Ekaterina Gousseva

Yekaterina Konstantinovna Guseva (Екатери́на Константи́новна Гу́сева; 9 July 1976) is a Russian film, theater, TV actress and singer, Meritorious Artist of Russia. She became famous for her role in the 2002 television series Brigada. In Guseva's childhood, her father played the violin; it was his violin depicted in the series Brigada. Her younger sister, Nastya, works as a methodologist in a kindergarten. By age four, she was already part of the modern gymnastics resource group for the Soviet Union's representative team. She also tried figure skating and swimming. Seven years before finishing school, Katya was involved in the Georgian dance ensemble Kolkhida and managed to perform in the Bolshoi. While planning to enroll at the Moscow Biotechnology Institute, she was approached by an assistant to theatre director Evgeny Simonov who suggested she should apply for the V.V. Shukina Performing Arts College. She gave it a try, prepared for the entry exam during three days, and made it with ease. After graduation in 1997, Yekaterina played a major role in the film Snake Spring by Nikolai Lebedev. Then, she was invited by Mark Rozovsky to his theater "Nikitsky Gate." After working four years in Rozovsky theater, she won the role of Katya Tatarinova in musical Nord-Ost by Alexei Ivashchenko and Georgi Vasiliev. During preparation for "Nord-Ost" premier, Yekaterina earned fame by playing a major role in the popular Russian crime miniseries Brigada. She had a day off during the terrorist attack on the theater in October 2002. Since 2003 she works in Mossovet Theatre. In addition to playing in many popular Russian movies, Yekaterina performs songs as a solo singer and together with Leonid Serebrennikov and others. She released her first solo music CD album in 2007. Yekaterina Guseva is married to businessman Vladimir Abashkin. They have two children.