Maxim Stoyanov (russian: Максим Владимирович Стоянов; born June 29, 1987) is a Russian stage and film actor, known for his work in the 2019 American comedy drama '' Give Me Liberty''.

Biography

Stoyanov was born in Tighina, in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic,

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

(now Bender, under the control of

Transnistria Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), is an unrecognised breakaway state that is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova. Transnistria controls most of the narrow strip of land between the Dniester riv ...

, which is internationally recognized as part of

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

) into the family of a train machinist and a factory worker. He studied at the Moscow Art Theatre School under

Konstantin Raikin Konstantin Arkadyevich Raikin (russian: Константи́н Арка́дьевич Ра́йкин; July 8, 1950, Leningrad, USSR) is a Russian Federation, Russian actor and theatre director, the head of the Satyricon (theatre), Moscow Satyrico ...

, graduating in 2013. His first film role was in ''The Hope Factory'', which premiered at the Rotterdam IFF. Stoyanov garnered critical acclaim for his portrayal of Dima in '' Give Me Liberty''.

Justin Chang Justin Choigee Chang (born January 3, 1983) is an American film critic and columnist for the ''Los Angeles Times''. He previously worked for ''Variety''. Early life Justin Chang graduated from the University of Southern California in 2004. Chan ...

of The

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

likened Stoyanov’s character to “a walking mascot for the movie’s big-heartedness; he may be the one character who, no matter how chaotic things get — and they get pretty chaotic — is delighted simply to be there.” “The movie's most big-hearted character is a Russian boxer named Dima played by Maxim Stoyanov with a boisterous charm that lights up his every scene.” Film Comment compared Stoyanov to a “muscle-bound young James Gandolfini”, whose character “has the eagerness of a large Alsatian puppy, and exudes the sort of undiluted force-of-nature comic charisma that filmmakers pray will miraculously fall out of the sky and into their cast.” Manohla Dargis of

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

placed “fantastic Max Stoyanov” in her 2020 list of Oscar-worthy performances. In Russia, Stoyanov’s work in '' Give Me Liberty'' also received critical and public acclaim. Stoyanov has also appeared in the Russian TV series ''Shifr'' by Vera Storozheva and ''The Missing'' by

Vadim Perelman Vadim Perelman ( ukr, Вадим Перельман; born 8 September 1963) is a Ukrainian-Canadian-American film director. Perelman made his feature film directorial debut in 2003 with '' House of Sand and Fog'', following a successful career as ...

Selected filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{IMDb name, 6244217 Russian male actors Moscow Art Theatre School alumni 1987 births Living people People from Bender, Moldova