His father is actor Valery Makarov, whom his mother, actress Lyubov Polishchuk, married at 17 and separated from when their son was only four years old. He studied at boarding school No. 16, not far from the VDNKh metro station, and then, at his stepfather's insistence, transferred to an ordinary Moscow school. After finishing school he applied to GITIS, but the first attempt was unsuccessful. He worked as a night firefighter, distributed tickets at the cabaret "The Bat," and was even a loader at a vegetable warehouse. He entered GITIS on the second attempt. In 1994 he graduated from GITIS (course of P.O. Khomsky - artistic director, chief director of the Mossovet Theater).

In 1994 he was accepted into the troupe of the Mossovet Theater. The actor's only major role during eight years of work at the theater was King Herod in the production "Jesus Christ Superstar." A few years later he left the Mossovet Theater and since then has not had a permanent job at any other theater. Sometimes he performed together with actors from "Kvartet I" and the group "Neschastny Sluchay" in the production "Election Day." He made his film debut in 1999 with the leading role of Ilya in Boris Giller and Aleksandr Borodyansky's thriller "Check." In the same year he appeared in Stanislav Govorukhin's drama "The Voroshilov Sharpshooter."