The role of Vera Voronina brought the artist both fame and difficulties: at the castings, only a positive heroine was seen in the star of the series. But Ekaterina Volkova dreamed of playing in dramas, and not just in comedies.
For 24 seasons, Ekaterina Volkova was Vera Voronina for the audience. The image of a housewife is so merged with the actress that some fans believed that Volkova and her on-screen husband Georgy Dronov had a real romance. The phrase of the artist in an interview that the performers of the main roles in the sitcom during the filming “lived as a family” only provoked suspicions.
It seems that the audience was wishful thinking, because Dronov is raising two children from his wife Lada, but Volkova is happily married to architect and choreographer Andrei Karpov. However, in the family life of Catherine, problems were brewing more than once. On January 15, the artist turns 40, and we tell how she managed to resolve personal and professional crises.
Long road to fame
Ekaterina Valerievna Volkova was born in Tallinn in the family of a diplomat and a housewife. Dad worked a lot, so my mother and grandmother were mainly involved with my daughter and son Leonid. The latter was a kindergarten teacher and had a huge impact on the development of her grandchildren.
From an early age, Katya was distinguished by her artistry and loved to perform in front of the public: in the hairdresser’s where her aunt worked, the girl gave real concerts. The visitors laughed that the child would make a fine actress, not realizing how right they were.
The prediction began to come true when the graduate applied to the Shchepkinskoye school. Parents did not resist, but were not delighted with their daughter’s decision: relatives wanted Catherine to get a more reliable and stable profession. After graduating from high school with a red diploma, Volkova herself faced the pitfalls of her specialty – getting into large theaters turned out to be a difficult task.
The graduate was accepted into the State Theater of the Film Actor, but it didn’t work out for a long time with samples in films. At that time, Ekaterina fulfilled her promise to her father and entered the Financial Academy, seriously believing that if the losing streak dragged on, then she could go to work in a bank. However, in parallel, the artist taught stage speech and played on the stage.
The first step to fame for the actress was, oddly enough, shooting in a commercial: a dancing housewife throwing a bouillon cube into the water was remembered not only by the audience, but also by filmmakers. Ekaterina began to be invited to the series: “Kulagin and partners”, “Lyuba, children and the factory …”, “Who is the boss in the house?”
The most famous housewife of the country
Volkova received her first major roles in the films Alibi Agency and New Year’s Ambush. “Sentence”, “Crazy Angel” and “Pathfinder” did not bring popularity to the actress, which cannot be said about the long-awaited work in the “Voronins”. Interestingly, the artist had to come to the audition twice: at 25, her candidacy was rejected because of her age, then the project was frozen, and at 28, finally, Ekaterina became Vera Voronina.
“We all graduated from the same university: me, Yegor Dronov, Boris Klyuev, who also teaches there, and Anna Frolovtseva. Only Stanislav Duzhnikov graduated from the Moscow Art Theater. We all feel each other, we understand, we have a second family, ”Volkova said after several years of filming.
After nine years of work in the sitcom, the mood of the actress has changed, because along with the popularity came the realization that she was bogged down in one role. “We are branded with the Voronins. It often happens that you come to the casting, and they immediately recognize you, they say that the type does not fit. It happens that they are confused with another actress Ekaterina Volkova. Sometimes it all adds up and I cry in the bathroom. There is no work. There is nothing to show at major film festivals, and this, of course, is frustrating. However, I have no doubt that after the end of the Voronins I will continue to play in the theater. Cinema will also come, but it will be later, ”the artist reasoned in an interview for the Empathy Manuchi YouTube channel three years ago.
New projects
In 2019, the sitcom was closed, and the question of filming the continuation of the series disappeared when Boris Klyuev, who played the role of Nikolai Petrovich, died. How much has changed for Volkova in recent years?
It is worth noting that in parallel with the sitcom, there were shootings of the sun, the heroine of which was closer to Volkova: in life, the actress is a collected, determined and sometimes tough person, unlike the patient Vera. The artist also appeared in “Lessons of Survival” and “Short Waves”, but after the closure of the “Voronins” she got the main role in the TV series “Love Heals”.
According to the story, Ekaterina’s heroine, businesswoman Svetlana Bazhenova, finds out that she has cancer, but then it turns out that the tests were mixed up, and it is not she who dies, but her husband’s mistress. Svetlana generously decides to help her rival, but the treacherous husband behaves like a scoundrel. “We have gathered a very cool team led by director Maria Makhanko. We understood each other so easily that I even came to the site on my birthday, although I didn’t have a shift that day,
The work was not always associated with a friendly atmosphere and positive. So, Catherine admitted that she was faced with harassment, although “not on the forehead.” “I very carefully left, laughing off, translating the topic so that there would not be such a direct conflict in the forehead. But I didn’t work there, I have excellent relations with people. We do not touch on these topics, but we communicate. I understand that there was an attempt. We could agree – to each his own. But I was not interested, I think that it is not necessary. Yes, times are different now. Now you definitely can’t get into the cinema through the bed – it’s more like the beginning of the 2000s, ”Volkova reasoned.
Betrayal of the groom and marriage with the choreographer
Now everyone admires the strong family of the actress with Andrei Karpov, but before meeting with the architect, Ekaterina experienced a serious love drama. She was going to marry her boyfriend, they had already appointed a wedding day, and literally the day before it was revealed that the groom had cheated on the artist.
“We have always trusted each other. We had two identical phones, he could answer all my calls, and I could answer his. We were driving in a car, and I pick up my boyfriend’s phone and say: “Oh, you have an unsent message here,” and he: “Yes, read it.” And I open it and see the text: “Sunny, cat, I’m waiting for you, where are you?” – Volkova recalled in the program “Personal” of the channel “Russia 1”.
The next week, the unfortunate groom tried to make amends: he came to Katya with flowers, assured that there was nothing, and the bride was just winding herself up. There was no honest confession, and Volkova put an end to the relationship on this.
Three weeks later, the actress received an invitation from Andrei Karpov to a dance lesson: the architect and choreographer had been to Catherine’s performances, and he liked the girl very much. A common acquaintance of the couple, Daria Sagalova, hinted to Andrei that Volkova was free, and Karpov decided to arrange an original first date. Well, Katya thought, why not unwind, instead of suffering for the traitor-former.
Thus began a relationship full of romance and tenderness. For example, once Karpov blindfolded his chosen one and brought him to the forest to fry sausages on a fire, watching the stars. Well, the choreographer made an offer in a Parisian restaurant after a year of dating the actress. Of course, the artist answered the coveted “yes”.
The lovers got married in 2010, and a year later they became the parents of Lisa’s daughter. “We have an Italian family – with a stormy showdown and the same reconciliation. But I like that we are not silent, we do not accumulate negativity. So we are moving into the next decade with the same temperamental and openness, ”said Ekaterina.
A crisis
Do not think that the spouses managed to avoid major quarrels and relationship problems. So, in 2013, the crisis was provoked by Andrey’s participation in the show “Dancing with the Stars” paired with Elena Podkaminskaya. It all started with the fact that, together with the actress “Kitchen”, the architect flew to train in Paris – a special city for Catherine, because it was there that her husband proposed to her. The period of preparation for the show coincided with Karpov’s birthday, and he celebrated the holiday in a restaurant with Podkaminskaya, and he didn’t even answer the phone to his wife …
When Andrei returned home, Catherine breathed a sigh of relief: her husband behaved as usual. But then the actress looked into her husband’s tablet and saw dozens of photos of Podkaminskaya taken on the trip. Karpov explained that he became friends with Elena, but nothing more connects them. Volkova’s jealousy subsided … before the start of filming “Dancing with the Stars.”
Andrey constantly published photos with his project partner on social networks: here they are holding hands, and here he is whispering something confidentially into the actress’s ear … Volkova was indignant, but the choreographer emphasized that this was a work process, and at one time he had to endure screen kisses of the wife with Georgy Dronov.
“There was very little left before the final of“ Dances … ”when a particularly aggressive and ugly scandal broke out between us,” Volkova admitted. – And in annoyance, I shouted to Andrei: “I’m tired of everything! These dances of yours, they have caused a split between us. It’s impossible to live like this! Let’s get divorced!” – “Let’s! It is high time!” Andrei shouted back. And he left, slamming the door. “OK it’s all over Now. He left for good. To her. Exactly what I had imagined all this time happened, I thought. “But what will happen to me?” After all, I am his wife, I love him, I do not want any divorce!”
At that difficult moment, thoughts of suicide began to creep into my head, but as soon as my sleepy daughter left the room, the actress cut off gloomy thoughts. Catherine calmed down and spoke frankly with her husband, asking why he so easily agreed to a divorce in the heat of a quarrel. Andrei explained that he was offended, because instead of rooting for him before the final of an important project, his wife made scandals. Karpov stressed that he never cheated on his beloved, and Volkova changed her anger to mercy.
“I gained patience and really began to wait for November 2013 – the finals of“ Dances … ”And when Andrei and Lena won, they themselves were hardly more happy than I was. I remember, like crazy, I jumped and screamed with delight and rushed to hug my husband … And I saw that he was very pleased. It is with me that he wants to share his joy – and with no one else! I just don’t know if he guessed that most of my joy still related not to his victory, but to the very fact of the end of the project, ”said Ekaterina.
Just together
The crisis was over, and subsequently Volkova concluded that such tests strengthen relations, although she would not like to repeat the plot. Catherine also realized that she was not happy with the cooperation with her husband: together they led the health project “Mr. and Mrs. Z”.
“This is the moment when our visions collide. We got to scandals, we swore, put up, I shouted: “I won’t stand in the frame!” I realized that working together – no, it’s hard. Just like in Dancing with the Stars. We also had a moment when we danced one number together. It’s been a week of hell. I danced with my partner, I could do anything, I pair up with Andrey: no, you are stupid, you don’t understand where you led your leg … I say: “You explain to me step by step how you explain to others.” Also, when the operator climbed the camera right in the face, I said: “Go away!” I can’t imagine how husbands and wives work together, we are both too quick-tempered, ”the star emphasized.
Despite passionate quarrels and past conflicts, the actress and architect love each other and do not intend to part. Last year, the couple celebrated their 11th wedding anniversary in the company of star friends: Ekaterina put on a white dress, while Andrei again knelt down and put a ring on her finger.
“Destroying is elementary: take it and disperse. But to save is a colossal work that needs to be done together. I look at my parents – 40 years together. They can swear among themselves, but they always put up, appreciate and love each other very much. You reconsider your views, you understand what you could lose. Therefore, if there are misunderstandings, we always talk, ”the actress summed up in an interview with StarHit.
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