Biography

Vladimir Konkin is a Soviet and Russian theater and film actor. Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1974), Honored Artist of the Russian Federation (2010).

His parents gave him a good upbringing. Vladimir was excused from shop class and physical education at school due to a heart defect, so his parents took him to theaters and museums during all his free time. During his school years, he attended a theater studio. After finishing school, Vladimir enrolled in the Saratov Theater School. In 1972, Vladimir Konkin graduated from drama school and began working at the Kharkov Theater for Young Spectators. In 1973, he moved to the Mossovet Academic Drama Theatre, where he worked for about a year.

In 1974, Vladimir Konkin began working as an actor at the Aleksandr Dovzhenko Film Studio. Vladimir Konkin’s very first film role - that of Pavel Korchagin in Nikolay Mashchenko’s TV movie How the Steel Was Tempered (1973) - instantly brought the aspiring actor widespread fame and official recognition. Between 1974 and 1978, he appeared in a number of interesting films. While remaining within the mold of the romantic hero, Konkin strove to avoid repetition. The actor experienced another surge in popularity after playing Volodya Sharapov in Stanislav Govorukhin’s film The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed (1979).

In 1979, Vladimir Konkin was invited to the Yermolova Moscow Drama Theatre. On the stage of this theater, he played romantic and heroic roles in various productions. In 1988, Vladimir Konkin changed jobs once again, moving to the theater-studio led by Yevgeniy Radomyslenskiy. It was a restless search for variety that drove the actor to move from one theater to another. After working there until 1991, Konkin joined the Vernisazh Theater, where he tried his hand at directing alongside his acting work.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tango Papa

He and his late wife, Alla Lvovna Konkina, were married for over 39 years, from 1971 until her death from cancer at the end of March 2010. They have three children, two twin sons, Yaroslav and Svyatoslav, and a daughter, Sofya, as well as three grandchildren, Gleb, Darya, and Varvara.

Vladimir Vysotskiy didn't become a friend during the filming of The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed (1979). He was a colleague and a very peculiar one at that. Working with him wasn't easy. One moment he was kind, wonderful, and delightful, but three seconds later, his expression would change completely... Yelling, screaming - you name it, it happened! I had never found myself in such an appalling situation before.

That was the only way people saw me. But I understood perfectly well: a couple more roles like that, and I'd be washed up. That happens all the time here - you get typecast in a specific kind of role and then discarded. No one wants to acknowledge or explore your other acting abilities anymore. Because filmmaking is a risky business. And hardly any director wants to take the risk of casting an actor whose established image - in their view - doesn't fit the part.

I found the experience of filming The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed (1979) incredibly uncomfortable. A film set can throw even strong, thick-skinned actors off balance - let alone someone thin-skinned like me. It was so difficult that, without saying a word to anyone, I packed my bags and decided to head back to Kiev. At that moment, I didn't care what the film crew might think.