Born on May 28, 1938, in Moscow. In 1960, he graduated from the Department of Film Studies at VGIK (N. Lebedev’s workshop). Candidate of Art History (1982). He worked as head of the lecture department and director of the Bureau for the Promotion of Soviet Cinema Art, as well as editor-in-chief of the magazines *Soviet Film* and *The Art of Cinema* (*Iskusstvo Kino*) and the All-Union Association "Soyuzinformkino." Since 1980, he has taught at the VGIK Department of Film Studies. From 1987 to 1989, he served as First Deputy Chairman of Goskino USSR. From 1989 to 1991, he was head of the Culture and Public Education Department of the USSR Council of Ministers. From 1992 to 1999, he served as Chairman of Goskino Russia. Since May 1999, he has been the president of the International Foundation for the Development of Cinema and Television for Children and Youth (the "Rolan Bykov Foundation").
He is the author of several books, including *Essays on Actors* (1961), *Who Is He?* (1968), *The Tenth Muse* (1977, co-authored with A. Chernyshov), and *For the Sake of Life on Earth: Vol. 1* (1982, co-authored with I. Shilova). His work has been published in academic collections by VNIIC (All-Union Research Institute of Cinema Art); in the magazines *Iskusstvo Kino*, *Sovetsky Ekran*, *Kinovedcheskie Zapiski*, *Kino-Glaz*, *Iskusstvo*, and others; in the newspapers *Ekran i Scena*, *Sovetskaya Kultura*, *Literaturnaya Gazeta*, *Moskovskie Novosti*, *Izvestia*, and others.
Honored Art Worker of the Armenian SSR (1987).
Honored Art Worker of Russia (1995).
Order of the Badge of Honour (1981).
Order "For Merit to the Fatherland," 4th Class (1998).
