--- name: "Semyon Svashenko" canonical: "https://film.one/person/semyon-svashenko" fi1m_id: "semyon-svashenko" imdb_id: "nm0840935" tmdb_id: 592961 wikidata_id: "Q4410018" roles: ["Actor"] born: "13 September 1904" died: "23 November 1969" reviewed_on_fi1m: 1 average_as: "actor" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-09-25T00:35:26.618851+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." --- # Semyon Svashenko ## Identity Semyon Svashenko - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/semyon-svashenko - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** semyon-svashenko - **IMDb ID:** nm0840935 - **TMDB ID:** 592961 - **Wikidata ID:** Q4410018 - **Same entity:** https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4410018, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0840935/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/592961 Actor. Born 13 September 1904 in Derhachi, Ukraine. Died 23 November 1969. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 13 September 1904, Derhachi, Ukraine - **Died:** 23 November 1969 - **Also known as:** Семен Свашенко, С. Свашенко - **Elsewhere:** https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4410018, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0840935/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/592961 ## Streaming the US now - **Tubi:** [*Earth*](https://film.one/film/earth.md) (85) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Semyon Svashenko > Semyon Svashenko could hold his face still without looking vacant; his eyes and movement did the work. In *Earth*, he gives Vasyl an engaging confidence, although the writing leaves too little room for the man to surprise us. Svashenko can keep his face almost still and let his eyes supply the feeling. Movement gives him another way of being expressive without insisting that we notice the acting. In *Earth* (1930), he gives Vasyl the confidence to make a farming scheme seem worth believing in. We were stirred by that confidence, particularly beside Stepan Shkurat's reluctant Opanas, whose resistance gives him something human to play against. The two actors make disagreement interesting without needing either man to be especially complicated. His leading roles in Alexander Dovzhenko's *Zvenigora* (1928) and *Arsenal* (1929) came just before *Earth*, making those few silent years the centre of his career. These films repeatedly asked him to play a young man sure of what should happen next. A still face can be useful for that, suggesting someone who sees little reason to doubt himself. Svashenko's active eyes keep such assurance from looking merely blank. *Earth* also shows the restriction of such parts, even in a film we recommend warmly. Vasyl and Opanas are more engaging together than the broader opposition supplied by Ivan Franko's Kulak Bilokin, a wealthy farmer too readily reduced to an obstacle. Dovzhenko pays close attention to these faces, yet his writing can leave the actors representing fixed positions with little room to surprise us. Svashenko supplies the necessary energy; we would have welcomed more opportunities for him to let Vasyl hesitate. The sound years brought mostly supporting and character parts, among them the chairman of a fishing collective in Boris Barnet's *By the Bluest of Seas* (1936) and the Old Ukrainian in *Ballad of a Soldier* (1959). Those credits belong to a longer career than the concentration on three silent films might suggest. Start with *Earth*, and allow it the concentration those faces deserve. ## Biography Semyon Svashenko was a Soviet actor of Ukrainian origin. He trained at the Berezil theatre in Kharkiv and appeared in early Soviet films from the late 1920s. He is known for leading roles in Oleksandr Dovzhenko's silent films *Zvenigora* (1928), *Arsenal* (1929) and *Earth* (1930), in which he played Vasyl. Later screen credits include *Ballad of a Soldier* (1959) and *War and Peace* (1966–1967). Svashenko was awarded the title of Honoured Artist of the RSFSR in 1967. *Sources: imdb.com, ru.wikipedia.org.* ## On Fi1m (1) - *Earth* (1930), Fi1m 85, as Vasyl — [page](https://film.one/film/earth.md) ## Complete filmography (27) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *War and Peace* (1968), as Russian soldier - *War and Peace, Part I: Andrei Bolkonsky* (1966), as Russian soldier - *An Optimistic Tragedy* (1963), as sailor - *Duel* (1961), Actor - *Ballad of a Soldier* (1959), as Old Ukrainian - *Gloomy Morning* (1959), as episode - *Pages of the Past* (1958), Actor - *Quiet Flows the Don* (1957), as Garandzha (uncredited) - *The Gadfly* (1955), as Marcone - *Admiral Ushakov* (1953), as Officer (uncredited) - *The Horsemen* (1950), as herder - *The Battle of Stalingrad* (1949), as Tank commander (uncredited) - *Kubans* (1939), Actor - *A Border on Lock* (1937), Actor - *By the Bluest of Seas* (1936), as Fishing kolkhoz chaiman - *Aerograd* (1935), as Partisan (uncredited) - *Dokhunda* (1934), as Sabir - *Night Raids* (1931), as Kulak - *Fata Morgana* (1931), Actor - *Perekop* (1930), as Kalmyk soldier (uncredited) - *Blown Up Days* (1930), as Hero of labour - *Earth* (1930), as Vasyl — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/film/earth.md) - *Two Women* (1930), as Krekshina's husband - *The Exhibit from Panopticon* (1929), as Horodynskyi's son - *Arsenal* (1929), as Tymish - *Zvenigora* (1928), as Timoshka, First Grandson - *Arsenaltsy* (1925), as Ensign ## Gallery - ![Semyon Svashenko](https://film.one/media/person/3851997/gallery-c225aaf11527.jpg) Semyon Svashenko — Оператор Даниил Демуцкий, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/1929._%D0%A1%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD_%D0%A1%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%88%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%BE_%D0%B2_%D1%84%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BC%D0%B5_%D0%90%D1%80%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BB_%282%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Semyon Svashenko](https://film.one/media/person/3851997/gallery-7b488974017e.jpg) Semyon Svashenko — Image via TMDB - ![Semyon Svashenko](https://film.one/media/person/3851997/gallery-527f376e134d.jpg) Semyon Svashenko — Image via TMDB - ![Semyon Svashenko](https://film.one/media/person/3851997/gallery-90c431b212f2.jpg) Semyon Svashenko — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Other awards — 1 won - Honored Artist of the RSFSR 1966: Honored Artist of the RSFSR (won) *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © 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/semyon-svashenko