Top 10 Best Facts About Volodymr Zelenskiy

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Author President of Ukraine. WikiMedia Commons

Top 10 Best Facts About Volodymr Zelenskiy

Zelenskiy is a former comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for starring in the television series “Servant of the People.” Where he played a destitute schoolteacher who unexpectedly becomes president of Ukraine after a video of his anti-corruption rant goes viral.

1. Despite Studying Law, Zelenskiy Was Involved With Theater And Comedy During College.

Zelenskiy studied at Kyiv National Economic University and earned a law degree in 2000. He never practiced law and instead was active in theater and comedy during his studies, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.

He had a comedy troupe called Kvartal95.  In 1997, his comedy troupe appeared on the televised improvisational comedy competition KVN, and Zelenskiy went on to become a series regular.

2. He Won Ukraine’s Version Of “Dancing With The Stars” In 2006

Twitter user @abughazalehkat shared a resurfaced compilation video from Ukraine’s “Dancing With the Stars” competition in 2006. In this video, Zelenskiy is seen dancing in a variety of styles and an array of costumes. He took first place with dance partner Olena Shoptenko.

3. He Wrote And starred In Several Films Produced By A Production Company He Co-founded

In 2005, Zelenskiy made his film and screenwriting debut in a musical-comedy version of “The Three Musketeers,” in which he played D’Artagnan. Additionally, he wrote and starred in “No Love in the City,” “Corporal vs. Napoleon,” “8 First Dates,” and “Love in Vegas.”  

4. He Starred In A Popular TV Show In Ukraine Called “Servant Of The People,” In Which He Played The President

 In the show, which aired from 2015 to 2019, Zelenskiy’s character is an idealistic school teacher who goes on a viral tirade about government corruption and ends up becoming president.

In real life, he won the presidency with a landslide victory with over 70% of the vote in April 2019.

5. Zelenskiy’s Show Was Once Canceled After Making A Joke About President Vladimir Putin

Zelenskiy had differences with Putin long before the current military invasion, according to the Hulu documentary “Two Men at War” by ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos.

“Do you know, by the way, who else wears this watch?” a Hublot watch salesman asks Zelenskiy’s character in a clip from “Servant of the People.” “Putin,” he adds.

“Who?” Zelenskiy asks. “Putin Hublot?”

“Yes,” the salesman responded.

Though the show was canceled, it added a dimension of political satire, of addressing the problems in Ukraine through comedy. People loved it.”

6. Zelenskiy Is Jewish.

 Zelenskiy spoke about his family’s Jewish heritage and losses in the Holocaust at an event in Israel in January 2020 marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. His grandfather survived the Holocaust, but his grandfather’s three brothers did not.

He was thus born to Jewish parents in the industrial metropolis of Kryvyy Rih in southern Ukraine. When he was a small child, his family relocated to Erdenet, Mongolia, for four years before returning to Kryvyy Rih, where Zelenskiy entered school.

Like many people from Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, he grew up as a native Russian speaker, but he also acquired fluency in both Ukrainian and English. In 1995 he entered Kryvyy Rih Economic Institute, the local campus of Kyiv National Economic University, and in 2000 he graduated with a law degree.

7. He Inspired His And His Wife, Screenwriter

 Zelenskiy met Zelenska in college, where she switched from studying architecture to writing and became a screenwriter for his production company according to Tatler. They have two children, Aleksandra and Kiril.

8. He Won The Presidency Under The Servant of the People Party Which He Formed

In February 2014 the government of Ukrainian Pres. Viktor Yanukovych was toppled after months of popular protests, and that May billionaire Petro Poroshenko was elected president of Ukraine. With a Russian-backed insurgency raging in eastern Ukraine and endemic corruption undermining public confidence in government, Poroshenko struggled to enact even modest reforms.

 It was against this backdrop that Servant of the People premiered in October 2015. Zelenskiy was cast as Vasiliy Goloborodko, an everyman history teacher who becomes a viral Internet phenomenon after a student films him delivering an impassioned and profanity-laden address against official corruption. It became a massive hit providing him with a clear road map for the presidency of Ukraine. In anticipation of that move, in 2018 Kvartal 95 officially registered Servant of the People as a political party in Ukraine.

 Zelenskiy’s anti-corruption platform won him widespread support, and his significant online following translated into a solid electoral base. He won a landslide victory over incumbent Petro Poroshenko in the second round of the 2019 presidential election. President Zelensky’s leadership during the Russian invasion of Ukraine won him global acclaim.

9. He Won Many Hearts Globally When he refused To Leave The Country

Volodymyr Zelenskiy as Ukraine’s president, has been winning hearts and support from all over the world even as his country is in the midst of a war, declared by Russian president Vladimir Putin.

He refused to leave the country even as Russian attacks went beyond the capital city of Kyiv and 198 civilians having lost their lives till now. He also rejected to evacuate the country when the US offered to help him with that. He said, “The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride,” as reported by a senior American intelligence official.

He has continued to urge Ukrainians to resist the Russian onslaught, and has rallied his people to resist. His anguished visage and stirring rhetoric have in many ways become the symbol of the war in Ukraine. He’s described himself as “Target Number One” and his wife and two children as “Target Number Two”. Despite the danger he’s in, Zelensky has vowed to stay and fight.

10. He Successfully Changed The Global Response To Russia’s Aggression

Some world leaders were reportedly hesitant to impose steep sanctions on Russia as the war began.  After the first day of the country’s war on Ukraine, he convened a meeting to address the world.

 But after meeting with Zelenskiy by videoconference and hearing him deliver a five-minute, emotional appeal for aid, they changed course. “It was extremely, extremely emotional,” a European official briefed on the call told The Washington Post. “He was essentially saying, ‘Look, we are here dying for European ideals.’