About
Alexander Tsypkin is a Russian author, producer, screenwriter and philanthropist.
He is best known for writing four collections of short stories. Together with George Orwell (Animal Farm) and Gregory David Roberts (Shantaram), Tsypkin was named one of the ten best-selling authors of 2018. He is the founder and the leading performer of the literary-theatrical project, ‘UnprinTSYpled Readings’ where Russia’s leading actors perform on stage his and other contemporary writer’s short stories in theaters all over the world.
He has written multiple well-received short films which were screened by film festivals all around the world, including one of the sections of Anna Melikyan’s popular film ‘About Love – Adults Only’ which starred John Malkovich and Ingeborga Dapkunaite.
In November 2019, the ballet ‘Three Comrades?’ based on a play by Tsypkin, written in collaboration with noted Russian ballet master Yuri Smekalov premiered at the Shelter Komedianta theater in St. Petersburg.
In 2020 the one-act ballet ‘Palimpsest. Rewritten,’ which featured a fragment of a story by Tsypkin, premiered at Mariinsky Ballet directed by Yuri Smekalov set to the music of Hungarian composer Bela Bartok.‘Palimpsest’, written specifically for the occasion, starred Mariinsky Ballet’s principal dancer, Vladimir Shklyarov.
Alexander Tsypkin will star in Netflix's first original Russian drama ‘ANNA K’as Sergei Koznyshev.
The TV series ‘Unprincipled’ is based on Alexander’s short stories. It was produced by the streaming platform Kinopoisk.HD, successfully premiered in 2020, and was then renewed for another 2 seasons. The show is directed by Roman Prygunov, with Alexander being one of the screenwriters and a creative producer. The series features leading Russian film and television actors.
‘Unprincipled’ quickly became the one of the most streamed series on the Kinopoisk.HD platform, and was #1 people’s choice award according to the publication ‘Filmpro’.
The series also received the Film and Television Producers' Association Award for Best Comedy Series 2021Alexander is on the board of the ‘Butterfly Children Foundation’ which helps children who suffer from epidermolysis bullosa (a disease that affects the skin and mucous membranes). He also serves on the board of the ‘Cancer Prevention Foundation’, an organization dedicated to reducing cancer mortality in Russia.
Early life and education
Born in 1975 in Leningrad to a family of doctors, he graduated from the Faculty of International Relations of St. Petersburg State University. After finishing school, he worked as a strategic communications expert with several large Russian companies. During this period, he received several distinguished prizes, including 2 Proba-IPRA Golden World Awards.
Books
In 2015, he made his debut as a writer and in the theater. His collection of lyrical and hooligan stories ‘The Women of Unbending Age’, became the best-selling satirical book in Russia in 2015. It was ranked first place in the category of Russian prose by the organization of Moscow bookstore chains, setting a record for the amount of time spent (5 years) in the top 20.
In December 2017 and in December of 2019 his new released books ‘House of Goodbyes’ and ‘The Girl Who Always Laughed Last both reached top positions in prestigious Russian literary ratings.
The combined circulation of his 300 books has totaled more than 300,000 copies. Tsypkin’s stories have been translated into English, French, German, Bulgarian, Latvian and Chinese. He is currently collaborating with American Writer/Director Paul Lazarus (Friends, Melrose Place) on American transpositions of several of his short stories. The English (with an American slant) version of his stories will be featured both as a recorded audio book and in print.
UnprinTSYpled Readings
He is also the founder and the leading performer of the literary-theatrical project, ‘UnprinTSYpled Readings’ where Russia’s best actors perform contemporary Russian prose on stage together with writers.
To date, 55 actors have performed in this piece 220 times in 12 countries before more than 150,000 spectators. Alexander has appeared in most of these shows reading his own work. The list of actors includes Konstantin Khabensky who co-starred with Angelina Jolie in the film ‘Wanted,’ Ksenia Rappaport who starred in the Golden Lion nominated movie La Doppia Ora, for which she won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the 66th Venice Film Festival, Mikhail Gorevoy known for his role in Steven Spielberg’s ‘Bridge of Spies,’ and Danila Kozlovskiy highly regarded for her work on ‘Vikings,’ Ingeborga Dapkunaite who played in Seven Years in Tibet (1997), among many other noteworthy thespians.
Screenwriting
Alexander began writing screenplays when Russian director Anna Melikyan asked him to write one of the sections of her blockbuster film ‘About Love – Adults Only’ which starred John Malkovich and Ingeborga Dapkunaite. He has written several well-received short films that were screened by film festivals all around the world. “Farewell, My Love” won the Special Critics Award’ at Kinotavr 2018, and was officially selected by the Academy Award-Qualifying Festival in Sydney, Australia - Flickerfest 2019. The short also received the Golden Unicorn Award and was featured in the 2018 Russian Film Week Festival of major new work. ‘Dark as Night. Anna Karenina 2019’ won best music video award at the Prague Independent Film Festival (PIFF) 2019, best short film and best supporting role awards at the Vienna Independent Film Festival (VIFF) 2019 and best cinematography award at Moscow Shorts International Film Festival 2019.
The TV series ‘Unprincipled’ is based on Alexander’s short stories. It was produced by the streaming platform Kinopoisk.HD, successfully premiered in 2020, and was then renewed for another 2 seasons. The show is directed by Roman Prygunov, with Alexander being one of the screenwriters and a creative producer. The series features leading Russian film and television actors.
‘Unprincipled’ quickly became the one of the most streamed series on the Kinopoisk.HD platform, and was #1 people’s choice award according to the publication ‘Filmpro’.
Theater
2016
‘Russian Barca’. Directed by Jovan Stamatovic-Karichgodu.
‘She's a girl, she can do anything.’ Solo performance by Mikhail Morozov.
2019
‘Three Comrades?’ Ballet based on the play by Alexander Tsypkin, written in collaboration with the Russian choreographer Yuri Smekalov at the St. Petersburg theater "Shelter of the Comedian".
“Burnt in the USSR”, a performance based on the stories of Alexander Tsypkin. Directed by Grigory Artamonov.
2020
One-act ballet ‘Palimpsest. Rewritten’, premiered at Mariinsky Ballet directed by Yuri Smekalov to the music of the Hungarian composer of the 20th century Bela Bartok. The text of the new story by Alexander Tsypkin, written especially for the premiere, is woven into the canvas of the performance. Ballet stars Mariinsky Ballet’s principal dancer Vladimir Shklyarov.
2021
The play ‘Intuition’ premiered on the stage of the Altai Regional Drama Theater. The co-author and artistic director of the production is Konstantin Khabensky.
Journalism
Alexander is also known for his journalistic work. He has interviewed Charlotte Gainsbourgh, Alexander Ovechkin, Natalia Vodyanova and Elizabeth Gilbert among many others for such publications as Cosmopolitan Russia, Esquire, Marie Clair, Harper’s Bazaar and others.
Philanthropy
Alexander is on the board of the ‘Butterfly Children Foundation’ which helps children who suffer from epidermolysis bullosa (a disease that seriously affects the skin and mucous membranes). He also serves on the board of the ‘Cancer Prevention Foundation,” an organization dedicated to reducing cancer mortality in Russia.’
A brand partner for Porsche since 2017, Alexander Tsypkin is also a brand ambassador for S.T. Dupont and American Express.