Nikolay Vladimirovich Fomenko (, born 30 April 1962) is a Russian musician, comic actor, professional motor racer, former president of

Marussia Motors Marussia Motors ( ) was a Russian sports car company founded in 2007. It was the first Russian company to produce a supercar. It designed, and manufactured prototypes of both the B1 and the B2 sport cars. Marussia was led by former motor racer Nik ...

and former engineering director of

Marussia F1 The Marussia F1 Team (subsequently Manor Marussia F1 Team) was a Formula One racing team and constructor which was based in Banbury, Oxfordshire and then later Dinnington, South Yorkshire, Dinnington, South Yorkshire in the United Kingdom and co ...

Biography

Born in Leningrad on April 30, 1962. Father - Vladimir Ivanovich Fomenko, physicist-metrologist, who worked for many years at VNIIM. Vladimir Fomenko was one of the developers of homing missiles. Mother - Galina Nikolaevna Fomenko (nee Fedorova), after her grandmother from the nobility of the Skrypitsins, a ballerina, G. S. Ulanova identified her at the Vaganovsk Choreographic School. Due to a meniscus injury, she was forced to change her profession and became a civil engineer. He studied at school No. 222, which at that time was re-qualified as the School of the Olympic Reserve. Simultaneously with his studies at school, he studied at the Theater of Youth Creativity (TYuT), played in the symphony orchestra of the Leningrad Palace of Pioneers on the first violin. In 1983 he graduated from the Leningrad State Institute of Theatre, Music and Cinematography (LGITMiK). While studying at the institute, he organized the Secret group, a member of the Komsomol. After graduating from the institute, he worked for distribution at the Alexandrinsky Theater. Since January 1993, he began to live and work in Moscow.

Music career

Fomenko started his career as vocalist and guitarist in the band

Secret Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controver ...

, who were very popular in Russia in the mid-1980s.

Acting career

Fomenko first started his acting career as a theater actor in the Theater of Youth Creativity (1974-1976).

Filmography

TV career

Fomenko performed in the popular Russian music collection series ''Staryye Pesni o Glavnom'' (Old songs about the important). 1997—1998 ''Empire of Passion'' (NTV, reruns — TNT, MUZ-TV) — author and host. He hosted two seasons of a TV show '' The Interception'' and a season of the game-show ''

The Weakest Link ''Weakest Link'' (also known as ''The Weakest Link'') is a television game show which The Weakest Link (British game show), first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and originally ended on 31 March 2012 when its host ...

'' on Russia's Channel 5. In 2009, he began hosting ''

Top Gear Russia ''Top Gear Russia'' () is a Russian motoring television series that ran on Ren-TV, and was based on the British program ''Top Gear'' produced by the BBC. It premiered on 22 February 2009. The show was cancelled due to low ratings and aired for ...

'', the REN-TV spin-off of the BBC series ''

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the ori ...

''.

Car racing career

In 1994, Fomenko was invited by

Vladislav Listyev Vladislav (Vlad) Nikolayevich Listyev (; May 10, 1956 – March 1, 1995) was a Soviet, later Russian journalist and head of the ORT TV Channel (now government-owned Channel One). Career Listyev was arguably the most popular journalist and TV ...

to participate in a car racing show as a celebrity guest. Later he started to train as a professional racer and took his first victory in 1996.

FIA GT

Endurance races

Car manufacturer

Fomenko is involved in the development and launching of the

Marussia Marussia Motors ( ) was a Russian sports car company founded in 2007. It was the first Russian company to produce a supercar. It designed, and manufactured prototypes of both the B1 and the B2 sport cars. Marussia was led by former motor racer Ni ...

sports car.

Formula One

In 2010 Marussia became a sponsor of

Virgin Racing Virgin Racing (subsequently Marussia Virgin Racing) was a Formula One racing team which was under management of Manor Motorsport, Wirth Research and Richard Branson's Virgin Group and competed in with a List of Formula One constructors#Team's ...

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

team. On 11 November 2010, Marussia acquired a controlling stake in the team. On 2 February 2011 Fomenko was announced as Engineering Director of the Marussia Virgin Racing Formula One team.

Personal life

He was married to Andrei Mironov's stepdaughter, actress Maria Golubkina, and has three children: daughters Anastasia and Ekaterina, and a son, Ivan.

References

External links

Official site
*
Nikolai Fomenko
at http://www.fiagt.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Fomenko, Nikolai 1962 births Living people Russian people of Ukrainian descent 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers FIA GT Championship drivers European Le Mans Series drivers Russian male film actors Russian male television actors Soviet male singers Honored Artists of the Russian Federation 20th-century Russian male actors 21st-century Russian male actors Russian pop singers Russian racing drivers Russian rock singers Russian bass guitarists Male bass guitarists Russian male composers Russian television presenters Russian game show hosts Composers from Saint Petersburg 24 Hours of Spa drivers Formula One team owners Male actors from Saint Petersburg Sportspeople from Saint Petersburg Marussia Motors European founders of automobile manufacturers