We adored him in "The Barber of Siberia". This beautiful dark-eyed man is today the hero of "East- West", a historical-romantic epic from Regis Wargnier, and he acts in French without knowing our language!

Oleg Menshikov won't take off his sunglasses during the interview. We'll wait for this. But the Russian actor shows up hidden, via the translator by his side. "Why did God punish men by giving them so many languages?" he said laughing.
When O.M. laughs, you wonder whether he cries behind his glasses or not. Very emotional people - as there are so many in Slav countries - look sad even when they are cheerful.
In 1981, Nikita Mikhalkov discovered this actor who graduated from the Shepkin Drama school and gave him a part in "Kinfolk". Afterwards, O.M. made films only with Russian directors and refused Hollywood's offers. "Burnt by the Sun" will reveal him to the West. In "The Barber of Siberia", he wears the uniform of a Russian cadet, carried away by the passion that will turn him upside down.
Being an actor but also a musician, he is the son of an engineer and a doctor; he plays the violin, the piano and takes delight in singing.
"When I was 15, I wanted to be famous. If I had not become an actor, I would have liked to conduct an orchestra," he said to the Moscow television. A famous orchestra's conductor heard him and offered him his baton during the time of a Strauss polka.
"I had a very good time," he says laughing.
For "East-West", his first film with a Western director, thanks to his good ear for music, he was able to act in French, a language he doesn't speak.
O.M. plays the part of a Russian refugee who, after hearing Stalin's propaganda, decides to go back to Russia with his French wife (Sandrine Bonnaire) and his son. This part touched him, "For 10 years now Russians have not been kept in the dark anymore. I was interested in the story of these persons."
Lonely and perfectionist, he kept himself apart during the shooting to prepare himself for his part and rarely had dinner with the director or other actors.
"I like very much to enjoy myself but everybody finds me reserved".
In Moscow, this bachelor has a restricted circle of friends. His love for his native land and the theater keeps him in Russia.
If you ask him what he thinks about the religious revival in Russia, he answers that he discovered the religious faith at 27 and he made himself christened. "Is it really necessary to talk about it? In my life, everything happened naturally," concludes the actor under the Parisian sun.