Alexey Kortnev

Alexei Kortnev was born on October 12, 1966 into a family of engineers. He wrote his first song when he was in the seventh grade of a special English language school – a song about bonfires, tents, life and other romantic attributes of camping.

In 1983, when Kortnev was a freshman in the applied mathematics department of Moscow State University, he went to auditions for the musical studio of the student theater. As Ivashchenko and Vasiliev (Ivasi) were choosing the most talented students with the best voices for their theater, Alexei met a slender young man named Valdis Pelsh in the hallway. After they got over their mutual adolescent hostility, Kortnev and Pelsh began performing together as “The Accident Duet.” After a head-hunting mission, they expanded their duet to a quartet. In 1990 the Accident group struck up a friendship with the head of Auteur Television, and Accident -- Alexei Kortnev, Valdis Pelsh, the actor Igor Ugolnikov, sometime Accident saxophonist Sergei Denisov and bass guitarist Andrei Guvakov -- came up with an act they performed on the hit show Oba-na. That led to performances on such popular television shows as Imbecile Review and Blue Nights. For a long time Kortnev combined acting in the Moscow State University student theater and in film with work on television and tours of the group. He has also worked as a copywriter in an international ad agency, where he coined the slogans for the Russian campaigns of Pepsi, Wrigley’s, M&Ms, Moccona, and other companies.

Once a year he and his musical friends go on ski trips. On Wednesdays he plays volleyball and on Saturdays he gets out his aggression on the paintball field. One of his favorite past times is to lie for hours in the bath tub, reading fiction. His favorite music includes art rock, the groups Queen, Genesis, King Crimson and the Russian groups Polite Turn-Down and Auction. His favorite sports are volleyball and billiards.

Films

The Pile (directed by Ivan Dykhovichny) as Vasily
Escape to Paradise (directed by V. Moskalenko) as André
Sinful Apostles of Love (directed by D. Vishnevsky) as Kokh
2001 Rostov-Papa (directed by K. Serebrennikov)
2001 Film About Film (directed by Valery Rubinchik)
1998 In a Hot Spot (Mosfilm, directed by A. Sakharov)
2003 Bomb for the Bride (directed by A. Pavlovsky) in the leading role
2004 Moscow Saga (directed by Dmitri Barschevsky) as Vadim Biunovich

Television

The Accident, REN-TV, host

Theater

1983-1997 Student Theater of Moscow State University:
Radio Day
Election Day
The Witches of Eastwich
Two Others