Ekaterina Varnava

Ekaterina Vladimirovna Varnava (born 9 December 1984, Moscow, USSR) is a Russian theatre, film, television and voice actress, television presenter, comedian and choreographer. She is best known as a participant and choreographer of the comedy television show Comedy Woman (2008–2020).

Biography

Ekaterina Varnava was born on 9 December 1984 in Moscow.[1] Her father, Vladimir Petrovich Varnava, was a military officer; her mother, Galina Stepanovna Varnava, was a physician. She has two older brothers, Igor and Alexey.

Soon after her birth the family moved to East Germany, where her father was stationed as part of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. She lived in Wünsdorf until the age of seven.

She graduated from the Humanities Department of the National University of Science and Technology MISiS with a degree in jurisprudence.

Career

KVN

Varnava began performing in the KVN comedy competition in 2003 with the team "Svoi Sekrety" ("Our Secrets"). In 2004 she first appeared on television as an invited participant with the "Small Nations Team" during the musical contest of the Premier League quarterfinals.[2]

Beginning with the 2005 Premier League festival she joined the "Small Nations Team" as a full participant. The team reached the final of the 2005 season and also appeared at the "Golosyashchiy KiViN 2005" festival. At the same time she continued performing with "Svoi Sekrety" in the Ukrainian Higher League, reaching the semifinals.

After participating in the 2006 Sochi festival the "Small Nations Team" was invited to the KVN Higher League, though it was eliminated in the first round. In 2006 Varnava also became champion of the Volga League with "Svoi Sekrety".

After 2007 the "Small Nations Team" effectively disbanded and Varnava performed exclusively with "Svoi Sekrety." The team was invited to the 2007 Higher League season and later moved to the Premier League. Varnava and Maria Kravchenko were central performers of the team. Her final KVN performance took place in 2008 as part of the Moscow national team.[3]

She also appeared several times on the KVN spin-off program Vne Igry ("Out of the Game") and co-hosted episode No. 15 with Aleksandr Maslyakov Jr. and Maria Kravchenko.[4]

Television

From its debut episode in 2008, Varnava performed on the television show Comedy Woman as the show's “sex symbol,”[5] and also worked as the show's choreographer.

She co-hosted the morning program NTV Utrom on NTV (August–September 2012) and was among the hosts of the music competition Battle of Choirs on Russia-1.

From 2014 to 2017 she hosted the Ukrainian program Who’s on Top? on Novyi Kanal, replacing Olha Freimut, until she was banned from entering Ukraine due to visiting Crimea.[6] In 2019 the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine added her to a list of individuals considered a threat to national security.[7]

She hosted the First Channel project Dance! (2015), appeared in the music video for “Lada Sedan” by Rekord Orkestr, and participated in many other entertainment programs. In 2018 she became co-host of Songs. Reality on TNT, and in 2020 co-hosted Boys & Girls on Friday! with Aleksandr Gudkov. Since 2020 she has co-hosted the TNT show Sekret with Dmitry Khrustalyov.[8]

Theatre

According to journalist Alyona Zhigalova, Varnava was dismissed from the Crave theatre due to her stance on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[9]

Her performance fee for corporate events in 2025 was reported as 2.5 million rubles.[10]

From 2020 to 2022 she starred in the cabaret show Absolutely Naked at Crave Theatre.[11]

In 2024 she premiered the cabaret show DRAMA QUEEN in Cyprus, serving as lead actress, producer and director.[12]

Filmography

  • 2008 – Univer – cameo
  • 2012 – 8 First Dates – Ilona Viktorovna
  • 2012 – Deffchonki – cameo
  • 2013 – Studio 17 – Mila
  • 2015 – SashaTanya – cameo
  • 2015 – Double Trouble – Alexandra
  • 2017 – Zomboiashchik – Elena Dronova
  • 2020 – The Marathon of Wishes – Snezhana
  • 2021 – Love – Violetta
  • 2022 – Oryol i Reshka. Kino – Valeria Repina
  • 2022 – Trigger 2 – Zhenya
  • 2022 – Incident in Multi-Pulti Land – Donkey (voice)
  • 2022 – Winter Season – Ilza
  • 2023 – Fandorin. Azazel – Strievskaya
  • 2023 – What Men Talk About. Simple Pleasures – cameo
  • 2023 – Reckless – Vika

Voice acting

  • 2017 – Sadko – Barracuda (voice)
  • 2019 – The Secret Life of Pets 2 – Daisy (Russian dub)

Music videos

  • Vitaliy Kozlovskiy — “Trachu” (2015)
  • Rekord Orkestr — “Lada Sedan” (2015)
  • Artur Pirozhkov — “Lyubov’” (2015)
  • TSOY — “Poltora Koreytsa” (2019)
  • Klava Koka — “Vlyublena v MDK” (2019)
  • Aleksandr Gudkov — “Tektonik” (2019)
  • Manizha — “Nedoslavyanka” (2019)
  • Philipp Kirkorov — “Romany” (2020)
  • Loboda feat. Pharaoh — “Boom Boom” (2020)
  • Little Big — “Moustache” (2021)
  • Cream Soda — “Podozhgu” (2021)

Advertising

In 2013 she appeared in the advertising campaign for the online shoe store Sapato.ru.[13] In 2016 she appeared in commercials for Gloria Jeans.[14] Since 2017 she has been a brand ambassador for Loko Bank.[15]

Magazines

She appeared in the April 2010 issue of the Russian edition of Maxim[16] and on the cover of XXL in November 2012.[17]

Personal life

From 2012 to 2013 Varnava dated comedian Dmitry Khrustalyov.[18]

From 2013 to 2019 she was in a relationship with choreographer Konstantin Myakinkov.[19]

In 2020 she began a relationship with actor and director Aleksandr Molochnikov. The couple married in spring 2022 and divorced later that year.[20]

Public stance

Since May 2017 she has been listed in the Ukrainian database Myrotvorets.[21]

In February 2022 she publicly opposed the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[22]

References

  1. ^"Екатерина Варнава: «В прошлой жизни я была итальянкой!»". Archived from the original on 2013-04-05. Retrieved 2013-03-25.
  2. ^"Музыкальный конкурс СМН в 1/4 сезона 2004 Премьер-лиги". YouTube. 26 January 2009. Archived from the original on 2023-05-14.
  3. ^"Спецпроект Клуба Весёлых и Находчивых 2008". Archived from the original on 2016-10-26.
  4. ^"Краткие описания всех выпусков «Вне игры»". Archived from the original on 2015-04-02.
  5. ^Made in Woman, title credits episodes 1–4
  6. ^"СБУ покарала Екатерину Варнаву". 5 May 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-06-20.
  7. ^"Украина включила участницу Comedy Woman в список угроз". 2019-03-22. Archived from the original on 2023-11-05.
  8. ^"Екатерина Варнава найдет пару «сбежавшей невесте»". Archived from the original on 2021-08-08.
  9. ^"Армения, шоу на Украине, позиция по СВО: куда пропала Екатерина Варнава". 24 December 2023.
  10. ^https://readovka.news/news/219778/
  11. ^"Премьера шоу «Абсолютно нага»". 8 October 2021. Archived from the original on 2024-08-03.
  12. ^"Варнава запускает кабаре-шоу". Archived from the original on 2024-12-08.
  13. ^"Екатерина Варнава показала плюсы онлайн-покупок".
  14. ^"Екатерина Варнава заявила, что стала мамой". Общественно-популярное издание №1.
  15. ^"Екатерина Варнава снялась в рекламной кампании Локо-Банка".
  16. ^"Фемина ля комедия. Екатерина Варнава | MAXIM".
  17. ^"Обнажённая Екатерина Варнава в ноябрьском XXL (6 ФОТО)".
  18. ^Александрова, Ольга (9 December 2013). "Екатерина Варнава и Дмитрий Хрусталев расстались". Archived from the original on 2020-10-23.
  19. ^"Варнава и Мякиньков о романтике". Archived from the original on 2017-10-19.
  20. ^"Молочников – интервью". YouTube. 7 September 2022. Archived from the original on 2022-09-23.
  21. ^"Екатерине Варнаве закрыли въезд в Украину на пять лет". KP.RU - сайт «Комсомольской правды». 5 May 2017.
  22. ^"Самое страшное утро в жизни Россия напала на Украину. Чтобы описать происходящее, не хватает слов. Вот что говорят об этом Земфира, Иван Дорн, Юрий Шевчук и другие". Archived from the original on 2 March 2022.
  • Archived profile on the Comedy Woman website
  • Article about her work in the project “Pyataya Kolonna”
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