Igor Vitalievich Jijikine (

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: И́горь Вита́льевич Жижи́кин; born 8 October 1965) is a Russian-American actor working in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

Early life and career

Jijikine was born in Moscow. From 1983 to 1988 he studied drama and

acrobatics Acrobatics () is the performance of human feats of balance (ability), balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sports, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most ...

. From 1982 to 1984, Jijikine performed mandatory military service with the Soviet Special Forces unit

Spetsnaz SpetsnazThe term is borrowed from rus, спецназ, p=spʲɪtsˈnas; abbreviation for or 'Special Purpose Military Units'; or () are special forces in many post-Soviet states. Historically, this term referred to the Soviet Union's Spet ...

. He has performed on stage with the

Moscow State Circus The title Moscow State Circus is used for a variety of circuses. Most commonly, it refers to one of the two circus buildings in Moscow, the "Circus Nikulin" (the old circus, featuring animal acts) and the "Bolshoi Circus" (the new circus, featu ...

,Igor Jijikine official website
. Retrieved 28 December 2013

Donn Arden Donn Arden (1916 or 1917 – November 2, 1994) was an American choreographer and producer. Biography Donn Arden was born as Arden Carlyle Peterson on 17 July 1915, in Annawan, Illinois, and grew up in St. Louis. By the age of nine he was al ...

's "Jubilee" and

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; ) is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, Montreal, Saint-Michel, Montreal, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Jun ...

's "Mystere" in Las Vegas.

Film career

In recent years, Jijikine has worked with such directors as

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

and

J. J. Abrams Jeffrey Jacob Abrams (born June 27, 1966) is an American filmmaker and composer. He is best known for his works in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. Abrams wrote and produced films such as '' Regarding Henry'' (1991), '' Forever ...

and has appeared in numerous commercial spots for major brands. In Spielberg's ''

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'' is a 2008 American action adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by David Koepp, based on a story by George Lucas and Jeff Nathanson. It is the fourth installm ...

'', Igor plays the role of Colonel Dovchenko (taking over the series' tough guy role held by the late

Pat Roach Francis Patrick Roach (19 May 1937 – 17 July 2004) was an English professional wrestler, martial artist and actor. During an acting career between the 1970s and the 1990s, he appeared in multiple films, usually as a henchman. He appeared in t ...

), the ruthless leader of the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

commando team searching for the

crystal skull Crystal skulls are human skull hardstone carvings made of clear, milky white or other types of quartz (also called "rock crystal"), claimed to be pre-Columbian Mesoamerican artifacts by their alleged finders; however, these claims have been refut ...

. His commercially most successful films have been ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'' which grossed US$786 million and '' The Tourist'' which grossed US$278 million worldwide.

Computer games

Jijikine appeared in the

real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games that does not progress incrementally in turn-based game, turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time." By contrast, in Turn-based strategy, tur ...

games, '' Emperor: Battle for Dune'', ''

Red Alert 2 ''Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2'' is a real-time strategy video game released for Microsoft Windows on October 25, 2000, as the follow-up to '' Command & Conquer: Red Alert''. ''Red Alert 2'' picks up after the Allied campaign of the first gam ...

'' and its expansion ''

Yuri's Revenge ''Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge'' is an expansion pack to '' Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2'' developed by Westwood Studios. The game was released in North America on October 9, 2001. The game is centered on a shadowy ex-Soviet figure named ...

'', by

Westwood Studios Westwood Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was founded by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle in 1985 as Brelous Software, but got changed after 2 months into Westwood Associates and was renamed to Westw ...

. In addition to appearing in the games' cutscene sequences, he modeled as a Soviet soldier appearing in the front cover of ''Red Alert 2''.Igor Jijikine
/ref>

Sports

Igor is an accomplished sportsman and was honored as Master of Sports in Russia.

Filmography

References

External links

* *
Igor Jijikine on Kino-Teatr.Ru
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jijikine, Igor 1965 births Living people Russian male film actors Russian male television actors Russian male voice actors Male actors from Moscow Cirque du Soleil performers Russian emigrants to the United States