Now a Ukrainian, and once a Russian journalist has gained wide fame thanks to a peculiar criticism of the Russian authorities and his harsh pro-Ukrainian statements related to the beginning of the "Crimean spring". Matvey Ganapolsky returned to Ukraine in 2014, where in 2016 he received citizenship. Now she is conducting political talk shows on television and is very pleased to say everything that she “thinks” about Russia.
early years
Matvey Ganapolsky (nee Matvey Yurievich Margolis) was born on December 14, 1953 in Western Ukraine, in the city of Lvov, in the Jewish family of Dina Levina and Yuri Magolis. Mother was an employee, father was a worker. Parents spoke Yiddish well. Mom, as he himself says, is probably one of the few surviving witnesses to the events in Babi Yar. She was then twelve years old when Jews were driven from the ghetto to the scene of the tragedy. Fortunately, someone managed to push the girl out of the crowd and hide. Many of his relatives died during the Great Patriotic War.
Ganapolsky warmly recalls his childhood in Lviv, where he was absolutely comfortable. Of course, he was sometimes offensively called “the Jew’s face”, but Matvey didn’t react very much to this, referring these statements to the usual insults that schoolchildren exchange during quarrels. Then there was no difference between Ukrainians and Jews. Later, the family moved to Kiev, where Matvey and graduated from high school. After receiving a certificate, she entered the Kiev School of Circus Art, which she graduated in 1973.
Student time
After graduating from the Ganapol School, he arrives in Moscow, where he enters the directing department of GITIS, the famous theater institute. In his student years, he went to rehearsals in Moscow theaters many times. As Matvey Ganapolsky recalls, they came in advance to the service course of the then very popular Taganka Theater and patiently waited for the famous director Lyubimov to pass to ask for a rehearsal.
In his youth, he had many documents, where his last name (then Margolis) was spelled with errors. In order to remove all the problems at once, he took the name of his wife and became Ganapolsky, Matvey admits that it is not much easier to spell. But he had difficulties with documents upon arrival in Moscow. Now he believes that he did the right thing, because it is the memory of the first wife who passed away early. According to some media reports, the young woman died, jumping from the balcony of an apartment in a multi-storey building.
In the director's work
After graduating from a theater university, Matvey returns to his native city of Kiev, where in 1981 he began working at the local pop theater. He collaborates a lot and fruitfully with other Ukrainian theaters. On the theatrical stage of the capital of Ukraine, with great success were the performances staged by him, mostly intended for a children's audience. In 1986, a popular Ukrainian director was invited to Moscow. The creative biography of Matvey Ganapolsky continued at the Moscow Variety Theater.
Soon he goes to the children's editorial office of the USSR State Radio and Television, where he broadcasts "Miracles on the Seventh Floor." Here he was noticed by the famous children's writer Eduard Uspensky, who invited him to do radio performances. Matvey became the director of popular Soviet children's audio performances: "The Adventures of Captain Vrungel" and "The Koloboks Investigate." The latter in 1991 went to the record company "Melody" on three vinyl records. Ganapolsky took part in the recording, with his voice in the production says Kolobok.
On the radio and the Internet
With the beginning of perestroika, he began working for ATV (the first Russian independent private company producing television content). He led entertainment and political programs.
Matvey Ganapolsky’s collaboration with Ekho Moskvy began in 1991 and continues to the present. For a long time he conducted various programs, gaining fame thanks to shocking, on the verge of decency statements. Since 2006, he has been blogging on the website of the radio station, where he speaks about various aspects of Russian reality. Now she continues to lead the page, new posts appear several times a month.
Repeatedly traveled to Israel with concerts "From Russia with Love." In 2009, he became the "Person of the Year" according to the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia.
Homecoming
After the beginning of the Maidan, the process of the return of Crimea and the conflict in eastern Ukraine, he took a sharply pro-Ukrainian position. Repeatedly harshly spoke out against Russian intervention in Ukrainian processes. To some extent, it even justifies the glorification of Ukrainian nationalists, because it considers them to be fighters for the independence of Ukraine. In the spring of 2014, Ganapolsky moved to Kiev, starting work at the Radio Vesti station.
"Echo of Ukraine" with Matvey Ganapolsky on the Ukrainian television channel NewsOne went from 2015 to 2017. Since 2018 - leading social talk show on the radio.
Not only journalism
In addition to his main journalistic activities, he wrote several books in which, in a fun and somewhat ironic form, he talks about different aspects of his profession, the world around him and human civilization in general. The best book, the most successful, many consider Sour-Sweet Journalism. Now he writes fiction in Ukrainian ("A gray top will come ...", "Cooking Wahrust").
Like almost any creative person, Matvey Ganapolsky tried to make a movie. In 1989, the documentary "Circus for My Grandchildren" was released about the famous clown and actor Yuri Nikulin. In 2001, he directed the comedy "From the Point of View of an Angel". Himself starred in episodic roles in the detective "Detectives" (Troekurov, host of television games) and the medical television movie "Nine Months" (doctor).
Personal
Quite a bit is known about the private side of the life of a journalist. His first wife is Irina. He raised her child from his first marriage from the age of 5, and therefore considers him his son. Matvey Ganapolsky is still taking part in his fate. Michael, this is the name of the stepson, has already managed to work with him. They were co-hosts of the Akunamatata talk show. According to some publications, the former spouse died in tragic circumstances.
He is now married to Georgian journalist Tamara Shengelia, who worked with him on Ekho Moskvy radio station. She also starred in a small role in the film "Nine Months". Tamara is 18 years younger than her husband. As the journalist himself says that he now has unbearable Georgian terror at home - his wife and mother-in-law watch Georgian television channels around the clock. Since public life in Georgia is constantly seething, as a result, he eats cold soup, unfinished potatoes and half-cooked meat, as Matvey joked in an interview with News Georgia. The family often comes to his wife’s homeland. From this marriage, Matvey Ganapolsky has a daughter, Katya, and a son, Alexander, of school age.