---
name: "Elena Lyadova"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/elena-lyadova"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "25 December 1980"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-17T08:08:22.027026+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Elena Lyadova

Actor. Born 25 December 1980 in Morshansk, Tambov region, USSR [now Russia].

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 25 December 1980, Morshansk, Tambov region, USSR [now Russia]
- **Also known as:** Elena Igorevna Lyadova, Елена Игоревна Лядова
- **Elsewhere:** https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4272531, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1956600/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1067188

## Fi1m on Elena Lyadova

> Elena Lyadova plays troubled women without tidying away what makes them difficult. We particularly value her work with Andrey Zvyagintsev: in *Leviathan*, she gives the family’s unhappiness weight without letting it become all about one man.

In the family scenes of *Leviathan* (2014), Elena Lyadova gives us reasons to think about someone other than the angry man at their centre. Aleksei Serebryakov’s Nikolay Sergeev can be exhausting company; her Liliya Sergeeva has unhappiness of her own, and the performance makes us attend to it. We were moved by these scenes because Lyadova made Liliya matter separately from our sympathy for Nikolay. She helps keep the scenes from becoming a succession of reasons to take his side.

Her film debut was *Dreaming of Space* (2005), but the decisive collaboration began with Zvyagintsev’s *Elena* (2011), in which she played Katerina. *Leviathan* then brought that partnership to wider attention. These roles helped establish her as an actor for troubled, conflicted women, often working within an ensemble rather than apart from it. What interests us is her willingness to leave those women difficult: she does not appear to need our approval before she can make us care.

We would not make a virtue of restraint in every part. *Leviathan* needs Serebryakov’s abrasive anger, and it would be a poorer film if everyone adopted Lyadova’s quieter approach. Equally, its heavy religious symbolism is a weakness that good acting cannot wish away. The reason to value her contribution is specific: when the family are together, Nikolay’s troubles do not cancel out Liliya’s.

Away from Zvyagintsev, she plays Nadya in *The Geographer Drank His Globe Away* (2013) and a young editor in *Dovlatov* (2018). Television work includes Irina in *McMafia* (2018). These are reasons to look beyond the two films that established her reputation. The subdued performance in *Dovlatov* also suggests a limitation: understatement can make her too easy to overlook. Start with *Leviathan*, and do not expect the family to make the evening comfortable.

## Biography

Elena Lyadova is a Russian actress. She was born on 25 December 1980 in Morshansk, Tambov Oblast, and graduated from the Mikhail Shchepkin Higher Theatre School in Moscow in 2002. She joined the troupe of the Moscow Theatre for Young Audiences and began her film career in 2005.

Lyadova is known for her roles in films directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev, including *Elena* (2011) as Katerina and *Leviathan* (2014) as Liliya Sergeeva. Other credits include *The Geographer Drank His Globe Away* (2013) and *Orlean* (2015). She has received Nika and Golden Eagle awards for her performances.

In 2015 she married actor Vladimir Vdovichenkov, her co-star in *Leviathan*.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Leviathan* (2014), Fi1m 85, as Liliya Sergeeva — [page](https://film.one/film/leviathan-2014.md)

## Also known for

- *Elena* (2011), Katerina
- *McMafia* (2018), Irina
- *The Banishment* (2008), Vera, voice acting
- *The Geographer Drank His Globe Away* (2013), Nadya
- *Not Like Dad* (2021), Max's mother
- *Dovlatov* (2018), Young editor
- *Frontier* (2018), Мария Шурова

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© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/elena-lyadova