Svetlana Khodchenkova was born in Moscow. After high school, she enrolled at the Institute of Economics, where she was one of the best students. After finishing her second year of courses, she left to pursue an acting career, and immediately entered the Higher Theatre School. While in her first year there, she drew the attention of the casting director for the famous Russian director Stanislav Govorukhin.
Invited to audition with Mr. Govorukhin, she was cast in the lead role of his feature film Bless the Woman, based on the novel by Irina Grekova. The movie was immensely popular, and she earned a Nika Award (Russia's Academy Awards equivalent) for her performance. Ever since, Ms. Khodchenkova has remained one of Russia's busiest actresses, starring in films and television, and working in the theater.
She reunited with Stanislav Govorukhin for another feature, Not by Bread Alone. She has since starred in such films as Waldemar Krzystek's Little Moscow, for which she was named Best Actress at the 2009 Polish Film Festival; Pavel Sanayev's Kilometer Zero; the two hit Love in the City movies directed by Marius Balchunas; Sarik Andreasyan's Office Romance – Our Time; and, most recently, Karen Oganesyan's Five Brides.
Among her miniseries credits are starring roles in Last Reproduction and Sergej Popov's The Icon Hunters. Also for television, Ms. Khochenkova has played the lead roles in the series Talisman of Love and Method Lavrov.
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