Born on October 27, 1983, in Moscow, Artur Smolyaninov is a renowned actor who became a symbol of his generation through gritty, high-stakes performances. A graduate of GITIS, he made his film debut at age 14, but his definitive breakthrough came with the 2005 war epic The 9th Company, where he played the lead role of Lyutyy. For years, he was a staple of Russian cinema and a leading actor at the Sovremennik Theatre. Currently based in Latvia, he has reinvented himself as an independent musician with his band cheLovek and a host for Deutsche Welle, while continuing to win international acting awards for independent projects.