Sergei Vytautovich Puskepalis ( rus, Сергей Витаутович Пускепалис; 15 April 1966 – 20 September 2022) was a Russian actor and

theatre director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

. He is best known for his roles in the award-winning movies '' Simple Things'' (2006) and ''

How I Ended This Summer ''How I Ended This Summer'' (russian: Как я провёл этим летом, translit. ''Kak ya provyol etim letom'') is a 2010 Russian drama film directed by Alexei Popogrebski. It was critically acclaimed and garnered several awards ...

'' (2010), both directed by

Alexei Popogrebski Alexei Petrovich Popogrebski (russian: Алексе́й Петро́вич Попогре́бский; born 7 August 1972) is a Russian film director and screenwriter. His 2010 film '' How I Ended This Summer'' was nominated for the Golden Bear ...

. For his performances, he won a

Nika Award The Nika Award (sometimes styled NIKA Award) is the main annual national film award in Russia, presented by the Russian Academy of Cinema Arts and Science, and seen as the national equivalent of the Oscars. History The award was established i ...

for Best Actor in 2008, as well as a

Silver Bear for Best Actor The Silver Bear for Best Actor (german: Silberner Bär/Bester Darsteller) was an award presented at the Berlin International Film Festival from 1956 to 2020. It was given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance and was chosen by ...

at the

60th Berlin International Film Festival The 60th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 11 to 21 February 2010, with Werner Herzog as President of the Jury. The opening film of the festival was Chinese director Wang Quan'an's romantic drama ''Apart Together'', in comp ...

in 2010.

Early life

Sergei Puskepalis was born in 1966 to a Lithuanian father and a Bulgarian mother from

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 ...

, in

Kursk Kursk ( rus, Курск, p=ˈkursk) is a city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur, Tuskar, and Seym rivers. The area around Kursk was the site of a turning point in the Soviet–German stru ...

, then

Soviet Union 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 national ...

.Сергей Витауто Пускепалис
/ref> Sergei studied in

Saratov Saratov (, ; rus, Сара́тов, a=Ru-Saratov.ogg, p=sɐˈratəf) is the largest city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River upstream (north) of Volgograd. Saratov had a population of 901,36 ...

, the Saratov Drama School, then went on active duty in the Soviet Navy, worked as an actor in the Saratov Youth Theatre, studied at the

Russian Institute of Theatre Arts The Russian Institute of Theatre Arts (GITIS) (russian: Российский институт театрального искусства – ГИТИС) is the largest and oldest independent theatrical arts school in Russia. Located in Moscow, ...

, he graduated in 2001. After graduating from the

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 ...

GITIS The Russian Institute of Theatre Arts (GITIS) (russian: Российский институт театрального искусства – ГИТИС) is the largest and oldest independent theatrical arts school in Russia. Located in Moscow, ...

, he staged the play "Twenty-Seven" Alexey Slapovsky and this performance was one of the festival Baltic House. Afterwards, he put on the play by Alexey Slapovsky "From red to green rat star" in

Omsk Omsk (; rus, Омск, p=omsk) is the administrative center and largest city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia, and has a population of over 1.1 million. Omsk is the third largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk ...

"Fifth theater". Sergei Puskepalis repeatedly staged performances of Slapovsky's plays. He worked as a director in the

Samara Samara ( rus, Сама́ра, p=sɐˈmarə), known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev (; ), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with ...

theater "Monday". From May 2003 to 2007 Sergei Puskepalis - chief director of the Magnitogorsk Drama Theatre named after A. S. Pushkin. 2007 - production director of the Moscow theater studio under the direction of Oleg Tabakov. From June 2009 to February 2010 - chief director of the Russian State Academic Drama Theater named after Fyodor Volkov in city of

Yaroslavl Yaroslavl ( rus, Ярослáвль, p=jɪrɐˈsɫavlʲ) is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historic part of the city is a World Heritage Site, and is located at the confluence ...

. Puskepalis was invited to many famous Russian drama theaters to stage theater productions.

Career

In 2003 Puskepalis started to act in movies. His first role was a cameo in the film '' The Stroll''. Sergei Puskepalis met the film director

on the set of the film ''

Roads to Koktebel ''Roads to Koktebel'' (russian: Коктебель, Koktebel) is a 2003 Russian adventure drama film directed by Boris Khlebnikov and Aleksey Popogrebskiy. Plot A Boy with his Father go to the sea. They come in a freight car in the trucker's ca ...

'', in which his son, actor Gleb Puskepalis, played. Later Popogrebski invited Sergei Puskepalis to star roles in the films '' Simple Things'' and ''

''. In 2015, the film ''

Clinch Clinch may refer to: * Nail (fastener) or device to hold in this way * Clinching, in metalworking * Clinch fighting or the clinch, a grappling position in boxing or wrestling, a stand-up embrace * Clinch County, Georgia, USA * Clinch River, near T ...

'' which Sergei Puskepalis made as a film director had its premiere at the

Yerevan International Film Festival The ''Golden Apricot'' Yerevan International Film Festival (GAIFF) ( hy, «Ոսկե Ծիրան» Երևանի միջազգային կինոփառատոն) is an annual film festival held in Yerevan, Armenia. The festival was founded in 2004 w ...

. The picture is an adaptation of the play by Alexey Slapovsky which Sergei Puskepalis staged in

Ufa Ufa ( ba, Өфө , Öfö; russian: Уфа́, r=Ufá, p=ʊˈfa) is the largest city and capital city, capital of Bashkortostan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Belaya River (Kama), Belaya and Ufa River, Ufa rivers, in the centre-n ...

. Puskepalis was an active supporter of the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

Personal life and death

Sergei Puskepalis married Elena in 1991. Their son Gleb Puskepalis was born in 1992. Sergei Puskepalis died on 20 September 2022 at the age of 56, in

Yaroslavl Oblast Yaroslavl Oblast (russian: Яросла́вская о́бласть, ''Yaroslavskaya oblast'') is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), which is located in the Central Federal District, surrounded by Tver, Moscow, Ivanovo, Vladimir, Kostroma ...

in a car accident. He was driving an armored minibus to

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; uk, Донецьк, translit=Donets'k ; russian: Донецк ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin and Stalino (see also: Names of European cities in different languages (C–D), cities' alternat ...

, with the intention of giving it to the formations of the

Donetsk People's Republic The Donetsk People's Republic ( rus, Донецкая Народная Республика, Donetskaya Narodnaya Respublika, dɐˈnʲetskəjə nɐˈrodnəjə rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə; abbreviated as DPR or DNR, rus, ДНР) is a Territorial ...

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Puskepalis, Sergei 1966 births 2022 deaths People from Kursk Road incident deaths in Russia Russian male film actors Russian male stage actors Russian theatre directors Russian film directors Silver Bear for Best Actor winners Recipients of the Nika Award 21st-century Russian male actors Russian people of Lithuanian descent Russian people of Bulgarian descent Honored Artists of the Russian Federation