Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1969). People's Artist of the RSFSR (1973). People's Artist of the USSR (1980).

In 1932 he graduated from the acrobatics department of the Leningrad Variety and Circus College, and in 1935 from the film department of the Leningrad Institute of Performing Arts (teacher S. A. Gerasimov). From 1935 he was an actor at the Lenfilm and Belgoskino studios. In 1945–1946 he was an actor at the 1st Polar Drama Theatre (Magadan). In 1947–1948 he was an actor at the Sverdlovsk Film Studio. In 1948–1949 he was an actor at the drama theatre of the city of Pavlov-on-Oka. In 1954–1962 he was an actor at the Leningrad Regional Drama Theatre, and from 1960 he performed at the Leningrad Lensovet Theatre. In 1960 he began acting in films again (the role of a police major in the unfinished film "Trudny khleb"). From 1968 he was an actor at the Moscow Mossovet Theatre. He was unlawfully repressed twice (1939–1945, 1949–1954). On 16 September 2000 a monument to Georgi Zhzhyonov was erected in Chelyabinsk.

Author of more than 10 books of memoirs, including about camp life in Kolyma and the polar Norilsk: "Ot glukharya do Zhar-ptitsy", "Omchagskaya dolina", "Prozhitoye" and others.

In 2005 a documentary film, "Russky krest", was made about the life of the outstanding artist.