Oleksandr Piskunov

Oleksandr Volodymyrovych Piskunov^[a] (born 31 December 1991^[1]) is a Ukrainian theatre and film actor.

Born on 31 December 1991 in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast,^[1] Piskunov was involved in the primary school's drama club, and later studied acting at the Kyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Kary Theatre, Cinema and Television University in Kyiv, from where he graduated in 2015.^[2]

While still a student at the Karpenko-Kary University, he was noticed by the artistic director of the Kyiv Academic Theatre of Drama and Comedy on the left bank of Dnieper Eduard Mytnytsky, who offered Piskunov a role in one of his plays. Upon graduating from the Karpenko-Kary University, he joined the theatre troupe.^[2]

Since his school years, Piskunov began to learn to play the piano on his own,^[3] and also plays the guitar, which he taught to his co-star actor at the 2018 film Kruty.^[3]

One of his first works was TV series Servant of the People, in which he played a minor role in a show which featured current president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the fictional role of President of Ukraine.^[4][5] In 2017, Piskunov played a role in the highly acclaimed Ukrainian movie Cyborgs.^[6][7]

In June 2022, Piskunov came out as gay,^[8][9][10] posting a statement on his Instagram account. The post garnered many comments with words of support from his colleagues and followers.^[11] He said in the post that being gay was "not easy for him" and, despite the overwhelming support by fellow actors and fans, Piskunov ultimately deleted the post.^[12][13] Vera Khmelnytska of the Ukrainian news website TSN.ua wrote that Piskunov had "confessed" in his publication, that he "had an unconventional and non-traditional sexual orientation."^[13] TSN has been accused in the past of discrediting gay people and publishing homophobic content.^[14]