The most Googled name today is Volodymyr Zelenskyy! Who is this daring man with chocolate-boy good looks that is standing alone to protect his country? Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the current serving President of Ukraine, is faced with the worst tragedies possible for a country! The Russians have begun to wage war against Ukraine, and there is chaos and destruction everywhere. Zelenskyy has shot to fame as a war-time hero overnight as he stands boldly, having survived three assassination attempts already. He is currently operating from a private bunker in Ukraine, connecting with the media, his people, friendly nations, and organizations seeking help and justice. Read on to know 20 things you didn’t know about Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

1 Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the 6th current President of Ukraine, is a former actor and comedian.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, born on January 25, 1978, in Kryvyy Rih, Ukraine, is the current serving President of Ukraine. He was a former Ukrainian actor and comedian who was elected as President in 2019. Zelenskyy initiated an impressive anti-corruption platform in October 2018. Three months prior to his campaign announcement and six months prior to his presidential elections, Zelenskyy had already captured the position of the frontrunner in the opinion polls. His anti-corruption platform won him significant support and a massive online following. The political novice got a solid electoral base this way. He subsequently won the elections in 2019 and was announced as the 6th President of Ukraine in 2019. (1, 2)

2 Volodymyr Zelenskyy was born into a wealthy family with highly educated parents.

Volodymyr was born on 25th January 1978 to wealthy and educated parents. Prior to starting his elementary school, he stayed in the Mongolian city of Erdenet, where his father had a job. His father, Oleksandr, is a professor and doctor of technical sciences, while his mother, Rymma Zelenska, was an engineer. (1, 2)

3 He is the first Jewish president of Ukraine, serving his term since 2019.

Volodymyr hails from a Russian-speaking family that is originally Jewish. He can speak Russian, Ukrainian, and English languages fluently. He was elected as the President of Ukraine in 2019 and has been serving his term since. (Source)

4 He received an education grant to study English as a Foreign Language in Israel, but his father did not allow him to go.

Before pursuing law, he had appeared for the Test of English as a Foreign Language and earned an education grant to study further in Israel at the age of 16. But, his father refused to let him go. (Source)

5 A lawyer by qualification, Zelensky later shifted his professional life to acting and became a successful comedian, actor, and producer.

He got a law degree from the Kryvyi Rih Institute of Economics in the year 2000, which was then a department under the Kyiv National Economic University. It is now a part of the Kryvyi Rih National University. However, he did not pursue a career in the legal field and chose acting over law. His love for acting made him shift gears. (Source)

6 Volodymyr Zelenskyy is married to his long-time school sweetheart, Olena Zelenskyy. The couple has two beautiful children.

Volodymyr Zelensky’s wife, Olena Zelenskyy, is an architect and his schooltime sweetheart. In Zelenskyy’s movie 8 New Dates, released in 2014, their daughter played the role of Sasha, the daughter of the protagonist. Later in 2016, Oleksandra participated in the show The Comedy Comet Company Comedy’s Kids and won a prize of 50,000 hryvnias. (Source)

7 Volodymyr Zelenskyy has acted in 14 movies in his acting career.

His first movie, No Love in the City, was released in 2009. After his first release, he garnered accolades of appreciation for his acting work. He went on to act in 13 other films, including the sequel to his first film, Love in the Big City 2, Office Romance, Our Time in 2011, Rzhevsky Versus Napoleon in 2012, and Love in the Big City 3 in 2014. His most memorable role is in the 2012 film, 8 First Dates, and its sequels, released in 2015 and 2016. Apart from these, he has done many other movies, voice-overs, and TV shows. His comedy series, Svaty, was banned in Ukraine in 2017, but later unbanned in 2019. (Source)

8 Studio Kvartal-95 was the name of his Production Company. He has produced many TV shows and movies for this company.

Zelenskyy created and headed the Kvartal 95 team in 1997, which later transformed into a comedy outfit, Kvartal 95. This company performed in the major leagues and in the highest open Ukrainian league of KVN from 1998 to 2003. The team members had to constantly tour around post-Soviet countries for performances. Later, from 2003, the company got into producing TV shows for the Ukrainian TV channel 1+1 and later switched to another Ukrainian channel, Inter, in 2005. (Source)

9 In a television series Servant of the People (2015), he ironically played the role of a high-school teacher who is unexpectedly elected President of Ukraine.

Zelenskyy acted in a series, Servant of the People, in 2015. He played the role of a foul-mouthed teacher who unexpectedly becomes the president after a video of his rant against corruption in the government goes viral. Little did he know that this hit TV show, which he starred, produced, and wrote, will come from reel life to real life in 2019. His TV role became a reality in 2019 when he was elected as the President of Ukraine 2019. Interestingly, his political party was named, “Servant of the People,” too. (Source)

10 He was fondly called the “Trump of Ukraine.”

When Zelenskyy became the President of Ukraine, many people compared him with Donald Trump because both had connections with the entertainment industry. Before becoming the 45th President of the United States, Trump pursued a career as a TV celebrity. He has written several books with a ghostwriter, the best one being, The Art of the Deal in 1987. Trump has also made several cameos and TV appearances. He was a frequent guest on the Howard Stern Show. From 2004 to 2015, he hosted the reality show, The Apprentice on NBC. (Source)

11 Zelenskyy won the Ukrainian version of Dancing with the Stars in 2006 showing off his pasodoble and nimble quicksteps.

Recently, video clips of Zelenskyy showing his dance steps on the TV dance show Tantsi z Zikamy are going viral. The former actor had participated in the Ukrainian version of Dancing with the Stars in 2006 and even won the title of the “Best Dancer.” His professional partner was Olena Shoptenko, and both of them appear very charismatic and impressive. (Source)

12 Volodymyr Zelenskyy has given his voice to the Paddington Bear in the Ukrainian remake of Paddington, an animated comedy film released in 2014.

The film Paddington was a big hit in the US. In the Ukrainian dubbing of the same film, he gave his voice to Paddington Bear in 2014 and again in Paddington 2 in 2017. This movie revolves around a young bear who travels all the way to England to find himself a new home when a ghastly earthquake destroys his home in the Peruvian rainforest. There, he is adopted by a certain Brown family, and he goes through many adventures in the big city. (Source)

13 Zelenskyy has won several national awards in his acting career.

Zelenskyy garnered a lot many accolades during his acting career. He has won more than 30 awards of the National Television Award of Ukraine “Teletriumph”. The 2017 Ukrainian Film Academy Awards nominated him for the Best Actor and Best Film Sluga Naroda 2 (2016). (source)