Mikhail Galustyan

Biography

Mikhail Galustyan was born in the resort town of Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union in southern Russia. Galusyan's ethnology roots back to the city of Trabzon in modern Turkey, which used to be populated by a large Armenian community. His paternal grandfather, along with his 12 siblings escaped the Armenian Genocide during the early years of the 20th century and reached Sochi, what was a Black sea coastal town in the Russian Empire. Galustyan's mother originates from Abkhazia. Being ethnically Armenian, Galustyan is of Hemshin origin, a branch of the Armenian genealogy originating from a diverse group of Armenians who in the past or present have been affiliated with the Hemşin district in the province of Rize, Turkey. When Galustyan was in kindergarten he participated in activities such as singing, dancing, and reciting poems. During his early life, Galustyan attended Sochi school, where he practiced the piano and began to hone his skills in a music class. He was also engaged in the puppet theater in the judo section at the Palace of Pioneers. After the fifth grade, Galustyan transferred schools at his parents' instigation. At his new school he performed in a play on the stage. Galustyan's role in the play was Winnie-the-Pooh. By the time Galustyan was in the 10th grade, he had joined his school's KVN. Eventually, Galustyan became the captain of the school's KVN team. His team went on to defeat all their opponent schools during the regionals and won in СГУТиКД (Sochi State University of Tourism and Resort Business).

In 1996, Galustyan graduated from school and went into medical school, where he had studied to be an "assistant-obstetrician". After graduating from college, Galustyan entered the Sochi State University of Tourism and Resort Business with a focus in Social Pedagogy. In 1998, Galustyan joined his university's "Start" KVN team and took part in the Voronezh League, in which he helped the team reach the finals. After the performances in Voronezh, the team received an invitation to the Highest League for KVN in Moscow from A. V. Maslyakov. Galustyan was eventually expelled from the institute for serious lapse in attendance as his group was on tour and were performing up to three shows per day.

In 2002, Galustyan became the leader of the team, "Baked by the sun". In 2003, the team won that season's championship. During this time, Galustyan also met his future wife, Victoria. And in 2004, "Burnt by the sun" won the KVN Summer cup and repeated this success in both 2005 and 2009.

In 2011, Mikhail became a student of the Kutafin Moscow State Law University.

Galustyan was a torchbearer for the 2014 Winter Olympics in his hometown of Sochi. He participated on the last day of the torch relay from Olympia to Sochi in what has been recognized as the largest and longest relay in the history of the Winter Olympics. Galustyan stated, "I'm proud and delighted that I helped my country and my hometown Sochi welcome the 22nd Winter Olympic games.”

Political claims

On July 20, 2014 he wrote on his Facebook page:

All events that happen in Ukraine, starting from Maidan, are directed by those, who want to make our countries weak and make them quarrel. I hope you have not any doubts about this. They are successful in this — there is actually a civil war in/on (whatever you want) Ukraine, power is seized by oligarchs, who are ready to hit everyone disagreeing by tanks, hatred to Russians artificially incited. And, as you know, peaceful people become victims of war first. And if trying to find out who is the causer of this disaster, we need to admit that generally the oversea customers of Maidan are, who had split Ukraine into two parts which fight with each other. I believe that Ukrainian people will understand how hardly it was framed on the Maidan and will make oligarchs, who give orders to kill peaceful people, run and could live in peace with each other and with us. And there will not be death any more!

Awards

Filmography

1. 2006 Spanish voyage of Stepanycha as Yanychar
2. 2008 The Best Movie as «Polkilo»
3. 2008 Hitler kaput! as guerrilla Rabinovich
4. 2008 Kung Fu Panda as Po (Russian dubbing-in)
5. 2009 The Best Movie 2 as ru:Екатерина II
6. 2010 Nasha Russia. Eggs of Destiny as Ravshan / «Beard» / Dimon / Alyona (friend of the bride)
7. 2011 Zaytsev+1 as Feodor (main role)
8. 2011 Kung Fu Panda 2 as Po (Russian dubbing-in)
9. 2011 Pregnant as Zhora
10. 2012 Rzhevsky vs. Napoleon as Marquis de Mazo-sad
11. 2012 That still Karlosson! as Karlsson
12. 2015 A Warrior's Tail as Semi-Baron Fafl (voice)

Television

1. 2006 — Nasha Russia — various roles (see below)
2. 2007 — Happy Together — cameo
3. Lednikoviy Period (2008, 2009, 2 and 3 seasons)
4. ru:Прожекторперисхилтон (2008)
5. ru:Рассмеши комика (with 2011)
6. ru:Стенка на стенку (2008)
7. Kto khochet stat' millionerom? (Who Wants to become a Millionaire) (2010)
8. ru:Пока все дома (2008)
9. Bolshie gonki (2008)
10. ru:Камеди Клаб (with 2006)
11. ru:Кино в деталях (2010)

Roles in Nasha Russia

1. Ravshan - Tajik builder (Moscow & Sochi)
2. Ludwig Aristarchovich - concierge, (St. Petersburg)
3. Eugene (Gennady) Mikhailovich Kishelskiy - the trainer of Omsk football clubs ГазМяс (GazMyas, lit. means Gas Meat) and later, of the women's club ГазМясочка (GazMyasochka)
4. Mikhalich - the shop chief of pipe-rolling plant №69 (Chelyabinsk) - in the first season, his name was Igor Mikhalich, in the 2nd and 3rd season Alexey, and in the 4th his name was Victor Mikhailovich Oreshkin.
5. Dimon - teenager (Krasnodar)
6. Anastasia Kuznetsova - the waitress at the sushi bar (Ivanovo). In the film, the character is named Alena.
7. Gavrilov - inspector of traffic police on the Penza-Kopeysk highway
8. Victor Haritonovich Mamonov - Duma representative of Nefteskvazhinsk (a fictional town)
9. Boroda ("beard") - tramp (Rublyovka)
10. Zhorik Vartanov - presenter on the "Sev-Kav TV" (Pyatigorsk)
11. Egor Sergeevich Dronov - major of militia (Ust-Kuzminsk, fictional town in Krasnoyarsk Krai)
12. Vovan is a tourist from Nizhny Tagil visiting Turkey
13. Alexander Rodionovich Borodach - a former security guard of Kseniya Sobchak (Ryazan).
14. Valera - neighbor of Sergei Belyakov (Taganrog).
15. Vasiliy - fan of football club "Neva" (Saint-Petersburg).