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Nikolai Trofimov was born on January 20, 1920, in Sevastopol, USSR (now Ukraine), to parents who were industrial workers. He began acting at school at the age of 10. Between 1937 and 1946, he studied under Boris Zon at the Theatrical Institute in Leningrad, though his education was interrupted by World War II. During the siege of Leningrad, Trofimov performed with Isaak Dunaevskiy's troupe, entertaining the city's defenders and enduring the hardships of war. From 1946 to 1963, he was an actor at the Leningrad Theatre of Comedy under Nikolai Akimov.
From 1964 until 2005, Trofimov was a permanent member of the renowned Bolshoi Drama Theatre (BDT) troupe in St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad), working under director Georgi Tovstonogov for 25 years. After Tovstonogov’s passing, Trofimov continued performing with the distinguished BDT ensemble. His stage partners included celebrated actors such as Oleg Basilashvili, Tatyana Doronina, Alisa Freyndlikh, Lyudmila Makarova, Svetlana Kryuchkova, Zinaida Sharko, Valentina Kovel, Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy, Sergey Yurskiy, Kirill Lavrov, Oleg Borisov, Vladislav Strzhelchik, Yefim Kopelyan, Evgeniy Lebedev, Vsevolod Kuznetsov, Pavel Luspekayev, Georgiy Shtil, Leonid Nevedomsky, Vadim Medvedev, Yuriy Demich, Roman Gromadskiy, Gennadiy Bogachyov, Andrey Tolubeev, and many other distinguished Russian actors. Among Trofimov’s most memorable stage roles were those in Anton Chekhov’s "The Three Sisters" (1968), "Khanuma," and Nikolay Gogol’s "Inspector-General" (Revizor).
Trofimov was honored with the title of People's Artist of the USSR and received numerous awards for his work in both theater and film. His filmography comprises over 60 roles, and he performed more than 100 roles on stage. Nikolai Trofimov passed away on November 7, 2005, in St. Petersburg. He was buried in the "Literatorskie Mostki" Necropolis of The Masters of Art at Volkovskoe Cemetery in St. Petersburg, Russia.
