Born in Leningrad on January 8, 1947.
Honored Artist of the RSFSR (July 5, 1980).
People's Artist of the RSFSR (July 2, 1987).
After high school, she successfully passed the elite competition (1% of passes) to enter the Leningrad State Institute of Theater, Music and Cinema (LGITMIK) where she studied with famous teachers: Irina Meyerhold (daughter of Vsevolod Meyerhold, famous director and theater reformer) and her husband, People's Artist Vasily Merkurev. After graduating in 1989, she joined the film studios "Lenfilm" (Leningrad).
From 1972, actress at the Mossoviet Academic Theatre (Moscow) where she played in Ivan Bukovchan's play "Luigi's Heart or Punishment of a Blunt Sword". She rehearsed, under the direction of Anatoly Efros, "Tourist Base" by Eduard Radzinsky but the show was banned. At the same time (1974), she attracted the attention of Valery Fokine, a young and talented director of the theater "Sovremennik" (The Contemporary). He and Konstantin Raikine offered her to participate in their show "Valentine and Valentine" by Mikhail Roshchin. For Marina Neelova, it was a triumph, a prelude to a long and happy theatrical career. From 1974, she played at the "Sovremennik" where she was one of the stars. She played, among others, Maria Antonovna in "The Inspector General" (1983), Eugenie Ginzburg in "The Vetrige" (1989); Anfissa in the eponymous play by Leonid Andreev (1991), Ranevskaya in "The Cherry Orchard" (1997), Elisaveta in the show "We are playing... Schiller!" in 2000, based on Schiller's play "Mary Stuart" (an interpretation that earned her the State Prize of the Russian Federation in 2001), Princess Cosmonopolis and Heavenly in "Sweet Bird of Youth" by Tennessee Williams (2002)... She even played a male role in 2004, that of Bashmachkin: a soliloquy based on "The Overcoat" by Gogol.
She made her film debut while still a third-year student in Nadezhda Kocheverova's film "An Old, Very Old Tale". Her very first roles were intensely romantic ("The Shadow", "The Prince and the Pauper", "The Broken Horseshoe") or lyrical "The Color of White Snow", "We're Waiting for You, My Boy!" She demonstrated her brilliant dramatic talent and her ability to express sincere feelings on the edge of human emotions thanks to the role of Nina in Averbach's film "Monologue". Later, she brilliantly managed to embody wounded, fragile and defenseless heroines who nevertheless defended their personal independence: Stepanida Bazyrina ("With You and Without You"), Sasha Nerodova ("Simply Sasha"), Valentina Kostina ("Words to the Defense"), Nina Georgievna ("Photographs on the Walls"), Alla ("Autumn Marathon")... But after settling into dramatic roles, the actress again felt a desire for lyrical comedies or light farces ("A Handsome Man", "The Ladies Invite Their Dates", "Merry-Go-Round", "Another Man's Wife and Husband Are Under the Bed", "We Are Gay, Happy and Gifted"...). Marina Neelova has worked for the greatest: Ilya Averbach, Semyon Aranovich, Eldar Ryazanov, Mikhail Kozakov, Vadim Abdrashitov, Maragarita Mikaelian, Rodion Nakhapetov, Ivan Kiasashvilki, Nikita Mikhalkov, Roman Balayan, Georgy Danelia…
Since the mid-80s, she has been working less. Nevertheless, she continues to alternate between dramatic roles (“Dear Elena Sergeevna”, “You Are My Only One”) and tragicomic historical fiction (the TV movie “The Inspector General”, “The Barber of Siberia”). The film by Yevgeny Tatarsky “Prison Romance”, based on a true story, has aroused great interest among viewers. In it, she plays an investigating judge who falls in love with a prisoner.
In recent years, Marina Neelova has been very rare in the cinema. In the TV series "Azazel" (based on the eponymous novel by Boris Akunin) she plays Lady Esther. In the film "Lady for a Day" (1), she is Annie. She is also the actress Vera Strelnikova in the detective film "Presumed Circumstances" (2009).
(1) Remake of two American films shot by the same director, Frank Capra, almost thirty years apart: "Lady for a Day" (1933) and "Pocketful of Miracles" (1961).
Photos, videos, texts
2017 - La Carpe dégivrée (Карп отмороженный) de Vladimir KOTT
1993 - Seule et unique (Ты у меня одна) de Dmitri ASTRAKHAN
