Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (; born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician, screenwriter, actor, comedian and director. He is the President of Ukraine since 2019.

Zelensky played the role of President of Ukraine in the hugely popular 2015 television series Servant of the People. The political party Servant of the People was created in March 2018 by people from the TV production company Kvartal 95 who also created the TV series of the same name.

Zelenskyy ran for president as a populist and anti-corruption candidate in the 2019 election. He defeated incumbent President Petro Poroshenko in a landslide victory, winning 73.2% of the vote.

Early life
Zelensky was born 25 January 1978 in Kryvyi Rih, Ukrainian SSR in a secular Ukrainian Jewish family. His father, Oleksandr Zelensky, is a professor at the Kryvyi Rih Institute of Economics. His mother, Rymma Zelenska, worked as an engineer. Before going to school Volodymyr lived for four years in Mongolia where his father worked at that time.

Zelensky earned a law degree from the Kryvyi Rih Institute of Economics. He fluently speaks Ukrainian and Russian.

Acting career
In 2008, he starred in the feature film Love in the Big City, and its sequel, Love in the Big City 2. Zelensky also played the main role in the movie Office Romance, Our Time, Rzhevsky Versus Napoleon, Love in the Big City 3, 8 First Dates, etc.

In 2015, Zelensky became the main actor of the popular Ukrainian television series Servant of the People, where he played the role of the President of Ukraine.

Presidency
Zelensky was the front-runner in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election. Six months before he announced his candidacy on 31 December 2018, he was already one of the frontrunners in opinion polls for the election.

In September 2019 it was reported that U.S. President Donald Trump had pressured Zelensky during a July phone call between the two Presidents to investigate alleged wrongdoing by Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. This led to the Trump–Ukraine scandal and the impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump which would result in Trump's impeachment.

During 2021–2022, Zelenskyy's administration faced an intense tensions with Russia and President Vladimir Putin. This led to the launch of an ongoing full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022. Zelenskyy's strategy during the Russian military buildup was to calm the Ukrainian population and work with the international community that Ukraine was not going to fight back. At first, he distanced himself from warnings of a future war, while also wanting security guarantees and military support from NATO. After the start of the invasion, Zelenskyy declared martial law across Ukraine.

Personal life
In September 2003, Zelenskyy married Olena Kiyashko. They have one daughter and one son. Zelenskyy's first language is Russian, and he is also fluent in Ukrainian and English. His net worth is about 37 million hryvnias (about US$1.5 million) in 2018.

References

Other websites

 Official website
 Kvartal 95 
 

1978 births
Living people
Ukrainian movie directors
Presidents of Ukraine
Ukrainian actors
Ukrainian Jews
Ukrainian screenwriters
Current national leaders
Ukrainian comedians