Biography

Boris Khmelnitsky was a popular Russian actor of film and theatre and a member of the legendary Taganka company under directorship of Yuriy Lyubimov. He was born Boris Alekseevich Khmelnitsky on June 27, 1940, in Ussuriisk, a small town near Vladivostok in the Far East of the Soviet Union. His father, Aleksei Khmelnitsky, was a ranking officer in the Soviet Red Army who was manager of several Army clubs in the USSR. Young Khmelnitsky was brought up in a rather privileged environment; since childhood, he studied literature, arts, and music, and enjoyed a special atmosphere of his father's circle. He studied music at Lvov College of Music, graduating in 1961 as orchestral conductor, then studied acting at Shchukin Theatrical school in Moscow, graduating in 1966 as an actor.