This man is an enigma. But don't count on him to help you to solve it. If you ask Oleg Menshikov how he manages to give birth to his characters with such lightness and depth of feelings, with such intensity and subtlety, he will merely point out - with laughter - that he does not know, that "maybe it's simply intuition".
If you remind him of the opinions of his directors such as Nikita Mikhalkov and Regis Wargnier who consider him one of the greatest contemporary actors but declare that he remains a mystery to them, he will burst out laughing again and tell you that he is also a mystery for himself!
And if you venture to delve into the paths of his biography trying to discover a part of the secret of this man with black eyes, with looks of a young man and with a devastating smile, he will not help you a little bit! He will just tell you that he was born - as the only child - in 1960 in Moscow, "in a classical Soviet family (his father was an engineer and his mother was a doctor), not too turned towards theater or cinema". You will learn that he watched traditional films everybody watched at that time - the big Soviet films as well as "Fanfan la Tulipe" or "Fantomas" with de Funes. About everything else, he will apologoze: he has no memories.

"Really, I don't remember anything. Well, sometimes, a smell or an image reminds me of something from my childhood. But it's so fugitive. A path in the forest that I probably followed when I was a little boy. Mum's glance that sends me back to the way she looked at me when I was a child..."

His first memories come from his first year at the Higher Drama School. Nevertheless, it's difficult to learn more about his vocation for acting. However, luck had nothing to do with it, it was a sign of destiny!

"I only remember that I noticed the Higher Drama School adverts, then a few days later, I found a leaflet of this High School on my desk - it's still a mystery who had left it there. I took it as a sign and went there to introduce myself without really knowing why. I spoke to the director and he suddenly told me: "OK. You are admitted." Everything happened so quickly that I didn't even have much time to realize what was going on."

But, on the other hand, he remembers those four following years of happiness quite well.

"Four years of pleasure, total freedom adjoining with insolence, without any responsability. I had no fits to think whether it was really my vocation. I was there and I felt well".

There, he discovered his favourite actors: "Brando, a wild horse, magnificent and ingenious. Gerard Philippe, a symbol of grace and art in the highest sense of the word".

Destiny watches over him. Even when he was only a student, Oleg was invited to a casting and found out that Nikita Mikhalkov himself, the most prestigious Russian director wanted to see him! He paced up and down before daring to knock at the door but at once received a small part in his next film "Kinfolk" (1981). Mikhalkov was so fascinated by his talent and his magnetical presence on the screen that he began to invite him to all his projects. But not all the films were shot.
Mikhalkov told him of his desire to shoot a big epic about the last years of the Tsarist regim - "The Barber of Siberia". Menshikov would wait ten years before he would actually play this cadet who falls in live with a beautiful American woman. And he would be obliged to handle a sword, sing Mozart, play in English, come across the series of obstacles, look younger than his real age. Meanwhile, he met MIkhalkov again during the filming of "Burnt By The Sun", with an incredible part of a scoundrel which was especially disturbing as he was absolutely charming.
Today, Oleg Menshikov is a big star in his native land. To act is his whole life! But he doesn't ask himself about his profession. He just does it. He connects, films, plays (sometimes directs), meets. He talks about his directors with respect and affection. He praises Mikhalkov's energy and ability to surprise, Wargnier's tactfullness and determination. He says that the happiest moment for him was when they told him: "Thank you. The working day is over".
He seems to be simple, docile, normal. But then he drops a word: "What I mainly expect from a director it's this awareness that, me too, I can participate in the creation process."
This man is an artist. Maybe that is his secret?...