- Date of birth – January 8, 1999
- City – Odesa (Ukraine)
- Occupation – actor, composer, blogger
Illia Choporov is a Ukrainian theatre actor, composer, and blogger. He gained popularity in Ukraine and abroad thanks to his role as the charismatic character – the emcee – in the Ukrainian adaptation of the legendary musical «Cabaret».
The Artist’s Rise
Childhood Years
Illia Choporov’s childhood largely shaped his future creative path. The actor has repeatedly emphasized that one of the greatest gifts in his life was the absence of imposed nostalgia for Soviet culture. For this, he is sincerely grateful to his mother, who consciously shaped a completely different worldview for him. Illia recalled that many of his peers grew up watching Soviet films and cartoons, while the childhood of the future star was influenced by Western culture. That is why the artist considers himself truly fortunate.
The boy’s professional plans were not initially connected with the theatre stage. At first, he saw himself as a singer, but later theatrical art ultimately overcame his love for music. It was theatre studios that opened a new world for Illia, where he would later find his place.
From a young age, Illia was a regular visitor to theatres in his native Odesa. Thanks to participating in theatre clubs and creative studios, he had the opportunity to regularly attend performances and become familiar with the work of leading directors. The productions of Ivan Uryvskyi, who at the time headed the Odesa Academic Ukrainian Music and Drama Theatre named after V. Vasylko, made a particularly strong impression on the future artist. It was then that Illia developed a deep fascination with theatre as a unique form of art.
Education and Discovering His Calling
At the age of four, Illia began learning piano, and at six he became a student at a music school. When he turned ten, he joined the «Ermita» music and theatre studio, where he discovered not only acting but also choreography. There, the talented Odesa native learned to work with his body and voice, improvise, and create stage characters.
The next important stage was the Odesa Theatre Lyceum. Here, Illia actively expressed himself through creativity. The young man played leading roles in two performances, was the class representative, participated in social activities, and repeatedly won prizes at competitions in artistic reading and acting.
The logical continuation of his professional development was studying at the Kyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Karyi University of Theatre, Cinema and Television. In Andrii Bilous’s workshop, Illia improved his acting technique until 2020. It was during this period that theatre finally stopped being just a hobby for him and became his true calling.
Creative Career
Illia Choporov made his professional debut while still a student, when he received an invitation to join the Kyiv National Academic Young Theatre. His first work was participation in the children’s performance «Swan Princess». The actor recalled that the excitement was overwhelming, as he had to appear on stage alongside experienced theatre performers. The fact that it was a musical added even more pressure, as he had to sing, dance, and perform a dramatic role simultaneously.
As a second-year student, Illia was very afraid of making a mistake or letting the team down. However, despite the strong emotional tension, he managed to pull himself together and gave his absolute best in his debut performance. The actor especially warmly remembers the support of his classmates, who came to congratulate him after the show with flowers and gifts. For him, that day became one of the most touching moments of his student years.
Illia himself notes that before joining the Young Theatre, he had other stage experiences and small, insignificant roles, but it was the production «Swan Princess» that became the true starting point of his professional acting career.
Triumph in the Musical «Cabaret»
The real breakthrough in Illia Choporov’s career came after the premiere of the Ukrainian adaptation of the legendary Broadway musical «Cabaret» at the Young Theatre. It was the role of the charismatic emcee that brought the actor widespread popularity, international recognition, and enormous attention from theatre audiences.
The production directed by Olena Koliadenko became a licensed version of the world-famous musical by John Kander and Fred Ebb. In total, there are three editions of this iconic performance from different years, and the Young Theatre worked with the 1987 version.
Choporov’s expressive movement, powerful charisma, vocal skills, and bold transformation made him one of the most discussed theatre artists. Videos of his performances began spreading actively not only in Ukrainian but also in the international TikTok community. The popularity of the production went far beyond Ukraine, and many fans from the United Kingdom, the United States, and other countries began travelling specifically to Kyiv to see the performance live.
Illia himself admits that he finds almost no similarities between himself and his character. In his opinion, the emcee is a person with a completely different worldview, temperament, and lifestyle. That is why Choporov was surprised when the director entrusted him with this role. In everyday life, the actor is much more reserved and less extroverted, so after finishing the performance he even finds it difficult to believe that such an expressive character is actually himself.
Creating Music for Performances
Alongside his acting career, Illia Choporov actively works as a composer for the Young Theatre. He says that while studying at university, he realized that it was often much easier to create his own music than to spend a long time searching for the right composition. That was when his work as a composer began. Today, this activity brings him no less satisfaction than performing on stage. Moreover, Illia believes that creating music helps an actor understand the process of creating a performance much more deeply and feel its inner dramaturgy.
The process of composing music lasts for months. During rehearsals, the author carefully observes the director’s decisions, the actors’ performances, and the scenography, taking numerous notes. His main task is to create an additional emotional layer that does not physically exist on stage but is subconsciously perceived by the audience through music. After rehearsals, another part of the creative process begins. At home, Illia spends hours working at the computer, often finishing only at two or three in the morning. He experiments with melodies, harmonies, and sound solutions, striving to convey the dramaturgy of each scene as accurately as possible. This often requires knowledge that cannot be found in open sources, so he developed many professional skills independently.
During this time, Choporov has created original music and arrangements for a number of theatre productions, mostly on the stage of the Young Theatre, where his work has become an integral part of many performances. Among them:
- «Ancestors of the Steppes»;
- «Attempt on Solitude»;
- «A Midsummer Night’s Dream»;
- Flower Boom and others.
Film Career
Illia does not rule out the possibility of collaborating with representatives of the film industry. He has already received various offers for filming, although some projects are still at the approval stage. Some auditions were unsuccessful, while he consciously declined certain roles because he wants to stay away from projects that do not align with his creative principles.
For Illia, cinema has never been a way to earn money simply for the sake of earning money. He believes that the most important thing is to create a high-quality artistic product with genuine artistic value.
Style and Roles
Illia Choporov is rightfully considered one of the most technically skilled representatives of the new generation of Ukrainian artists. His strengths include professional vocal training, stage movement, acting skills, and the ability to organically combine all these abilities in a single stage image.
The actor himself recalls that at the beginning of his career, he mostly worked in ensemble productions, where he did not have enough opportunities to fully reveal himself either as a singer or as a dramatic performer. Only later did he realize that the musical drama genre could become his creative niche. After that, increasingly complex dramatic roles began appearing in his repertoire, revealing new dimensions of the artist’s talent.
Social Activity
Illia Choporov actively develops his own social media platforms, where hundreds of thousands of followers follow his creative work. Thanks to his openness, sincerity, and bright charisma, the actor has built a large audience of fans who closely follow his theatre performances and creative projects.
The artist consistently supports the development of contemporary Ukrainian culture and openly advocates for a complete rejection of Russian music and media products. Illia Choporov is one of the representatives of a new generation of artists who shape modern Ukrainian cultural identity and promote national art.
