Aleksander Czekalo

Biography of Aleksander Czekalo

Date of birth:22.03.1961

Place of birth. Education.Aleksander Czekalo was born in Kyiv into a family of engineers. He received two degrees - technical (part-time studies at the Leningrad Institute of Technology) and acting (Kyiv Circus College). He studied technical and artistic subjects simultaneously, obtaining two certificates of completion from school.

Career. He worked at the Odessa Philharmonic. In 1986, together with Lolita Milyavskaya, he created the cabaret duo 'Akademia' and later moved to Moscow.

The duo's first album 'Little Revolution', released in 1992, went almost unnoticed by the mass listener. But the next album 'Unusual Dances' (1994) brought 'Akademia' many successes and helped it reach the top of the charts.

In 1995, the album 'You Want, but You Are Silent' was released, and in 1997 - 'Wedding'. The concert versions of these albums, which took place on the stage of the Russian Palace of Culture and Science in Moscow, were awarded. In 1999, 'Akademia' recorded the albums 'Tu-tu-tu na-na-na' (according to some reviews, the best album of the duo) and 'Fingerprints'.

Since 1996, Aleksander Czekalo, together with Lolita, hosted the television program 'Good Morning, Country!' on the RTR channel. Previously, they were co-hosts of the program 'Morning Mail' on the ORT channel.

The duo was a regular host of concerts, spending much time touring across Russia and abroad.

In 2000, after the breakup of 'Akademia', Aleksander Czekalo played the lead role in the film by Tigan Keosayan 'Silver Lily', for which he wrote and performed the song 'History'.

From 2001 to 2002, he was the executive producer of the musical 'Nord-Ost', and later the general director of the company 'Russian Musical', director and editor of the musical '12 Chairs'.

From the summer of 2002 to 2005, he served as the executive producer of entertainment programs in the in-house production department of television station STS. From 2005 to 2006, he was the general director of STS.From August 1, 2006, to June 1, 2007, he served as the director of production for entertainment programs of STS.

From 2005 to 2015, he was the publisher and editor-in-chief of the cigar magazine 'Hecho a mano'.

From 2006 to 2014 and in 2017, he hosted the First Channel ('Two Stars', 'Minute of Fame', 'Big Difference', 'Light Throw'). From June 25, 2007, to July 30, 2008, he served as deputy general director and head of the special projects department of the First Channel.

Since 2008, he has been the general director and owner of the production company 'Wednesday'. The company specializes in producing television programs, feature films, and series.

In 2016, he became the first Russian producer to successfully sell his series - 'Major' - to the world's largest American streaming service 'Netflix'. In 2017, he sold the company five more series: 'Farza', 'Method', 'Sranch', 'Sparta' and 'Territory'.

In 2017, with support from the channel 'TV-3', he became the first producer in Russia to release his series - 'Gogol' - to theaters.

Additionally, Czekalo served as the director-editor of artistic evenings for Igor Krutoy (he was also the writer and host), the Kinotavr festival (he was also the host), the Silver Hoof award (he was also the host), solo concerts of Anzhelika Varum (he was also the director of the music video for the song 'Whist-man'), and also for Alsу (he participated in preparations for Alsы's Eurovision competition where the singer took second place. He was the artistic director of the TEFI awards ceremony in 2006.

Awards. Multiple winner of the Russian television award TEFI.

Laureate of the 'Professional', 'Star', 'Ovation', 'Golden Gramophone', 'Golden Eagle' awards.

Restaurant host. Aleksander Czekalo, along with Ivan Urgant, is the owner of the restaurant 'Garden' in Moscow on the Yakimanskoye Embankment.

Family. The youngest brother of Ukrainian actor Viktor Czekalo.

First wife - Alena Shiferman, soloist of the group 'Shapka'.

Second wife - Lolita Milyavskaya, the marriage was officially registered at the beginning of the breakup of the cabaret duo 'Akademia' in 1999, they divorced 3 months later in 2000. From this marriage, he has a daughter Eva (born 1999).

Third wife - Viktoria Galushka, biological sister of former member of the group 'ВИА Гра' Vera Brezhneva. Before moving to Moscow, Viktoria worked as an assistant to the renowned Ukrainian fashion designer Olga Nawrocka. The marriage was registered in December 2007. The marriage lasted until 2018, but it was only in January 2019 that Aleksander officially confirmed the divorce from Viktoria. From this marriage, he has a daughter Aleksandra Czekalo (born 2008) and a son Mikhail Czekalo (born 2012).

Fourth wife - Darina Erwin, they started dating in 2018, they are engaged, and at the beginning...