritation, from mockery to candour, without losing her naturalness for a moment. In her performance, Molly Bloom is not a literary experiment but a living person whose thoughts the audience follows with unwavering interest. For this role, Polina Kutepova received the Golden Mask Award.

Equally ambitious was her title role in Bertolt Brecht's „Mother Courage”. The production rests largely on Polina's shoulders, and she scarcely leaves the stage. Her character trades, argues, struggles to survive, loses her children, and continues dragging her wagon through the war. It is one of those roles that demand not only consummate acting skill but also tremendous physical and emotional stamina.

In „Molly Sweeney”, based on Brian Friel's play, Polina portrayed a woman blind since childhood who regains her sight after an operation. What initially promises to be a story of miraculous recovery becomes a complex exploration of what it means to see the world, and how dangerous it can be to have one's familiar understanding of reality shattered.

In „Dangerous Liaisons”, Polina plays the Marquise de Merteuil, a woman for whom social relationships become an intricately constructed game. Here the actress returns to an elegant, almost weightless manner of stage interaction, concealing calculation, passion, and a desire to control other people's destinies.

Oleg Glushkov's dance-theatre production „Sailors and Whores” also deserves special mention, bringing Polina back on stage alongside Ksenia. For two established dramatic actresses, taking part in a production built primarily around movement and dance was a bold experiment. To date, it remains their most recent stage production together.

Polina also works beyond the Pyotr Fomenko Workshop Theatre. In 2025, she played Berlo in Pyotr Shereshevsky's production of “Rubber Merchants“, based on a play by the Israeli playwright Hanoch Levin. Presented by the Art-Partner theatre agency and staged in a cabaret style, the production brought Polina together with Igor Vernik and Vitaly Kovalenko. The story of three people trying to arrange their lives, bargaining, arguing, and dreaming of happiness combines absurdist humour with unexpectedly poignant undertones.

In cinema, Polina's collaboration with Georgy Daneliya holds a special place in her career. The director conceived the screenplay for “Nastya“ specifically with her in mind. Several years later, while preparing to shoot “Heads and Tails“, he turned to the actress for help in finding performers. Polina brought a substantial part of the cast to the film — a testament to how highly Daneliya valued not only her talent but also her professional judgement.

Polina's other screen credits include “Pelagia and the White Bulldog”, for which she received the Golden Eagle Award, „House of the Wind”, and numerous other films and television series. In „Dead Lake”, she reunited with Ksenia on screen: the sisters played two inseparable librarians, almost like conjoined twins, gleefully turning their own resemblance into a source of utterly absurd humour.

• Awards and Honours
• Special Jury Prize at the Golden Mask Festival for the ensemble of actresses in „The Most Important Thing”, Pyotr Fomenko Workshop Theatre, 2008
• Golden Mask Award nomination for Best Actress in a Drama for the roles of the Frog Princess, the Mother, Tusya, and Lika in “The Most Important Thing”, Pyotr Fomenko Workshop Theatre, 2008
• Golden Mask Award for Best Actress in a Drama for the role of Molly Bloom in “Ulysses”, Pyotr Fomenko Workshop Theatre, 2010
• Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper's Actress of the Year Award, 1995
• Special Prize for Best Young Actress at the Kontakt-96 International Theatre Festival in Poland for “Tanya-Tanya“
• Vera Kholodnaya Prize, „Both Divinity and Inspiration”, 1996
• Kumir (Idol) Award for the role of Verochka in “A Month in the Country”, 1997
• Oven-96 Best Film Actress Award
• Award at the Gatchina Film Festival for “Heads and Tails”, 1996
• Oven-99 Best Film Actress Award
• Woman's Face of the Year Award in the “Revelation“ category for her performance in „Egyptian Nights”, 2002
• Chaika (Seagull) Theatre Award in the “Synchronised Swimming“ category for the acting ensemble of „Three Sisters”, 2004
• Young Artists' Grant from the Triumph Russian Independent Award for Outstanding Achievements in Literature and the Arts, 2004
• Crystal Turandot Award for Best Actress for “Three Sisters”, 2005
• Moscow Prize for Literature and the Arts, Theatre category, for one of the leading roles in “Three Sisters”, 2007
• International Stanislavsky Theatre Award for the 2006–2007 season, Acting Excellence — Female Performance category, recognising her recent stage work (Lady Utterword in “Heartbreak House“, Masha in “Three Sisters”, and her roles in „The Most Important Thing”), 2007
• Commemorative Medal of the Chekhov Moscow Art Theatre marking the 150th anniversary of Anton Chekhov's birth, in recognition of outstanding achievements and personal contribution to the arts, 2010
• Golden Eagle Award for Best Actress on Television for “Pelagia and the White Bulldog”, 2010
• Stanislav and Andrei Rostotsky Prize at the 19th Window to Europe Film Festival for her performance in “House of the Wind”, 2011
• Best Actress Award at the 6th Lipetsk Choice Russian Film Festival for “House of the Wind”, 2011
• Best Actress Award at the Golden Cheetah Film Festival in Tashkent for “House of the Wind”, 2011
• Best Supporting Actress Award at the Cinergo International Film Festival in Athens for “Montevideo Unit”, 2023