Vladimir Mashkov
Vladimir Lvovich Mashkov (Russian: Владимир Львович Машков; born 27 November 1963) is a Soviet and Russian actor and theater director of cinema, known to Western audiences for his work in the 2001 film Behind Enemy Lines and 2011 film Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Mashkov has also worked as a film director, producer and writer for the 2004 Russian film Papa. Politically, Mashkov is noted for his public support for Vladimir Putin and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Biography Early life and education Mashkov was born on 27 November 1963, in Tula, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Russia). His mother, Natalia (1927–1986), was a puppet theatre director, and his father, Lev Mashkov (1925–1987), was an actor. He made his debut on stage as a child, took part in the productions of a school theater group, performed with his parents in the Novokuznetsk Puppet Theater. In the late 1970s, Mashkov entered the biological faculty of Novosibirsk State University, but studied there for only a year, after which he entered the Novosibirsk Theater School, from which in 1984 he was expelled because of improper behavior. In 1990, he graduated from the Moscow Art Theater School, studied at the course of Oleg Tabakov. Career