At school he attended an amateur circle. One of the plays in which he first appeared on stage was Gogol's 'The Government Inspector'. The circle leader advised Valery to join the folk theatre-studio at the House of Culture of the Likhachev Plant. Then he entered VGIK. During his studies, the course staged plays such as 'The Golovlyov Family', in which he played the role of Iudushka, 'Hamlet' - Polonius, 'Boris Godunov' - Menshikov, and others. Gerasimov allowed almost all his students to act in films. Valery's first work was in director Yuri Yegorov's film 'The Business Trip' (1961). The role was Pavel Kozyrev, with whom all the village girls are in love. Vladimir Treshchalov was also a contender for this role. The film featured wonderful actors - Oleg Yefremov, Svetlana Karpinskaya, Alexei Mironov, Gennady Frolov, and others. His next work in cinema was a role in Sergei Gerasimov's film 'People and Beasts' (1962). The course's graduation work was the play 'The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui', where Valery played the role of Ernesto Giri, and the main role was played by Nikolai Gubenko.

After graduating from VGIK in 1964, he became an actor at the Film Actor Theatre. During this time, he performed in a large number of plays: 'Every Autumn Evening', 'Russian People', 'Cosmic Distances', 'The Dubravins', and others. These were mainly leading roles. In many films, Valery Alexandrovich played roles of courageous men or people connected with the army. But there is also the role of a traitor in the TV film 'No Return Road' (1970). The actor calls his real success the role of Yegor Kuzmin in the multi-part film 'Shadows Disappear at Noon' (1971). In 2005, Valery Alexandrovich appeared in his last role - Patriarch Mikhail in the film 'Tsaritsa Olga'. Honored Artist of the Russian Federation (1992). He died on 29 November 2006 in a Moscow hospital. He was buried in section 52-A of the Nikolo-Arkhangelskoye Cemetery in Moscow.