Biographie
Vladislav Galkin was a Russian actor best known for his roles in The Master and Margarita (2005 TV mini-series) and In August of 1944 (2001).
Born Vladislav Sukhachev on December 25, 1971, in Saint Petersburg, Russia, his mother, filmmaker Yelena Galkina, divorced his father and later married renowned Russian actor Boris Galkin, who eventually adopted him. Vladislav gained fame at age nine portraying Huckleberry Finn in the widely popular Soviet series Priklyucheniya Toma Soyera i Geklberri Finna (1982), directed by Stanislav Govorukhin.
From 1988 to 1992, he studied acting at the Shchukin School under Albert Gurov, graduating in 1992. He then pursued directing at VGIK, the Russian State Film Institute in Moscow, studying under Vladimir Khotinenko from 1994 to 1998, and graduated as a director in 1998. That same year, he married his fourth wife, Darya Mikhaylova.
Galkin overcame early typecasting as an average Russian man, showcasing his versatility through various leading and supporting roles, including Sashok in the popular series Dalnoboyshchiki (2001), and parts in Diversant (2004 TV mini-series) and Diversant. Konets voyny (2007). During the filming of Diversant, he suffered a fall that broke his leg; the injury became infected, necessitating eleven surgeries and causing chronic pain, leading him to rely on painkillers to continue working.
In 2009, Galkin was arrested following an altercation at a Moscow bar where a bartender refused to serve him. He brandished a pneumatic gun before a security camera, fired a shot, and subsequently engaged in a physical fight with a law enforcement officer. These actions were used against him in court, resulting in a fourteen-month prison sentence. However, with assistance from famed attorney Genrikh Padva, the sentence was reduced. Galkin resumed filming but continued to endure significant physical and emotional distress. In December 2009, he was hospitalized with a pancreatic condition that threatened his health.
Throughout this period, Galkin faced intense bullying from Moscow media and was shunned by some colleagues. His wife, actress Darya Mikhaylova, left him in 2009, deepening his depression and alcoholism. He died of heart failure on February 25, 2010, in his Moscow home, where his body remained undiscovered for two days until law enforcement entered by breaking down the front door.
Director Stanislav Govorukhin described Galkin as a rare talent capable of imbuing silence with profound meaning. Director Vladimir Bortko characterized him as a sensitive, delicate individual whose death was influenced by sensationalist media and relentless paparazzi.
Vladislav Galkin was buried in the Actors' Alley of Troekurovskoe Cemetery in Moscow, Russia.
