Igor Vitalievich Jijikine (

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: И́горь Вита́льевич Жижи́кин; born 8 October 1965) is a Russian-American actor working in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

Early life and career

Jijikine was born in

and from 1983 to 1988 he studied drama and

acrobatics Acrobatics () is the performance of human feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most often performed in acro ...

. From 1982 to 1984, Jijikine performed mandatory military service with the Soviet Special Forces unit

Spetznaz Spetsnaz are special forces in numerous post-Soviet states. (The term is borrowed from rus, спецназ, p=spʲɪtsˈnas; abbreviation for or 'Special Purpose Military Units'; or .) Historically, the term ''spetsnaz'' referred to the So ...

. He performed on stage with the

Moscow State Circus The title Moscow State Circus is used for a variety of circuses. Most commonly, it refers to one of the two circus buildings in Moscow, the " Circus Nikulin" (the old circus, featuring animal acts) and the "Bolshoi Circus" (the new circus, feat ...

,Igor Jijikine official website
. Retrieved 28 December 2013

Donn Arden Donn Arden (1916 or 1917 – November 2, 1994) was an American choreographer and producer. Biography Born Arlyle Arden Peterson Arden to a railway executive and a housewife, he grew up in St. Louis. By the age of nine he was already making mo ...

’s "Jubilee" and

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...

's "Mystere" in Las Vegas.

Film career

Over the recent years, Jijikine has worked with such directors as

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...

and

J. J. Abrams Jeffrey Jacob Abrams (born June 27, 1966) is an American filmmaker and composer. He is best known for his works in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. Abrams wrote and produced such films as '' Regarding Henry'' (1991), '' F ...

and has appeared in numerous commercial spots for major brands. In

's ''

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'' is a 2008 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and the fourth installment in the ''Indiana Jones'' series. Released and taking place 19 years after the previous ...

'', Igor plays the role of Colonel Dovchenko (taking over the series' tough guy role held by the late

Pat Roach Francis Patrick Roach (19 May 1937 – 17 July 2004) was an English professional wrestler, martial artist and actor. During an acting career between the 1970s and the 1990s, he appeared in multiple films, usually cast as a support player strongm ...

), the ruthless leader of the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

commando team searching for the

crystal skull Crystal skulls are human skull hardstone carvings made of clear or milky white quartz (also called "rock crystal"), claimed to be pre-Columbian Mesoamerican artifacts by their alleged finders; however, these claims have been refuted for all of th ...

. His commercially most successful films have been ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'' which grossed US$786 million and '' The Tourist'' which grossed US$278 million worldwide.

Computer games

Jijikine appeared in the

real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turn-based game, turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in Turn-based strategy, turn ...

games, '' Emperor: Battle for Dune'', ''

Red Alert 2 ''Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2'' is a real-time strategy video game which was released for Microsoft Windows on October 25, 2000 as the follow-up to '' Command & Conquer: Red Alert''. ''Red Alert 2'' picks up at the conclusion of the Allied ca ...

'' and its expansion ''

Yuri's Revenge ''Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge'' is an expansion pack to '' Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2'' developed by Westwood Studios. The game was released in North America on October 10, 2001 Westwood Studios Westwood Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was founded by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle in 1985 as Brelous Software, but got changed after 2 months into Westwood Associates and was renamed to Westw ...

. In addition to appearing in the games' cutscene sequences, he modeled as a Soviet soldier appearing in the front cover of ''Red Alert 2''.Igor Jijikine
/ref>

Sports

Igor is an accomplished sportsman and was honored as Master of Sports in Russia.

Filmography

References

External links

* *
Igor Jijikine on Kino-Teatr.Ru
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jijikine, Igor 1965 births Living people Russian male film actors Russian male television actors Russian male voice actors Male actors from Moscow Russian emigrants to the United States