Svetlana Orlova

Svetlana Fyodorovna Orlova (; born 8 April 1956) is a Soviet and Russian film actress. She has appeared in over forty roles and was dubbed the "first beauty of Soviet cinema fairy tales" for her roles in films such as Granddaughter of Ice, The Princess on a Pea, and Finist, the brave Falcon.

Born in Kaliningrad, Orlova's family moved to Alma-Ata in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic when she was five years old. She excelled at ballet dancing at the local house of culture, and was invited to study at the Bolshoi Theatre's choreographic school at the age of nine. While walking in Moscow on a day off, was approached to appear Boris Buneev's . She continued her studies with the Bolshoi, combining it with appearances in films, with her breakthrough role occurring when she was cast in Finist, the brave Falcon. She met her future husband while working on this project, and having achieved fame in cinema, she became a fulltime actress. She went on to appear in over forty roles in Soviet cinema during the 1970s and 1980s, before the early death of her husband in 1987. She has since become a fitness teacher, teaches choreography at a private school, and makes occasional appearances on television, and in roles in the New Year's performances on Sparrow Hills.

Early life and career Orlova was born in Kaliningrad on 8 April 1956. Her parents moved to the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic when Svetlana was five, and she grew up in a low-income family in Alma-Ata, where her maternal grandfather was a city prosecutor. During this time Orlova was asked to model for Vneshtorg, with her picture in fashion magazines and used to advertise Soviet goods internationally. Her husband worked at a hospital and taught at the medical institute. He died suddenly of heart failure in 1987, at the age of 35, and two months before the birth of the couple's first child, a son named Filip. Orlova now found herself a single mother, supporting her son and her late husband's elderly parents. She appeared in fewer films during the last Soviet years, and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, with 1988's Tree Sticks! being one example.

Later career She trained as an aerobics coach to support her filmwork, opening a class for sports aerobics in Moscow. She has not remarried. She makes occasional appearances on television, including a documentary film about Georgy Millyar, and a program to mark the fortieth anniversary of the release of Finist, the brave Falcon. She continues to teach choreography at a private school, and appears in roles in the New Year's performances on Sparrow Hills.

Filmography