Oleg Menshikov: biography, family life now. Oleg Menshikov’s dear friend is preparing for his anniversary Nikita Tatarenkov with his wife
Oleg Evgenievich remains faithful to his covenant to keep his personal life behind seven locks, to hide from the audience, wanting to look like a kind of myth, feeling his “chosenness”, his peculiarity. Therefore, we pieced together his complex portrait - from the stories of colleagues, friends, filming partners and the school.
First love
Menshikov’s classmates at a Moscow school told me that Oleg was the most handsome and charming in their class, many girls dreamed of him, cutting off his home phone number, more often remaining silent on the phone. Oleg’s classmate recalls how one day she just dialed his phone number and didn’t have time to say anything, when the mother who answered the phone burst out with a rebuke - she fought against her son’s pursuers as best she could.
At school, Oleg, according to his classmates, had little interest in annoying girls - he preferred men's companies, and his closest friend was Vitaly Gorshkov, who was slightly teased for his feminine manners.
Menshikov’s classmates at Sliver are gossiping, as if one professor was inspired special attention to his student, trying to influence him.
Menshikov's classmate Andrei Galushko recalls that at the school Oleg fell in love with student Vika Sorokina. Their romance lasted about two years.
“We came to visit Oleg,” says Vitaly Gorshkov. - His house was always full of people - friends, classmates. Oleg played the piano, made everyone laugh, was the life of the party, although he did not let anyone into his soul. I remember that he had a beloved Vika. A pretty girl who looked at him with tenderness. Then she suddenly disappeared from his life.”
They say that Vika, having not realized her creative ambitions in Russia, left Oleg and went to England, where she got married.
Many years later they met in London. Oleg was already a very popular actor, and Vika realized that she had made a mistake. Menshikov told his friends that when they met, their past forgotten feeling seemed to be reborn.
“Tell me just one word, “stay,” and I’ll give up everything for you, I’ll go with you!” - Vika asked. But Oleg could not forgive the betrayal of his beloved.
Failed wedding
Rumor has it that after breaking up with Vika, Oleg could not find a place for himself for a long time. The second girl who melted his heart was the actress of the Mossovet Theater Margarita Shubina.
Margarita was the first to fall in love with the handsome actor and did everything to interest him. Menshikov could not resist and even introduced her to his parents. Shubina allegedly even admitted to her friends that she was going to marry Menshikov. She rushed things, but... according to rumors, Oleg was in no hurry to walk down the aisle, after which a breakup followed. Shubina married someone else. And the acting community spent a long time discussing the emotional experiences of both failed spouses.
Companion - circus performer
After breaking up with Shubina, Menshikov stopped appearing at social events accompanied by women. Moreover, he seemed to begin to shy away from beauties. And in his work Nikita Mikhalkov became his friend and mentor.
They say that despite his outward masculinity, Oleg Evgenievich is actually very soft, vulnerable, infantile and indecisive, and it seemed like he needed strong man, which would help him, would become protection. Mikhalkov always treated actors tenderly (at the same time he did not tolerate disobedience and whims), and Menshikov for him was like younger brother, allowing you to “babysit” yourself.
Menshikov is still a full member of Nikita Mikhalkov’s party. Evil tongues even at one time talked about the uneasy friendship between Oleg and Mikhalkov (the latter not only entrusts the main roles in his films to Oleg, but also, in fact, helped him with a large sum when he was building a dacha in Ilyinsky near Moscow). But theatergoers say that Oleg Evgenievich devoted himself entirely to art, leaving no time for the usual human passions. Maybe that’s why the actor is constantly haunted by rumors about his atypical orientation?
On the set of “The Barber of Siberia,” Oleg met young actor Nikita Tatarenkov, for whom he felt such undisguised tenderness that the press started talking about their romance.
Perhaps tired of unpleasant rumors, Menshikov went out with a young girl in 2002. He looked at her rather coldly, but articles appeared in the press that he had finally found the lady of his heart. She turned out to be Lyudmila Kolesnikova, a circus performer. Rumor has it that her task was to dispel the myth about Menshikov’s dislike for women. However, as they say, Kolesnikova understood her role differently and began to lay claim to the artist. According to rumors, she once gave Menshikov a public scandal, being offended that, having taken her to a party, Oleg was carousing with men, not paying attention to her. Allegedly, Menshikov immediately sent the presumptuous girl home and broke up with her.
Another contender for the actor’s favor, Nastya Chernova, behaved much more ingenuously.
The Inconspicuous Wife
“KP” wrote that last year Menshikov secretly married GITIS graduate Nastya Chernova, who came from the distant North.
Modest Nastya is distinguished by her flexible disposition and humble character. She found a common language with the actor’s parents. And he, deciding that it was time for him to start a family, finally went to the registry office.
When I asked Nastya how she could live with such a seemingly unkind husband, she splashed out a “rain” of emotions on me - she assured me that Oleg was not cold at all, but so sweet and very sincere, caring!
Nastya’s friend told us that Oleg dreams of a child, but Nastya is not going to become a mother yet - she first wants to achieve success in her profession. Now she appears at parties and goes out in public. But her principle is not to use her husband’s connections, but to make her way on her own.
Perhaps Menshikov is comfortable and at ease with his young, quiet, non-conflict provincial wife. Together they look very harmonious - even somewhat similar in appearance. Oleg Evgenievich’s parents couldn’t be happier with their family. And only the artist’s close friends and colleagues smile mysteriously in response to our questions about the actor’s young family...
They say it's no coincidence that the artist wears two wedding rings- one of them is supposedly in memory of a dear friend.
About a difficult fate
From a TV interview with Oleg Menshikov:
“I recently read an article about myself, the author of which writes: oh, what a wonderful biography Menshikov has... Indeed, everything is beautiful: the young artist managed to play on the stages of five Moscow theaters in a short time. Not bad! And who knows how I, for example, left Ermolovsky? I didn’t change one theater for another, but, in fact, went out onto the street. I didn’t have any real offers at that time; I was deeply in debt, but I couldn’t remain in my previous state. That theater is not specifically Ermolovsky, but precisely that one, you know? - stopped satisfying me. I realized: in a couple of years I can easily give up. And so... He left, and soon ended up in intensive care with ulcerative bleeding, spent a month and a half in the hospital, and only after that Pyotr Fomenko invited me to play Caligula... If I had stayed in Ermolovsky, this offer would not have happened, and everything is in my life could have turned out completely differently.
This is the fate of a successful actor. So much for the story of one comma. I gave one example, and there may be a dozen of them - this is my life...”
Instead of Zhigunov, Menshikov could become a “midshipman”!
Today Menshikov is one of the most sought-after actors. Now he is filming with his teacher Nikita Mikhalkov in the sequel “Burnt by the Sun-2”. Channel One is preparing to show two films - “Doctor Zhivago” and “The Golden Calf” starring Oleg Evgenievich. But there were roles in which Menshikov was unable to play.
I tried Menshikov twice for my films,” director Svetlana Druzhinina told KP. - At first, I madly wanted to approve him for the role of midshipman. But when Yuri Moroz dropped out of the audition and Kharatyan appeared instead, the acting ensemble changed, into which Menshikov did not fit. Zhigunov was approved for his role. But later, as a sign of great human respect invited him to voice the role of Alexander Belov. Therefore, in all four films of the first release, “midshipman” Zhigunov was voiced by Oleg Menshikov. Then I invited him to voice Belov in the next “Midshipmen,” to which Menshikov wittily replied: “Well, how many gifts can you give Zhigunov?”
By the way, Zhigunov does not speak in his own voice anywhere. The role in “Vivat...” was voiced by Domogarov, and after that he was approved for the role of Sasha Gorin in “Midshipmen-3” instead of Zhigunov.
Oleg Menshikov voiced very easily, witty, and working with him was a pleasure. During pauses, he sat down at the piano and played Glinka, classics, jazz, and romances. An incredibly gifted musical man. I already felt then: he is very talented, very lonely and withdrawn. All this festive burlesque (gloss) from the “Pokrovsky Gate” - this is one part of it. He has the most complex, hidden from everyone inner world, and I can say, not the happiest. This always haunts very talented people. Menshikov is no exception.
Unfortunately, he didn’t play in my film “Circus Princess” - he auditioned for the role of Tony. He sang and danced brilliantly.
About filming the film “Kinfolk”
“Balayan allowed me to film with Nikita Sergeevich secretly from everyone, saying that he could not forbid the young actor to learn from Mikhalkov. That's how I ended up in Rodnya. And then, by the way, I met the brilliant Nonna Mordyukova. We had a great time with her. Mikhalkov locked us in a room so that we could concentrate on the episode that was to be played. And so we stared at the floor... We sit: I am a boy, a third-year student at a theater school, and Nonna Viktorovna is a lump, great actress. I lowered my eyes, trying to pretend that I was entering the character, but I myself was shaking with fear and excitement. And suddenly I hear some grunting. I look up and see Mordyukova, who can hardly restrain herself. And then we start laughing at the same time. But how! To tears, to hysteria, to rolling on the floor. That’s how we met Nonna Viktorovna, and that’s how I started working for Nikita Sergeevich.”
Today Nikita Tatarenkov is an actor who has already taken place. He is known in both theatrical and cinematic circles. He has participated in many performances and films. The actor is in many ways interesting to journalists as an old friend of Oleg Menshikov, whom he has known for 18 years. The favorite of fate is married, his daughter is growing up.
Childhood of the future actor
In 1975, on September 15, a boy, Nikita Tatarenkov, was born into the family of a career military officer in the city of Serpukhov, Moscow Region. And the birth of a son among hereditary military men, and the city of 126 thousand Serpukhov itself, which since 2016 bears the honorary title “ Locality military valor” - all circumstances were in favor of Nikita Tatarenkov’s military career. Early childhood Nikita was held in the village of Mirny, Arkhangelsk region, at the place of work of his father, who served in missile forces. However, fate prepared a different path for him, and his military career remained on the sidelines.
While still in high school, the teenager became interested in theater, played in amateur productions of plays, and this fact influenced his choice future profession Nikita.
Study in Shchukinka
In 1992, Tatarenkov entered the school, which was opened at the theater. Vakhtangov. The 90s were ordeal for people of the acting profession. The collapse of the USSR did not have the best effect on theatrical art and cinematography. Very few films were made and not best quality, many actors could not realize themselves.
Nikita enrolls in the course of Yuri Veniaminovich Shlykov, famous Russian actor, who is still involved in teaching, working in theater and cinema. IN student years Tatarenkov excels as a leader while studying acting. He organizes parties, being at the forefront of student theater life, and plays various musical hits on the guitar, attracting the attention of women. Many girls were captivated by a charming, talented guy. Fellow students envied Tatarenkov's ability to communicate easily and his leadership qualities.
According to classmates, Nikita liked actress Alena Ivchenko, now known for many TV series (“Nude”, 2002, “Poor Nastya”, 2003, “Women’s Intuition”, 2004, “Doomed to Become a Star”, 2005 -2007 and many others). Among her latest works are “More than a Doctor”, “The Wrong Berry”, “Vasilisa”, “Hotel Eleon”, 2016.
There is an incident, because of which Nikita Tatarenkov almost paid the price acting career. Coming out during the exam with blue lips, he plunged the examiners and the public into confusion, everyone began to laugh, and the exam failed. The commission did not believe that the incident was unintentional. It turned out that he accidentally drank ink instead of water from a standing bottle. The young talent was protected throughout the course to prevent his expulsion.
First successes
A big victory for the aspiring actor during his student years was his participation in the play “The Idiot” based on F. Dostoevsky, where he played the high school student Kolya Ivolgin. The play was staged at the Theater on Malaya Bronnaya. For his acting, Nikita Tatarenkov was awarded the Debut of the Year award in 1996.
In the last year of study at the Boris Shchukin Theater Institute, fortune turns to young talent face. Filming of Nikita Mikhalkov’s legendary film “The Barber of Siberia” begins, where the aspiring actor gets the role of cadet Alibekov. Here Nikita meets the already famous actor and director Oleg Menshikov, who will play an important role in the fate of Tatarenkov.
Fatal meeting
After participating in The Barber of Siberia, Nikita Tatarenkov left the Theater on Malaya Bronnaya, where he worked after receiving his diploma. Oleg Menshikov invites a young talented actor to the “Theatrical Partnership 814”, in which he himself was a producer, and sometimes a director and actor. From this moment on, Tatarenkov received roles in such plays as “Kitchen” directed by Galina Dubovskaya, “Players” (directed by O. Menshikov and P. Shepotinnik), “Cats” and “The Lonely Shepherd” (directed by E. Grishkovets).
There are rumors about Menshikov's unconventional orientation, but the master strictly keeps his personal life a secret, literally behind seven seals. According to classmates, Nikita has become more secretive, in contrast to his student days, when he was open in communicating with friends. Most likely, communication with Oleg Menshikov makes itself felt. A young man listens to the advice of his mentor and friend.
For many, Nikita Tatarenkov remains a mystery, whose photo is from future wife in the company of Oleg Menshikov and his girlfriend were repeatedly reproduced in the yellow press, emphasizing their inseparability even with their significant other.
"Golden calf"
The actor gained great fame by starring in Ulyana Shilkina’s film “The Golden Calf” in 2005 in the role of Shura Balaganov, received under the patronage of Oleg Menshikov, who plays the role of Ostap Bender. Nikita Tatarenkov and Oleg Menshikov, in addition to filming, spend a lot of time together, which causes a strong reaction from the public.
The actors come to filming in Menshikov's car - a black jeep. All free time carried out in the room where Oleg Menshikov lives while working on the painting. Entry to outsiders is prohibited. Menshikov occasionally goes outside to talk on the phone with his wife and get some fresh air.
The film caused mixed opinions among viewers. Some people liked the series (it consists of 8 episodes), others complained that the director was unable to convey the entire palette of humor that the authors put into the work “The Golden Calf.” In the same year, Nikita Tatarenkov starred as Ivan Platonovich Kalyaev in the film “Empire Under Attack” directed by S. Nazarov and A. Malyukov, as well as in the Ukrainian film “Hunting for the Shadow” in the role of Andrew.
Participation in cinema
From 2000 to 2005, Nikita took a long break from filming, which he compensated for with theatrical work. To date, the actor has starred in the following films:
- “The Siberian Barber”, 1998 (Junker Alibekov).
- “Empire under attack”, 2000 (Ivan Platonovich Kalyaev - a real-life prototype of a revolutionary).
- “Golden Calf”, 2005 (Balaganov Shura).
- "Shadow Hunt", 2005 (Andrew).
- “Tunguska meteorite”, 2007, filming was not completed.
- “Crazy November”, 2008 (Klimkin Anton).
- TV series "Admiral", 2009 (Lieutenant).
- “Terrible time”, 2010 (Ivan Shuisky).
- “At risk”, 2012 (Burkalin Ilya Ilyich).
Theater works
Peak theatrical work Tatarenkova became active in the “Theatrical Partnership 814”. The actor combines filming with theatrical activities. His main theatrical roles are “The Idiot”, 1996 (Kolya Ivolgin, Theater on Malaya Bronnaya), “Kitchen” (Siegfried, New), “Players”, 2005 (Glov Jr.), “Cats” (Cat- brawler), “The Lonely Shepherd” (Shepherd, “Theatrical Partnership 814”).
Currently, the actor is in demand in the theatrical field. In May 2017, he plays in many new and old productions of plays - “Romeo and Juliet”, “Tchaikovsky”, “From the Void”, “The Lucky Ones”, “The Inspector General”, “The Players” at the Ermolova Theater.
Family
Many media outlets ask personal questions to Nikita Tatarenkov. The actor’s personal life is under a special taboo. Numerous photos of Tatarenkov with Oleg Menshikov are published, where Nikita often ends up third, taking into account Menshikov’s wife.
It turns out that the actor has a wife, who also has a theater education, a daughter, Sonechka, and a completely decent marriage. Nikita Tatarenkov and his wife rarely appear in public. And numerous gossips are probably unfounded.
Oleg Menshikov was born in 1960, on November 8th. Hometown The great actor Serpukhov, near Moscow, cannot particularly boast of memories of the actor, since the whole family moved to live in the capital when Oleg Menshikov was still small.
His father worked for the benefit of his homeland as a military engineer, and his mother was a neurologist. Oleg Menshikov's family became the first witnesses to the genius of their little son. After moving to the capital, Oleg was sent to a music school, where the future great actor learned the intricacies of playing the violin.
https://youtu.be/-mqQnEVm3fk
While still a schoolboy, the boy fell in love with operetta, and having passed through his favorite motifs, he began to stage school theater productions on his own. What is noteworthy is that the famous works were harmoniously combined with the parts written by the young director Menshikov.
Oleg Menshikov in childhoodOne day, Oleg’s family was invited to a celebration on the occasion of the name day of the daughter of an acquaintance who worked at the Maly Theater. Menshikov was inimitable and amazed those around him with his acting talent and extraordinary sense of humor.
One of the teachers also saw this. It was he who invited Oleg to the audition, where they immediately noticed the gifted boy. It was a fateful moment. After graduating from school, there was no question about choosing a profession - Menshikov firmly decided to become an actor. The young man's parents, of course, grumbled, but did not interfere.
Oleg Menshikov The actor’s personal life in rumors and facts
Gossip about Oleg Menshikov’s personal life began to circulate early, and this is not surprising. He was the best on the course, everyone adored him, including envious people. However, so-called well-wishers have more than once attributed to the future actor an affair with one of the male teachers. Only friends were always perplexed by these speculations, because at that time Oleg had a lover, Victoria Sorokina.
She broke my heart young man, after 2 years. Unable to realize herself, Victoria leaves everything, including Menshikov, and leaves for England. There she gets married and stays to live. Many years later, Sorokina admits to Oleg Menshikov that she really regrets what she did and is ready to give up everything to renew her relationship with the maestro.
Only Oleg Menshikov did not want to restore anything; as they say, a broken cup cannot be mended.
Actor Oleg Menshikov After a successful collaboration with Nikita Mikhalkov, rumors and speculation again enveloped Menshikov regarding his unconventional orientation. Even the company of Margarita Shubina, an actress at the Mossovet Theater, did not bother the gossipers. This novel was predicted to have a happy family continuation, but the unexpected break in the relationship shocked everyone.
Oleg Evgenievich took this blow of fate hard and only the circus performer Kolesnikova was able to console him in a passionate embrace.
Oleg Menshikov with Lyudmila Kolesnikova Family life now
Unexpectedly for everyone, including his friends, Oleg Menshikov’s personal life sparkled with the colors of family life. The 43-year-old maestro secretly married Anastasia Chernova, a student at GITIS, whom he met at a Zhvanetsky concert. At first they just talked and spent time in each other's company.
And after 2 years, Oleg Menshikov proposed to Nastya over the phone. Romance is what it is.
Oleg and Anastasia And again the envious people began to invent fables. Either they attributed a fictitious status to this marriage, or they said that this was some kind of condition of blackmailers who had dirt on Menshikov.
Meanwhile, the couple live a quiet family life, away from cameras and journalists. In the photo, Anastasia Chernova and Oleg Menshikov look like a happy married couple. And recently the couple was seen at a family planning center. This means that children in Oleg Menshikov’s family may appear in the near future.
https://youtu.be/P7hsnrv_P74
Oleg Evgenievich Menshikov is one of the most unpredictable and “closed” actors, whose performance leaves no one indifferent. He was glorified by the role of Kostya from the Soviet musical drama “Pokrovsky Gates”.Viewers remember him for his roles as Baron de Sigognac from “Captain Fracassa”, Sinitsyn from the melodrama “My Favorite Clown”, NKVD soldier Mitya from “Burnt by the Sun” and Ensign Sani from “ Caucasian prisoner" Ostap Bender, Doctor Zhivago, Erast Fandorin... What other star roles were there in Menshikov’s filmography and what was the actor’s path to fame?
Childhood
Oleg Menshikov does not like to give interviews, so we know little about his childhood. He was born in Serpukhov near Moscow on November 8, 1960. The actor’s father was a military engineer, and his mother worked as a neurologist. 
After the birth of their son, the family was given a “Khrushchev” apartment not far from Kashirskoye Highway. Here, in the south of the capital, in the Kolomenskoye area, we spent our childhood and early youth actor. In 1967 he went to first grade secondary school No. 866, at whose desks I diligently sat for all 10 years. He studied well, was not an excellent student, but his heightened pride could not allow him to get C grades. At the same time, he attended music school (violin class).
The actor’s classmate Maria Koposova recalled that from the first years of study, all the girls in the class were madly in love with Oleg. He was handsome, polite, witty and always neat, and could surprise you with some kind of musical improvisation. At the same time, he was very touchy and, although he treated everyone with sympathy, he behaved with restraint. For example, when in primary school A girl was placed at his desk, he drew a line in the middle with chalk and made sure that the neighbor did not cross it.
Oleg Menshikov's passion at school was operetta. He went to performances at the Operetta Theater twice a week. He watched The Count of Luxembourg and Maritza several times. His passion for operetta led to Oleg beginning to stage plays in his senior year. He made a play for the New Year, where he included excerpts from his favorite operettas. And he combined his favorite performances with his own literary opuses and music.
He was our unifying principle. His musical abilities played a big role in this. We had a piano in many classrooms and offices. During breaks, Oleg Menshikov sat down and started playing, and played with great pleasure. We sang along. Various guys were grouped around him - excellent students, hooligans, lazy people, athletes. He got along with everyone and never fought. In general, it’s hard to imagine that someone could raise a hand against him! Never against Menshikov! He remained so - special
,Student years
Menshikov's talent as an actor was noticed in the ninth grade. Together with his parents, the young man came to the wedding of a girl whose mother was a costume designer at the Maly Theater. At the celebration, it was as if he turned into a man-orchestra: he played the piano and accompanied the dancers and singers. Among the guests was Vladimir Monakhov, a teacher at the Shchepkin Higher Theater School. He constantly watched the boy, and at the end of the evening he invited Oleg to audition.Menshikov introduced Alexander Pushkin’s “Desires of Glory” to the teacher. “Of course, it was imperfect, and where does perfection come from at his age? But the main thing was that in these minutes I saw how Oleg himself became a poet. I realized that he was gifted as an actor. And exceptionally gifted. He reminded me of Gerard Philip, the great romantic, the prince of the French stage and screen...” recalled Monakhov.
When Menshikov received his school certificate in 1977, the question “Who should I be?” didn't stand in front of him. He submitted documents to Shchepka and got in on the first try. He was enrolled in the course of the school rector, Nikolai Afonin. Attention was drawn to the talented boy from the first year. Oleg and his classmates constantly created various humorous acts, and the student skits with Menshikov at the school were remembered for many years. The young actor’s subtle humor and observation skills helped bring funny events from the life of the university to life on stage.
During his senior year, Oleg Menshikov played in the play “Invasion,” directed by Nikolai Agafonov. Moreover, the main role was written specifically for Oleg, but he himself asked to play a secondary character. “He played a swaggering, stupid, self-confident officer with secret irony, and very accurately according to the drawing,” recalled the director of the play. “As a result, Oleg created a masterpiece. Even then I was not afraid of this word, noting his work, and now I boldly repeat it. The whole school came running to see Menshikov in the role of Werner, it was so interesting to watch him.”
After graduating from the theater in 1981, Menshikov went to serve at the Maly Theater, and a year later he moved to the Soviet Army Theater.
First film roles
Oleg Menshikov's film debut came in 1980. He played Shurka from the drama “I Wait and Hope” by Suren Shahbazyan. During the filming of this film, Oleg’s talent was noticed by director Roman Balayan. At Suren’s request, he watched the footage, was terribly dissatisfied with Menshikov’s performance and almost persuaded the director to change the actor, but before that he decided to visit Menshikov himself in the dressing room. 
“I see some young man sitting there, playing the guitar, singing and dancing. He did this, it should be noted, wonderfully,” recalled Balayan, amazed at the difference between Menshikov “in dynamics” and how he turned out on film. - It was just taken off unsuccessfully. This is what happens in the movies. What would have happened if I hadn’t seen him in the dressing room?”
10 days after the start of filming “Waiting and Hope,” Nikita Mikhalkov called Balayan and asked him to send him Menshikov for filming in the film “Kinfolk” with Nonna Mordyukova and Svetlana Kryuchkova.
The next role of Oleg Menshikov was Sergei Sinitsyn from the drama about the midlife crisis “Flights in Dreams and in Reality” by Roman Balayan. Initially, his character was vaguely written in the script, but was later enlarged - he smartly courted the girl Alice (Elena Kostina) and put the main character (Oleg Yankovsky) in love with her on his shoulder blades.
"The Pokrovsky Gate"
Mikhail Kozakov has almost confirmed the cast of the melodrama “Pokrovsky Gate”, which tells about the life of such dissimilar people within the same communal apartment. A poet and connoisseur was found female beauty Velurov (Leonid Bronevoy), and the melancholic intellectual Ravikovich (Lev Khobotov), however, Kozakov did not find anyone to play the role of the young “player of life” Kostik. 
He had already tested a dozen and a half actors, but no one was suitable. Kozakov was already in despair when his wife came to his aid, having accidentally seen on TV the first film with Menshikov, “Waiting and Hope.” She liked the young actor, she wrote down his name and recommended it to her husband. And as soon as Oleg appeared on the set, it became clear to everyone that this was the same Kostya.
Oleg Menshikov about the film “Pokrovsky Gate”
It is interesting that at this time Menshikov was approved for a role in the film “Private Life” by Yuli Raizman, but the directors agreed that Menshikov would still remain in “Pokrovsky Gates”.
The film was based on the play of the same name by Leonid Zorin - an autobiographical play, but even the most meticulous viewer did not find a single gap between the author and Menshikov’s hero. For a long time after the premiere, Oleg was perceived exclusively as Kostya, personifying the carefree spirit of youth. And today this image is considered by many to be one of the most successful in Menshikov’s filmography.
After the first triumph, the directors began vying with each other to call Menshikov to their place. In the 80s, the actor played the most diverse roles: he was a romantic hero in the film “Captain Fracasses”, and an absent-minded red tape in the film “Big Volodya and Little Volodya”, and a naval officer in the film “Moonzund”.
His theatrical career was also successful at this time. Menshikov played one of the most notable roles - Ganechka in “The Idiot”; in 1985 he left the Theater Soviet army, then worked at the Ermolova Theater, where he moved together with Tatyana Dogileva and Alexander Baluev.
Oleg Menshikov was never afraid of difficult material, but his spirit was broken by the theater director Valery Fokin. Soon after troubles with the production of Nabokov’s “Invitation to an Execution” (Menshikov, eager to play Cincinnatus, refused the role of Pierre and ultimately did not participate in the play at all), the actor left the theater and broke off relations with former colleagues. Later he moved to the theater. Mossovet, where he was involved in the production of “Caligula” (1990).
90s
In the 90s, Oleg Menshikov worked in numerous theatrical enterprises. And here luck awaited him: for the role of Yesenin in the production of “When She Danced,” the actor was awarded the Laurence Olivier Prize of the British Academy of Arts. He was lucky enough to play with Vanessa Redgrave. By the way, when the August putsch occurred in Russia, the actor was offered to become a British subject, but he refused. 
The actor appeared in films less often. He carefully selected both the roles themselves and the directors, so that each of his new job became an event. It was he, according to many critics, who pulled out the film “Dyuba-Dyuba” by Alexander Khvan (1992) - the film was even nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Two years later, Menshikov played one of his strongest roles - Mitya in Nikita Mikhalkov's Burnt by the Sun - a former intellectual, then a soldier, a reluctant immigrant, a participant white movement and, finally, the NKVD officer who came to arrest Sergei Kotov.
Oleg managed to create a complex and contradictory image of a man who is devastated by revenge: he was torn out of his home, his beloved woman was taken away, his life was destroyed, plunging him into pain and despair.
The film with the participation of Menshikov, Nikita Mikhalkov, the director’s 7-year-old daughter Nadya, Ingeborga Dapkunaite, Vyacheslav Tikhonov and a whole galaxy of other wonderful actors was awarded an Oscar for best foreign language film.
Next comes another undeniable success: ensign Sasha Kostylin from “Prisoner of the Caucasus” by Sergei Bodrov, a modern adaptation of the story of the same name by Leo Tolstoy. Together with his colleague Ivan Zhilin (Sergei Bodrov Jr.), he is captured in Chechnya. The film received nominations for an Oscar and a Golden Globe, and the director and key actors were awarded the Nika Award (in total, the film collected 5 Nika statuettes out of seven nominations), and Bodrov and Menshikov received the Kinotavr prize in the Best male role."
In 1998, collaboration with Nikita Mikhalkov followed again. This time Menshikov performed main role in the film "The Barber of Siberia". As always - work on top level. The role of cadet Andrei Tolstoy was written by Mikhalkov and screenwriter Rustam Ibragimbekov especially for him. In the same film, he played a hero 20 years younger than his real age - 18-year-old American cadet Andrew McCracken, a descendant of Andrei Tolstoy. According to the audience, this was the actor’s first such sublime and romantic role.
Menshikov himself said the following about his hero in one of his few interviews:
His value lies in the fact that he is a man who managed not to betray himself. These words seem to mean nothing, but they have a huge meaning... A man who lived his life the way he should have lived it. I personally don't know such people.
In 1999, the actor, together with Catherine Deneuve and Sandrine Bonner, starred in the Russian-French drama East-West, where he played the Soviet repatriate Alexei Golovin. The film was nominated for an Oscar. 
New Age
In 2000, Menshikov himself sat in the director’s chair, which resulted in the film-play “Woe from Wit” based on Griboyedov, in which he himself appeared in the role of Alexander Chatsky.Oleg Menshikov: Chatsky's monologue (“Woe from Wit”)
In the drama by Philip Yankovsky “State Councilor” based on the novel by Boris Akunin, Menshikov played the main role - state councilor Erast Fandorin.
Then he tried himself in the role of the Great Combinator in the next film adaptation of the novel by Ilf and Petrov “The Golden Calf” (directed by Ulyana Shilkina). Alas, the project did not take off and the actor, who could not escape comparisons with Andrei Mironov and Archil Gomiashvili, was hit with a barrage of criticism.
“Ostap Bender is one of the most striking and controversial characters in Russian literature of the 20th century. This is evidenced by how different artists embodied his image on the screen. The role of Ostap Bender is not just an opportunity to revive in the viewer’s memory the text of the novel by Ilf and Petrov, which, I am sure, is as witty and relevant today as it was half a century ago, but also a professional challenge. Obviously, the current Bender cannot be exactly the same as the first Ostap of Russian cinema, brilliantly played by Sergei Yursky. There is an opinion that the television format is not good enough for serious stage and film actors, but I don't think so. After all, everything depends on the material. In this sense, Ostap Bender is close to me in at least one quality – adventurism,” Oleg Menshikov said about his hero.
The next rather interesting and complex role followed in the series “Doctor Zhivago” based on the novel by Boris Pasternak, where Menshikov again played the main role. It is noteworthy that he did not want to star in Zhivago, and only director Alexander Proshkin, who accused him of “wasting his talent” in a long letter, was able to convince him.
