Renowned actor Stefanov explains why he changed his last name.

Merited artist Oleg Stefan changed his last name

Actor and teacher Oleg Stefan, who holds the title of Merited Artist of Ukraine, decided to change his last name from Stefanov to Stefan. In an interview, he explained how he came to this decision.

In his youth, Stefan was very proud of the ending of his last name on -ov, as he believed that this made him 'Russian' and opened all doors for him. But when he failed to enter the university in Moscow and started working at a factory in his hometown, he was told that his grandfather's last name was not Stefanov, but Stefan Shefan.

After that, Stefan began to search for his roots and found old documents where his grandfather's last name was written as Shefan or Stefan. He also remembered that his native language was Russian, and he consciously switched to Ukrainian when he became an actor and had difficulty choosing between Russian and Ukrainian languages.

Stefan noted that his decision to change his last name was driven by the search for his identity and the need to be himself. He admitted that when he realized in the theater that he could not lead a double life, he decided to embrace his Ukrainian identity.

Previously, Stefan talked about how mobilized artists are able to make it to the stage every night.