Nonna Koperzhynska

Nonna Kronidivna Koperzhynska (; 1 May 1920 – 10 June 1999) was a Soviet and Ukrainian stage and film actress, People’s Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1967). Winner of the Kyiv Pectoral Theater Award (1995). Early life and education Nonna Koperzhynska was born on 1 May 1920 in Kyiv. When she was 2 years old, her father died. Then Koperzhynska moved to Donbas where her mother worked until 1937. Later her mother was transferred to work in Kyiv and they moved back there. In 1938, Koperzhynska entered the Kyiv Theater Institute where she took courses with Amvrosy Buchma. Soon her talent was noticed by Ukrainian director Oleksandr Dovzhenko and Koperzhynska made her film debut in film Shchors directed by Dovzhenko. In 1941, Koperzhynska had to interrupt her studies because the World War II began. After the war she returned the Kyiv Theater Institute and in 1945 played a role in Hnat Yura’s play that became her student’s diploma work.