After graduating in 1973 from the directing and choreography department of the theater directing faculty of the Leningrad Institute of Culture, where he studied in A. L. Madievsky's course, he became an actor at the Ashgabat Theater for Young Spectators. In 1975 he returned to Leningrad, worked as an assistant director at the Lenfilm studio, and from 1978 to 1988 was an actor with Lenkontsert, wrote variety monologues, and worked in a fashion theater.

In 1980 he completed the Creative Workshop of Variety Art. In the 1990s he performed at the Theater of Drama and Comedy on Liteyny (Saint Petersburg).