One fate for two: How the lives of the actresses of the Kutepov sisters developed

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

They say that there is a very close bond between twins, they feel each other at a distance and often choose similar professions. But the fates of the sisters Ksenia and Polina Kutepov are striking in their particular synchronicity. It seems that they divide everything in life in two and follow parallel paths: both became actresses, both graduated from GITIS, both ended up in the "Pyotr Fomenko Workshop", both made their film debut at the age of 10, both married directors. But their friends claim that in fact the sisters are completely different, both in character and in appearance. One has only to take a closer look …

In fact, there are three Kutepov sisters - Polina and Ksenia also have an older sister, Zlata, who was the first to "fall ill" with theater, studying in a theater studio, arranging home performances and infecting her sisters with this hobby. Emotional, active and temperamental, Zlata has always been the undisputed authority and role model for her calmer and phlegmatic sisters. Following her, Ksenia and Polina came to the children's film school and to the dance studio of the Palace of Pioneers. "Mosfilm" was located nearby, and directors' assistants often visited them in search of young talents. The charming red-haired sisters attracted their attention, and already at the age of 10 they first saw themselves on the screens - together with Zlata they starred in the film "Vasily and Vasilisa".

They themselves said that in childhood they really lived one life for two. Ksenia recalled: "". They were always together, and their memories were shared. There was no rivalry between them - they just got used to being close and equal to each other all the time. At the same time, both were very similar. Polina said: "".

4 years after the film debut, Zlata starred in another film, and this is where her acting career ended - later she got a job on television. But her sisters forever linked their destinies with this profession. After their first roles, their photographs were added to the Mosfilm's filing cabinet, and the twin sisters began to be offered new roles. The first popularity came to them after the film with the symbolic title - "Red-haired, honest, in love." True, now both call their children's work "frivolous."

The sisters entered the theater together. They were advised to take the entrance exams one by one - acting courses are small everywhere, and the same actresses are not needed anywhere - but the Kutepovs came together and played one poem by Kharms. And contrary to all predictions, both were credited. Pyotr Fomenko took charming red-haired twins on his course. Although the years of study became a real test for them, and during this time they more than once lost faith in their own strengths and even thought that the acting profession was the wrong path, thanks to Fomenko they were able to reveal their creative potential. Almost their entire course was transformed into the Pyotr Fomenko Workshop Theater, which since 1993 has literally become their second home.

Both of them call Pyotr Fomenko the "Master" who shaped them both as individuals and as actresses. Ksenia says: "". The Kutepov sisters no longer imagine how they could perform in different theaters - over the years, the spiritual connection between them has become even stronger.

Although both of them began acting very early and in childhood they played in films only together, in the future their creative paths in cinema diverged. The cinematic fate of Polina Kutepova was more successful: in 1993 she played the main role in the film by Georgy Danelia "Nastya", where her partners on the set were Yevgeny Leonov and Alexander Abdulov. Two years later, she got the main role in another Danelia's film "Heads and Tails", where Oleg Basilashvili, Stanislav Govorukhin and Leonid Yarmolnik were filmed with her. After these two works, she "woke up famous."

In fact, the Kutepov sisters are not twins, but twins, and to those who know them closely, it seems that they are not at all alike: Ksenia has more clearly delineated facial features and a voice with a slight hoarseness, by nature she is softer, funny and careless Polina has a louder voice and softer facial features, she is more sedate, but also more decisive, she is called a typical introvert. However, both are equally talented.

When a romantic relationship appeared in their life, both were at first very jealous of each other, because before that they were always only together. But even their weddings they played with a difference of half a month. It is also surprising that directors became the chosen ones of both sisters: Ksenia's husband is film director Sergei Osipyan, Polina's husband is theater director Yevgeny Kamenkovich. Only after marriage, the sisters parted for the first time and healed on their own. Although the Kutepovs continued to meet in the theater, each of them had their own social circle. Polina had a daughter, Nadezhda, in 1997, Ksenia had a son, Vasily, in 2002, and 3 years later, a daughter, Lydia.

Both of them consider theater to be their main vocation, although they continue to actively act in films. In the 2000s. the creative destinies of the sisters in the cinema were equally successful. In 2009, Polina Kutepova played 2 roles at once (nun Pelagia and socialite Polina Lisitsyna) in the film adaptation of Boris Akunin's novel Pelagia and the White Bulldog. It is interesting that the actors for the main roles in the film by Yuri Moroz were personally approved by the author of the novel. Akunin said: "".

In the same year, Ksenia Kutepova also played a nun - in the melodrama Spring is Coming, and a year later she starred in the TV series Doctor Tyrsa. In the filmography of both sisters at the moment there are more than 30 works. In 2019, they delighted viewers by reappearing on the screens together - the sisters played Siamese twins in the Dead Lake TV series.

In parallel, the creative paths of other famous twins followed: The most famous twins of Russian show business.