Born on July 22, 1992 in Sevastopol (Crimea, Ukraine). In 2015, he graduated from the Directing Department of the Academy of Theatre Arts (class of E. Kamenkovitch and D. Krymov). Since 2015, he has been an acting trainee at the A. Chekhov Moscow Art Theatre.
He is the leader of the punk-rock band Porsmouth.
At 16, he passed all the entrance exams for the Mikhail Shepkin Higher School of Dramatic Arts but decided to follow his girlfriend to Kyiv and enroll at the Karpenko-Kary University of Theatre and Film. He was not accepted and instead enrolled at the Kyiv Utyosov Academy of Variety and Circus Arts, which he left after a year.
Back in Moscow, in 2011, Aleksandr entered the directing department of GITIS (Russian Institute of Theatre Arts) in the class of E. Kamenkovich and D. Krymov. He participated in the experimental theatre work at the Dramatic Arts School. After
his studies, he joined the Anton Chekhov Art Theatre as an actor.
Everything happened very quickly after that: in just one year, A. Kuznetsov appeared in several important films,
including “Leaving Afghanistan” by P. Lungin, “Leto” by K. Serebrennikov, and “Acid” –
A. Gorchilin’s debut film – thus establishing himself as one of the most promising actors. In 2019, he received the Best Actor award for his role in Lungin’s film “Great Poetry” at the Kinotavr Film Festival.
A. Kuznetsov approaches his work with commitment and a results-oriented mindset. In his own words, he
still largely remains a student of his mentor at GITIS, E. Kamenkovitch. “I defended my own vision—that’s exactly what Kamen taught us. He instilled in us the ability to always question everything and encouraged the actor to be the director of their role, on stage as in life. That’s precisely what I did.”
Aleksandr Kuznetsov particularly appreciates the work of the following directors: Michael Scorsese, Nicolas Winding Refn, Guy Ritchie, Quentin Tarantino, Martin McDonagh, Paul Thomas Anderson, David Fincher, and the Coen brothers. He considers himself first and foremost a musician—he was notably the frontman of the punk-rock band Portsmouth—and describes himself as having the soul of a sailor. The film “Mon légionnaire”, by French director Rachel Lang, is the result of an international project and will be released in 2021. Aleksandr Kuznetsov stars alongside Louis Garrel and Camille Cottin.
