Nikolai Burlyayev

Nikolai Petrovich Burlyayev (Russian: Николай Петрович Бурляев; born 3 August 1946) is a Soviet and Russian actor. Born into a family of actors, Burlyayev started his career in film and theatre when he was still a child. He is best known for his title role in Andrei Tarkovsky's Ivan's Childhood. He worked with Tarkovsky again four years later, as Boriska in Andrei Rublev.[1]

Nikolai Burlyayev
At a press conference of the International Film Festival "Golden Knight"
Born	Nikolai Petrovich Burlyayev (1946-08-03) 3 August 1946 Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Occupation	actor, film director
Years active	1961 — present
Spouse(s)	Natalya Varley (divorce) Natalya Bondarchuk (divorce) Inga Shatova

Burlyayev is a graduate of the Film Directors’ Faculty of VGIK, where he studied under Mikhail Romm and Lev Kulidzhanov.[2] His later films include Wartime Romance (1983) and Lermontov (1986), where he played the lead.

Since 1991 Burlyayev has been the founder and director of the annual Zolotoi Vityaz (Golden Knight) Moscow Film Festival of Slavic and Orthodox Peoples, and since 1996 he has been the founder and chairman of the International Association of Cinematographers of Slavic and Orthodox Peoples.[3]

In March 2014 he signed a letter in support of the position of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin on Russia's military intervention in Ukraine.[4] Burlyaev emphasizes that he is Orthodox, repeatedly sharply expressed his negative attitude towards people with non-traditional sexual orientation, calls himself a homophobe.[2][5]

He was married to Natalya Bondarchuk, and is thus the son-in-law of Sergei Bondarchuk and Inna Makarova.