- Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the first comedian to become President in Ukraine. He was trained as a lawyer in college but never practiced the legal profession
- He created his own entertainment outfit called Kvartal 95 which produces films, cartoons, T.V shows, and stand-up comedy
- Zelenskyy featured as president in a comedy series called Servant of the people and it turned out to be a reality for him, having been elected as Ukraine’s 6th president on the 21st of April 2019
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the wartime president of Ukraine rose to occupy the country’s highest office in very unsuspecting circumstances. He used to be a comedian before he ever knew he was going to be the number one citizen of Ukraine.
Zeleneskky has undoubtedly narrowed the gap of politics and comedy; a venture that is erroneously attributed to unserious people. He stands today as one of the most celebrated presidents in the world despite having a background that is centered around jokes and laughter.
Early Life Background of The Ukrainian President
Volodymyr, the sixth president of Ukraine was born on the 25th of January 1978 in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine. His father Oleksandr Zelenskyy is a professor and head of Cybernetics and computing hardware at the Kryvyi Rih State University of Economics and Technology. His mother was an engineer while his grandfather, Semyon Ivanovych Zelenskyy served in the Red Army during World War ii.
Zelensky was brought up as an only child in Erdenet, Mongolia where his father worked for four years. As regards his education, went to Krivoy Rog where he studied English. Although both his parents were engineers, he had his calling into the performing arts since he was a child. Hence, he took part in amateur school stage productions
Zelenskyy grew up speaking Russian but he is proficient in the Mongolian and English languages as well. He passed the test of English as a foreign language at age 16 and received an educational grant to study in Israel. His father did not let him go, making him study in the same university he was teaching.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy Studied Law at the University
Though Zelenskyy studied law at the prestigious Kyiv National Economic University, he decided to venture into his first love, which is comedy. He never practiced law since after graduation except for a period of two months.
He has a couple of creative comedy works and movies to his credit that we will be looking at in this article.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Entertainment Career
Since he was in 11th grade, the future president of Ukraine alongside his friend, Dennis Manzhosov developed an interest in KVN. Hence, it was not surprising when Zelensky joined the Russian humor TV show in the 1990s. The show has teams compete by giving funny answers to questions and showing prepared sketches.
He was part of the Zaporizhia-Kryvyi Rih-Transit team of Ukrain in the show. He was said to have participated in the Major league of the KVN and won in 1997. It was the same year that Zelenskyy launched Kvartal 95. He used the platform to start producing shows for the Ukrainian T.V 1+1. In 2005, Zelenskyy’s team moved to Inter. A Ukrainian Television channel that covers over 99 percent of the territory of Ukraine. Inter is also among the most-watched T.V in Ukraine. This greatly influenced his popularity throughout Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president created his production company called Kvartal 95 which produces films, cartoons, and T.V shows in 2003. The name of the production company was gotten from the Kryvyi Rih neighborhood, 95th Kvartal.
He played the role of a high school teacher that became the president of Ukraine in his 2015 comedy series; Servant of the People.
His success at the presidential polls could largely be attributed to the fame he got as President in his T.V series: Servant of the people. The same series influenced a political party bearing the same name as the T.V show. This could be said to be the good beginning of his journey to politics.
SEE ALSO: Oleksandr Zelensky: Volodymyr Zelenskyy’ Father Is Famous- 10 Facts About Him
More About Volodymyr’s Acting Career
The first movie that the Ukrainian president featured in is Love in the Big City, a romantic comedy that was released in 2009. The sequel of the movie was released in 2010 and 2014 as directed by Maryus Vaysberg.
Other comedy movies that Volodymyr featured in are
1. Office Romance. Our time
- Released – March 17, 2011
- Director – Sarik Andreasyan
- Language – Russian
- Budget – $5 million
2. Rzhevsky Versus Napoleon
- Released – January 18, 2012
- Director – Maryus Vaysberg
- Language – Russian
- Budget – $8.5 million
3. 8 First Dates
- Released – 2012
- Director – David Dodson
- Language – Russian
- Budget – $2.3 Million
Apart from his movies, Volodymyr also did the voice-over of Paddington bear in the Ukrainian dubbing of 2014 and 2017. He is as well the producer of Svaty, a Russian-Ukrainian comedy series.
The series was banned from broadcast in Ukraine on the 29th of November 2017 and the Featured actor Fyodor Dabronravov was also banned from entering Ukraine for three years.
The reason for the ban was because the series showed the Russian annexation of Crimea. The ban was however lifted on the 17th of May 2018.
What Was His Net Worth As a Comedian?
$1.5 million dollars is estimated to be Zelenskyy’s net worth when he was still in the business of comedy and entertainment. He kept pushing through in the industry from the tender age of 17 until he became president.
Though the comedian turned president was previously accused of getting part of his wealth from corrupt offshore business deals. Zelensky and his business partners were said to have offshore companies they used to buy lavish properties. The Ukrainian president continued to strongly dismiss these claims.
Zelenskyy’s Political Journey From Comedy
Volodymyr had earlier denied the claims that he was running for the presidency when his new party was registered. In what could be described as a U-Turn, he later announced his candidacy on the 31st of December 2018, less than four months to the election.
During his campaigns, Zelenskyy did not make much use of the mainstream/traditional media. He engaged electorates mainly with social media. He also used his talent in comedy as an advantage; conducting stand-up comedy routines across Ukraine that also served as a campaign tool. During his campaigns, he sold himself out as one who will fight corruption and restore trust in the system.
Zelenskyy was elected president of Ukraine on the 21st of April 2019, beating the incumbent, Petro Poroshenko with a landslide victory. He became the first Jewish president of Ukraine serving alongside another Jewish prime minister, Volodymyr Groysman.
His Wife and Children are Also Into Entertainment
Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine also rose from the entertainment corridors to become the first woman of the country. The pair got married in 2003 after the former schoolmates dated for 8 years.
Though she studied architecture, she later became a screenwriter. She worked as a writer for her husband’s entertainment outfit for several years. After she joined him to have a political career, she got named one of the most influential individuals in the country.
The marriage between the pair is blessed with two kids, Aleksandra Zelenskaya, born in 2004, and then Kiril Zelenskiy, born in 2013. Voldodymyr’s two children Oleksandra and Kyrylo were also moving fast on the lane of entertainment until their lives became more private for obvious reasons.
Oleksandra his first daughter was previously featured in her father’s movie, 8 New Dates where she acted as Sasha. She has also won 50,000 hryvnias from a comedy competition called Laugh the Comedian.
