# Yura Borisov
**Yura Borisov** (Юра Борисов; full name Yuri Aleksandrovich Borisov, Юрий Александрович Борисов) is a Russian stage and film actor, born 1992 in Reutov, Moscow Oblast, who became the first Russian actor nominated for an Academy Award in an acting category since [Mikhail Baryshnikov](https://www.edgepedia.org/mikhail-baryshnikov) in 1977, for his role as Igor in Sean Baker's *Anora* (2024)[1](https://www.interfax-russia.ru/index.php/kaleidoscope/yura-borisov-biografiya-filmy-semya).[2](https://apnews.com/article/13be8785ae729c239f146403d0fc71e8) He prefers the diminutive Yura over Yuri professionally, and credits and interviews have followed that usage[3](https://style.rbc.ru/people/613a15129a7947f83df46327).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1992, Reutov, Moscow Oblast, Russia[1](https://www.interfax-russia.ru/index.php/kaleidoscope/yura-borisov-biografiya-filmy-semya) |
| Training | Graduated from the Mikhail Shchepkin Higher Theatre School in 2013; Golden Leaf Award for best actor, in the play *Zoykina's Apartment* (2013)[4](https://www.mariinsky.ru/company/guests/persons/borosiv_yury/) |
| International breakthrough | Ljoha in *Compartment No. 6* (Juho Kuosmanen, 2021), a Cannes Grand Prix film; best actor prizes at the São Paulo and Valladolid festivals in 2021[4](https://www.mariinsky.ru/company/guests/persons/borosiv_yury/) |
| Signature role | Igor in *Anora* (Sean Baker, 2024), a henchman who becomes the film's emotional center[2](https://apnews.com/article/13be8785ae729c239f146403d0fc71e8) |
| 2025 nominations | Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Screen Actors Guild nominations for Best Supporting Actor; critics' awards from Los Angeles, Toronto, Austin, and San Francisco[4](https://www.mariinsky.ru/company/guests/persons/borosiv_yury/) |
| Russian awards | Golden Eagle (2021, *Kulashnikov*), White Elephant (2021, *Captain Volkonogov Escaped*), Nika (2025, *Summer Will End*), Chopard Talent Award (2019, *Bull*)[4](https://www.mariinsky.ru/company/guests/persons/borosiv_yury/) |
| Family | Married actress Anna Shevchuk in 2014; daughters Marfa and Akulina[1](https://www.interfax-russia.ru/index.php/kaleidoscope/yura-borisov-biografiya-filmy-semya) |
| Height | 1.77 m[5](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/name/2286839/) |
## Training and Russian stage work
Borisov took an interest in theater as a child through his school's theater studio and, after school, entered the Shchepkin Higher Theatre School in Moscow, beginning to film while still a student[1](https://www.interfax-russia.ru/index.php/kaleidoscope/yura-borisov-biografiya-filmy-semya). In his graduating year he won the Golden Leaf Award for best actor for *Zoykina's Apartment*[4](https://www.mariinsky.ru/company/guests/persons/borosiv_yury/).
After graduating in 2013 he joined the Moscow theater [Satirikon](https://www.edgepedia.org/satirikon). There he played Lyudoviko in Yuri Butusov's production of *Othello* and [Balthazar](https://www.edgepedia.org/balthazar), Romeo's friend, in Konstantin Raikin's *Romeo and Juliet*[6](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/media/article/4010521/). Later in his career he also worked with the Maly Theatre and the theater center Na Strastnom[7](https://www.rbc.ru/life/news/665db4819a794715e37e097e).
## Early Russian film and television
His film debut came in Andrei Zvyagintsev's *Elena*[1](https://www.interfax-russia.ru/index.php/kaleidoscope/yura-borisov-biografiya-filmy-semya). In 2013 he played a [Chernobyl](https://www.edgepedia.org/chernobyl) liquidator in the miniseries *Moths* (*Motylki*)[6](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/media/article/4010521/). His early filmography combined television work such as *Olga* and *Law of the Stone Jungle*, military and sports dramas such as *The Shot*, *The Road to Berlin*, *Young Guard*, and *Seven Unclean Pairs*, and the family saga *Father's Shore* (2017)[8](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/media/article/4004778/).
**Nineties roles and a breakthrough.** In 2018 he appeared as a fidgety street kid in Darya Zhuk's 1990s film *Crystal* (*Krustal*), then took the lead role in the gangster drama *Bull* (*Byk*, 2019), also set in that era; *Bull* won the Grand Prix at Kinotavr 2019, and Borisov received a Golden Eagle nomination and the Chopard Talent Award at the Moscow International Film Festival[8](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/media/article/4004778/).[9](https://muzeumartreut.ru/userfiles/Rodivshiesya_v_Reutove.pdf) This pair of films put him on Variety's list of 12 Rising Russian Talents Ready for the Global Stage[8](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/media/article/4004778/). In 2020 he played an Afghan war veteran in the series *Peace! Friendship! Chewing Gum!*[10](https://www.buro247.ru/amp/culture/movies/20-apr-2020-yura-borisov-interview.html), and his credits grew to include *Kulashnikov*, *Union of Salvation*, *Red Ghost*, Anna Melikyan's *The Fairy*, Netflix's *Silver Skates*, a season of *Epidemia*, and Kirill Serebrennikov's *Petrov's Flu*[8](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/media/article/4004778/).
Borisov has said he has no fixed method for choosing roles; he reads the script first, then meets the director, and rejects many offers whose screenplays he considers unfinished. He tries to avoid repeating a single type so that one image does not stick to him[10](https://www.buro247.ru/amp/culture/movies/20-apr-2020-yura-borisov-interview.html).
## International breakthrough
In 2021 he starred as the Russian miner Ljoha in Juho Kuosmanen's *Compartment No. 6*, which premiered at Cannes and won the festival's [Grand Prix](https://www.edgepedia.org/grand-prix-cannes-film-festival)[4](https://www.mariinsky.ru/company/guests/persons/borosiv_yury/).[11](https://cdn-media.festival-cannes.com/film_film/0002/67/4b56f99c3c18078db9e08c535fc2414ebb79684d.pdf) He won best actor prizes at the São Paulo and [Valladolid](https://www.edgepedia.org/valladolid) festivals that year for the role[4](https://www.mariinsky.ru/company/guests/persons/borosiv_yury/). Also in 2021 he presented two films at Europe's main festivals, in Venice and Cannes[7](https://www.rbc.ru/life/news/665db4819a794715e37e097e).
## Anora and the 2025 awards season
Sean Baker saw Borisov in *Compartment No. 6* and called him about appearing in what became *Anora*[2](https://apnews.com/article/13be8785ae729c239f146403d0fc71e8). Borisov plays Igor, hired muscle on a chaotic all-night manhunt; his character is not introduced until nearly halfway through the film but becomes, in Baker's description, its beating heart and soul. Baker has called him the "Russian Ryan Gosling", a comparison Borisov said he was flattered by but did not understand[2](https://apnews.com/article/13be8785ae729c239f146403d0fc71e8). The 28-minute real-time home invasion scene that introduces Igor was Borisov's first to film, taking about eight days to shoot and three months to edit[2](https://apnews.com/article/13be8785ae729c239f146403d0fc71e8).
The performance earned him nominations for the 2025 [Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor](https://www.edgepedia.org/academy-award-for-best-supporting-actor), the Golden Globe, the BAFTA, and the [Screen Actors Guild](https://www.edgepedia.org/screen-actors-guild) award, plus critics' awards from Los Angeles, Toronto, Austin, and San Francisco[4](https://www.mariinsky.ru/company/guests/persons/borosiv_yury/). He did not win the Oscar[7](https://www.rbc.ru/life/news/665db4819a794715e37e097e), but the nomination made him the first Russian actor nominated in an acting category since Mikhail Baryshnikov's nod in 1977 for *The Turning Point*[2](https://apnews.com/article/13be8785ae729c239f146403d0fc71e8).
## Family and public image
Borisov married actress Anna Shevchuk, whom he met while entering the Shchepkin school, in 2014; their daughters Marfa and Akulina were born in 2015 and 2017[1](https://www.interfax-russia.ru/index.php/kaleidoscope/yura-borisov-biografiya-filmy-semya). He and Shevchuk also share a short film credit, *Forgive Me, Anya*, made to raise funds for the hospice charity Dom s Mayakom[7](https://www.rbc.ru/life/news/665db4819a794715e37e097e). He gives interviews rarely and prefers to let the work speak; in 2019 he deleted his Instagram account to avoid the influence of mainstream popularity[12](https://www.mk.ru/amp/persons/yura-borisov/). In 2021 he took part in a well-publicized hoax, appearing in disguise as the writer Victor Pelevin at an autograph session in Moscow[12](https://www.mk.ru/amp/persons/yura-borisov/).
## References
1. [Yura Borisov: biography, films, family, Interfax-Russia](https://www.interfax-russia.ru/index.php/kaleidoscope/yura-borisov-biografiya-filmy-semya)
2. ['Anora' breakout Yura Borisov is not sure what 'Russian Ryan Gosling' means, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/13be8785ae729c239f146403d0fc71e8)
3. [Actor Yura Borisov on fame, money, and the ability to say 'no', RBC Style](https://style.rbc.ru/people/613a15129a7947f83df46327)
4. [Yura Borisov, Mariinsky Theatre guest artist page](https://www.mariinsky.ru/company/guests/persons/borosiv_yury/)
5. [Yura Borisov, Kinopoisk profile](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/name/2286839/)
6. [Yura Borisov — the first Russian actor nominated for an Oscar, Kinopoisk Media](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/media/article/4010521/)
7. [Oscar nominee Yura Borisov, RBC Life](https://www.rbc.ru/life/news/665db4819a794715e37e097e)
8. ['We feel death differently': Yura Borisov interview, Kinopoisk Media](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/media/article/4004778/)
9. [Born in Reutov, Reutov Museum presentation](https://muzeumartreut.ru/userfiles/Rodivshiesya_v_Reutove.pdf)
10. [Interview with Yura Borisov on Peace! Friendship! Chewing Gum!, BURO 24/7](https://www.buro247.ru/amp/culture/movies/20-apr-2020-yura-borisov-interview.html)
11. [Compartment No. 6 press kit, Festival de Cannes](https://cdn-media.festival-cannes.com/film_film/0002/67/4b56f99c3c18078db9e08c535fc2414ebb79684d.pdf)
12. [Yura Borisov biography and career, MK](https://www.mk.ru/amp/persons/yura-borisov/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › Russian actors*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license