Valeri Zolotukhin, one of Russian cinema's most popular faces, who was disabled in his childhood and had to walk with crutches, is now a renown actor, singer, and writer. He was born Valeri Sergeevich Zolotukhin on June 21, 1941, in Bystry Istok village, Altai region, Russia. His father was chairman of a local collective farm; a powerful man in that remote Siberian region. His mother was a homemaker. At the age of 7 Zolotukhin fell out of window and suffered a severe trauma. He had to wear a cast and used crutches for several years, but he was dreaming of becoming an actor, because he was inspired by touring drama troupe. Upon his graduation from the village school, Zolotukhin went straight to Moscow. In spite of being lame he was admitted to the Department of Musical Comedy at the Moscow Theatre Institute , who was arguably the biggest star in the 60's and 70's Russia. Zolotukhin was asked to say the last word when Russia buried Vysotsky. In 2011, after resignation of Lyubimov, Valery Zolotukhin was appointed artistic director of the Taganka company. He was designated People's Actor of Russia in 1987 and received numerous awards for his film and theatre performances. In the course of his acting career he appeared in more than 40 feature films, 20 TV works, and played over 60 roles on stage. Valeri Zolotukhin is a proud father of three sons. He is living and working in Moscow, Russia.
His part in "Dvenadtsat stulyev" was carefully hidden until the Autumn of 1997 and has become known only from a recent musical broadcast "Chetyre chetverti" ("Four quarters"), "A quarter" devoted to Valeri Zolotukhin.
