President Volodymyr Zelensky played the voice of Ukrainian Paddington Bear eight years before he had to stand up to the Russian Bear when Putin invaded last week.
The 44-year-old President has garnered love from around the world as he defies Russia’s calls for surrender and live-streams from the capital of Kyiv.
Yet it’s not just his bravery in the face of invading Russians people adore him for. Before becoming President in 2019 he had a 23-year career in showbiz as an actor and comedian.
The man defending Ukraine from Putin’s attack even played a fictional president on television that also lead defended the country from Russian influence.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine last Thursday, Zelensky has been a symbol of courage and strength in the country
President Volodymyr Zelensky played the voice of Ukrainian Paddington Bear eight years before he had to stand up to the Russian Bear when Putin invaded last week
The President had a career in acting and comedy that spanned 23 years before he went into politics
Although many saw him as a joke candidate he won 73 per cent of the vote after pledging to fight corruption and make peace in Donbas, south east Ukraine, which has been controlled by pro-Russian separatists since the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2014
Servant of the People, a political satire that debuted in 2015 and went on for three seasons. It tells the tale of a history school teacher’s ‘tirade against government corruption’, which goes viral, with Zelensky’s character Vasyl Petrovych Holoborodko soon finding himself sitting the president’s seat.
The series ran from 2015 to 2019, during which time, in 2018, Zelensky announced his candidacy for the presidential election the following year. Pictured in the show
Zelensky was born to Jewish parents in Kryvyi Rih, in Soviet Ukraine (now east Ukraine), in 1978.
His grandfather fought for the Red Army against the Nazis in WWII, while three of his great-uncles and his great-grandfather were killed in the Holocaust.
Zelensky was only 17 when he started acting and telling jokes. A little more than two decades later he became president.
The first episode of the piece of political satire has amassed over 13.7million views on YouTube, with Zelensky starring as Vasyl Petrovych Holoborodko, a high-school teacher in his thirties. He was unexpectedly elected as the President of Ukraine after being filmed by one of his students ranting against the corruption of his country’s government, which ended up going viral
His popularity as a fictional leader (pictured) was what led him to become the president in 2019. In the clip that went viral in the fictional series, Zelensky , as Holoborodko, said to his colleague: ‘I am sick and tired of it. Why do our politicians come to power and make the same mistakes?’
Before that, he played Napoleon in Rzhevsky Versus Napoleon, a sequel to the comedy Hitler Goes Kaput, had a recurring role as the main character in rom coms Love In The Big City and Love In The Big City 2 and even won the first season of Ukraine’s Dancing With The Stars in 2006.
He was a regular in rom coms, comedy and stints on the red carpet.
He recorded the Ukrainian voiceover for Paddington Bear in the 2014 Paul King film starring Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins.
Zelensky playing Maksym Tkachenko in the 2018 Ukrainian film I, You, He, She trailer
Zelensky also had a leading role as the main love interest in 8 First Dates, which was released in 2012 and won the Best Russian Comedy of the Year at the 2013 Russian National Movie Awards
However, the role he is most famous for is another comic number as a school teacher Vasyl Petrovych Holoborodko who becomes president of Ukraine in successful series Servant Of The People, which ran from 2015 to 2018.
The same year the show ended he became Ukraine’s actual president, running with a party set up by his TV production company Kvartal 95 and named Servant Of The People, after the series.
Although many saw him as a joke candidate he won 73 per cent of the vote after pledging to fight corruption and make peace in Donbas, south east Ukraine, which has been controlled by pro-Russian separatists since the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2014.
He also promised to remain as President only for one term of five years.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine last Thursday, Zelensky has been a symbol of courage and strength in the country.
As shells rained down on Kyiv he posted a video from the streets of the capital and has led Ukraine’s strong resistance to Putin’s army.
On Tuesday he accused Russia of war crimes over the brutal shelling of Kharkiv that saw 11 civilians killed and schools destroyed as Ukraine’s ambassador to the US claimed Putin dropped a deadly thermobaric vacuum bomb during the invasion.
