Alexey Serebryakov

Russian actor Aleksey Serbryakov was a three-decade veteran of film, television and theater in his native country before vaulting to international attention as the lead in the Oscar-nominated drama "Leviathan" (2014). Born Alexsey Valerevich Serebryakov on June 3, 1964 in Moscow, Russia, he began his acting career in his early teens when he was chosen by director Vladimir Krasnopolskiy to play a juvenile role in an episode of the popular television series "Vechnny zov" ("Eternal Call," 1973).

He worked sporadically in features throughout the 1970s while studying radio and television at the esteemed Moscow Power Engineering Institute. Serebryakov was later invited to teach at the university, but declined the position to join the Syzran Drama Theatre. He remained with the troupe for nearly a year before returning to film and television work in Moscow, beginning with 1983's "Smotri v oba!" ("Keep Your Eyes Open!").

Serebryakov returned to the Russian stage as a member of the celebrated Tabakov Theatre. He also remained active in film and television during the late '80s and 1990s, appearing in up to four movies a year during the latter decade. Serebryakov was frequently cast as tough men of authority, including a veteran military sergeant in the critically acclaimed "Afghan Breakdown" (1990), a drug manufacturer in the violent black comedy "Dead Man's Bluff" (2005), and an Army captain in "The 9th Company" (2005), which Russia submitted as its candidate for the Best Foreign Film Oscar in 2006.

After completing the big-budget science fiction epic "The Inhabited Island" (2008), Serebryakov once again returned to the stage, this time as a member of the experimental Lenkom Theatre. In 2014, he earned critical praise from the international film community for his powerful turn in "Leviathan" as a simple man who takes on the crooked mayor of his small town for possession of his property.

The film went on to capture some of the biggest prizes of the award season, including the Best Screenplay Award from the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. The addition of an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language film in 2015 only furthered Sebryakov's exposure to a global audience.