Ivan Urgant

Russian television host, presenter and actor (born 1978)

Vnuuk
Grisha Urgant

CitizenshipRussia, IsraelAlma materSaint Petersburg State Theatre Arts AcademyOccupation(s)Television host, actorYears active1999-presentTelevisionEvening UrgantSpouses

Karina Avdeeva

(divorced)

Natalia Kiknadze

(m. 2007)

Ivan Andreyevich Urgant (born 16 April 1978) is a Russian television host, presenter and actor.^[1] His best known roles in film are Boris in the Yolki series and as Danila in Lucky Trouble. Between 2012 and 2022 he has hosted Evening Urgant, a late-night talk show, which was suspended in February 2022. According to the 2008 and 2011 surveys, Urgant is Russia's most popular TV presenter.^[2] He is the chairman of the board of trustees of the Friends Charitable Foundation.^[3]^[4]

Biography

Early life

Urgant was born in Leningrad, USSR into a family of actors, the son of Andrei Urgant and Valeriya Kiseleva. His paternal grandparents were actors Nina Urgant and Lev Milinder. His Estonian surname Urgant comes from Nina's father, Nikolai Andreyevich Urgant, a NKVD Major from Luga and a son of Räpina-born Hindrik Urgand.^[5]^[6] He is of mixed Russian, Estonian, and Jewish heritage.^[7] About a year after Ivan's birth the family separated. After his parents broke up, he lived with his mother and stepfather - Leningrad actor Dmitri Ladygin.^[8]

Urgant studied at the Leningrad Children's Music School No. 18, at the Gymnasium at the State Russian Museum. He graduated from Saint Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy.^[9] After receiving his acting education, Urgant did not engage in theater as the main profession. He worked as a waiter, bartender, and then as a host in nightly shows in clubs. In 2018, it was reported he had taken Israeli citizenship.^[10]

Career

In 1999, Urgant managed to get a job at a St. Petersburg radio station. In addition, he appeared on television, where he was the host of the program Petersburg Courier on 5TV. Later, he was moved to Moscow and continued his career on the radio - first on Russian Radio, and then on "Hit-FM."

In May 2001, Urgant first appeared on Moscow television, on the television channel MTV Russia.^[11] He received an invitation to a casting at a time when Olga Shelest and Anton Komolov were looking for a couple of hosts to team up with on the show Cheerful Morning.^[11] Since 2002, after the departure of the original team of VJs of "MTV Russia", he began to host the programs Total Show^[12] and Expresso.^[13]

From 2003 to 2005 he was involved in a number of TV projects on the Russia-1: he was the host of TV show People's Artist and Pyramid.^[2] He has been working on Channel One since 2005.^[13]^[14] At the moment, Urgant is a TV presenter in the programs Smak, Evening Urgant and Prozhektorperiskhilton.^[15] He also often conducts award ceremonies.

Starting from 2006, Urgant has appeared with Vladimir Pozner in the travel documentary series titled Travels of Pozner and Urgant.^[16]

In 2007, 2009, 2010 (2), 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2016, Urgant was awarded TEFI.^[17]

On 16 May 2009, he presented the finale of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest with former Russian Eurovision participant Alsou.^[18] In December 2017, Urgant was one of the hosts of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Team Draw Show, with Gary Lineker and Maria Komandnaya.^[19]

On 24 February 2022, he posted "No to War" on his Instagram account following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia after which his late-night programme was taken off-air.^[20] It was reported that he left Russia for Israel with his wife on 11 March.^[21]

Other ventures

Since 2011, Urgant has co-owned a restaurant in Moscow, The Sad (Russian: Сад) Garden, with Aleksandr Tsekalo.^[22] He has been a board member and co-owner of the real estate agency W1Evans since 2016.^[22]^[23]

Filmography

Actor

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (September 2017)

Streets of Broken Lights, 1999, as Nikolay "Mammoth" Kolesnikov
Yolki, 2010, as Boris Vorobyov
Lucky Trouble, 2011, as Danya
Vysotsky. Thank You For Being Alive, 2011, as Seva Kulagin
Yolki 2, 2011, as Boris Vorobyov
Yolki 3, 2013, as Boris Vorobyov
Yolki 1914, 2014, as Boris Yefimovich
Yolki 5, 2016, as Boris Vorobyov
Ice, 2018, cameo
Yolki 6, 2017, as Boris Vorobyov
Yolki 7, 2018, as Boris Vorobyov
Yolki 8, 2018, as Boris Vorobyov

Host

Urgant has hosted various TV shows, including:

Petersburg Courier (5TV, 1999)
Big Movie (MTV Russia, 2001)
Cheerful Morning together with Olga Shelest (MTV Russia, 2001–2002)
Total Show (MTV Russia, 2002)
Expresso together with Tatyana Gevorkyan (MTV Russia, 2002–2004)
People's Artist together with Fyokla Tolstaya (Russia-1, 2003–2004)
Pyramid (Russia-1, 2004)
Great Premiere (Channel One, 2005)
Spring with Ivan Urgant (Channel One, 2006)
Gusto (Channel One; 2006–2018)
Circus With Stars together with Alexandra Volkovskaya (Channel One, 2007–2008)
Stenka na stenku together with Aleksandr Tsekalo (Showdown) (Channel One, 2007–2008)
The Magic World of Walt Disney (Channel One, 2007–2011)
Big Difference together with Aleksandr Tsekalo (Channel One, 2008–2012)
One-Storied America together with Vladimir Pozner (Channel One, 2008)
Prozhektorperiskhilton together with Aleksandr Tsekalo, Garik Martirosyan and Sergei Svetlakov (Channel One, 2008–2012, 2017)
Tour de France together with Vladimir Pozner (Channel One, 2011)
Evening Urgant (Channel One; 2012–2022)
Their Italia together with Vladimir Pozner (Channel One; 2012)
The German Puzzle together with Vladimir Pozner (Channel One; 2013)
England in general and particular together with Vladimir Pozner (Channel One; 2014)
Jewish Happiness together with Vladimir Pozner (Channel One; 2016)
Podmoskovnie vechera (Channel One; 2016–2017). Producer.
In search of Don Quixote together with Vladimir Pozner (Channel One; 2017)
The Most. The Most. The Most together with Vladimir Pozner (Channel One; 2019)
Japan. The reverse side of the kimono together with Vladimir Pozner (Channel One; 2021)

Music

Ivan Urgant plays guitar, piano and drums.^[24] In the late 1990s he acted under the pseudonym Vnuk (Russian: Внук - Grandson). In 2011 Ivan renewed his own singing career and now is acting under the pseudonym Grisha Urgant.^[25]

Discography

1999 — "Star"
2012 — "Estrada"

Theatrical experience

Savva Vasilkov in the play of the Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre "Mad Money".^[26]

References

^ "Иван Ургант". Russia-1. Archived from the original on 8 April 2017. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
^ ^a ^b "Биография Ивана Урганта". RIA Novosti. 16 April 2013.
^ Friends Foundation
^ Ivan Urgant, Alena Doletskaya, Ksenia Rappoport and others at a charity event
^ ""Наша Нинка–артистка!"". Vesti Segodnya. Archived from the original on 26 September 2017. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
^ "Hindrik Urgand". Geni.com. 15 February 1869.
^ Ivan Urgant - Biography - IMDB
^ "Отчим Ивана Урганта Дмитрий Ладыгин: Наша семья жила бедно, пока Ваня не стал звездой". Komsomolskaya Pravda.
^ "Тотальный ураган". Argumenty i Fakty. 25 July 2002.
^ Ivan Urgant repatriated to Israel 10.06.18, Vesty.co.il
^ ^a ^b "Иван Ургант: "На MTV я был бесплатным сотрудником". "А помнишь, какой ты был, когда с поезда сошел? А помнишь, как мы тебя на MTV испытывали? А помнишь?.." Иван Ургант и Ольга Шелест точно знают: давняя, верная дружба между мужчиной и женщиной — это абсолютно нормально!". 7 days. 27 January 2013.
^ "Памяти российского MTV : 20 главных эпизодов в истории канала от «Владивостока 2000» до сериала «Половинки» — Музыка — Журнал — Афиша". Retrieved 5 April 2013.
^ ^a ^b "Ургант, Иван. Телеведущий, музыкант". Lenta.ru.
^ "Иван Ургант поплатился за шуточки. У ведущего больше нет своей программы на Первом канале. Зато он съездил в Африку и ничем не заразился". Komsomolskaya Pravda. 24 November 2005.
^ "О проекте — Вечерний Ургант — Первый канал". 1tv.ru. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
^ "Путешествия Познера и Урганта". Channel One Russia.
^ "В погоне за Ургантом. Кто из петербуржцев завоевывал ТЭФИ?". Argumenty i Fakty.
^ "THE HOSTS OF MOSCOW 2009!". Eurovision.tv.
^ "Ivan Urgant to host Final Draw Show". FIFA. 29 November 2017. Archived from the original on 2 December 2017. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
^ "'No to War': Prominent Russians speak out against Putin's war on Ukraine". 7 March 2022.
^ @nexta_tv (11 March 2022). "Ivan Urgant left Russia with his wife and two children. Presumably, he flew to Israel, #Russian media reported" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
^ ^a ^b "Иван Ургант стал совладельцем агентства элитной недвижимости". RBC Information Systems. 13 February 2017.
^ "Иван Ургант оказался совладельцем агентства элитной недвижимости". Forbes.
^ "Ivan Urgant. Biography". muz-tv.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 26 May 2020.
^ "Grisha Urgant". radioshanson.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 23 May 2020.
^ "The play "Mad money" on the website of the Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre". teatrpushkin.ru. Archived from the original on 3 May 2013. Retrieved 18 April 2013.