Yuliya Victorovna Snigir or Yuliya Viktorovna Siriskina is a Russian actress and model. Yulia’s big break came when she was offered one of the leading roles in the Russian Sci-Fi blockbuster “The Inhabited Island” and the sequel “The Inhabited Island 2: Rebellion“. It made her a star in Russia. Yulia became the face of L’Oreal, Mexx clothing and Mexx perfume. She appeared in A Good Day to Die Hard alongside Bruce Willis. In the film, she played a Russian antagonist named Irina. She was playing chess professionally and at the age of 15 was awarded the prestigious title of Candidate of Chess Master by the International Chess Federation.
Yuliya Snigir was born on June 2, 1983, in Donskoy, Tula Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. She graduated from high school number 20 Donskoy, at a school in the hope of getting a good education, Yuliya went to Moscow and entered the Faculty of Foreign Languages of the Moscow State Pedagogical University (English department, speciality “English Philology”).
Yulia divided her time between TV series, theatre and film playing the vast variety of roles and becoming a versatile actress with her projects ranging, from small indie films to TV dramas, large studio projects and experimental theatre. In the theatre, Yulia played a male role in a very successful production of King Lear, which won several European and Russian theatre awards.
Yuliya had to study and work at the same time to support herself financially. She was teaching English in the nursery school when a friend showed photos of Yuliya to a representative of one of the most prestigious Moscow modelling agency. While continuing her study program at University, Yuliya became a successful model. She was offered a contract with a leading French jewellery brand and was planning to move to France when a casting-director saw her at the modelling agency and invited for an audition. Her acting career officially started when she was accepted to the famous Vakhtangov Theatre Academy and was cast in two independent films.