Konstantin Lvovich Ernst - Soviet and Russian media manager, TV producer, director, screenwriter, TV presenter. General Director of Channel One.
In the biography of Konstantin Ernst, you can find many interesting facts from his professional activities.
So, here is a short biography of Ernst.
Biography of Konstantin Ernst
Konstantin Ernst was born on February 6, 1961 in Moscow. He grew up in an intelligent and educated family.
His father, Lev Ernst, was a biologist and vice president of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He has dealt with issues related to genetics, cloning and biotechnology.
Konstantin's mother, Svetlana Golevinova, worked in the financial sector.
Childhood and youth
Konstantin Ernst has German roots. All his childhood was spent in Leningrad.
Here the boy went to the first grade, and after graduation he successfully passed the exams at the Leningrad State University, at the Faculty of Biology.
Thus, Konstantin wanted to follow in his father's footsteps, linking his life with biology and the sciences bordering it. At the age of 25, he managed to defend his Ph.D. thesis, not yet knowing that his scientific degree would never be useful to him in life.
An interesting fact is that during this period of his biography, Ernst was offered to undergo a 2-year internship at the University of Cambridge to improve his qualifications. However, by that time, science worried him less and less.
It is worth noting that in his youth, Konstantin was fond of the fine arts. In particular, he liked the work of the Russian avant-garde artist Alexander Labas.
Career
Konstantin Ernst got on television by a happy coincidence.
In the late 80s, the guy happened to be at one of the student parties. There he met Alexander Lyubimov, the head of the popular "Look" program.
Ernst got into conversation with Lyubimov and allowed himself to make some critical remarks about the program. The latter, having carefully listened to the interlocutor, invited him to implement the listed ideas in his television project.
As a result, the famous TV presenter helped Konstantin to get airtime for his own show.
Soon Ernst appears on TV in the program "Matador", in which he acted as a host, producer and author. It discussed cultural news, new movies and interesting facts from the biographies of artists.
At the same time, Konstantin Lvovich directed the TV program "Vzglyad" together with Vladislav Listyev, who had the greatest authority on the vastness of Soviet TV.
Shortly before his murder, Vladislav offered Konstantin to become his deputy, but was refused. This was due to the fact that Ernst then wanted to seriously engage in filmmaking.
The tragic death of Listyev, who headed the TV channel, caused a great shock throughout the country.
As a result, in 1995, Konstantin Ernst was appointed to the post of General Producer of ORT, and the following year he found himself in the Academy of Russian Television.
In a new position for himself, Konstantin Lvovich actively took up work. He understood all the responsibility that lay with him, so he did everything possible to show himself as a professional leader and ideological inspirer.
During that period of biographies, under the patronage of Ernst, the New Year musicals "Old songs about the main thing" were presented. The project drew a lot of positive feedback from Russians, who looked at their favorite artists with pleasure.
In 1999, ORT changed its name to Channel One. At the same time, Konstantin Ernst announced the formation of the "Real records" recording project.
In 2002, Channel One management launched its own TV audience measurement service, which uses telephone polls to collect information about the interests of TV viewers.
A few years later, Konstantin Ernst turns out to be part of the KVN referee team.
In 2012, the producer took part in the formation of the popular show "Evening Urgant". The program, which is hosted by Ivan Urgant, still does not lose its popularity among viewers.
In parallel with this, Konstantin Ernst took part in the organization of the international music festival Eurovision-2009, which was held in Moscow.
In 2014, Ernst was the creative producer of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Sochi Olympic Games. Both ceremonies were highly appreciated by world experts, striking the whole world with their spectacle and impressive scale.
As of today, the head of Channel One is among the most influential people on Russian TV. For his work, he has received many prestigious awards, including TEFI.
In 2017, the authoritative Forbes magazine included Konstantin Ernst in the list of the 500 most influential figures in the world of show business.
Producing
It is no secret to anyone that Ernst has successfully produced many films.
Over the years of his biography, Konstantin Lvovich has been a producer of about 80 art films, including "Night Watch", "Azazel" and "Turkish Gambit".
One of the most successful projects of Ernst is the historical film "Viking". It was based on the events described in the "Tale of Bygone Years".
The tape caused a great stir among Soviet and foreign viewers. She was frequently advertised both on television and on street posters.
As a result, "Viking", with a budget of 1.25 billion rubles, collected 1.53 billion rubles at the box office. This project was on the 3rd place in the rating of the highest grossing Russian films.
It is worth noting that the picture was praised for its scale, but criticized for its weak plot. In particular, for the way pre-Christian Russia is depicted, as well as the controversial depiction of the personality of Prince Vladimir himself.
Scandals
One of the first major scandals in the biography of Konstantin Ernst was the story of Vlad Listyev.
In 2013, the Internet edition "Snob" posted an interview in which the producer allegedly called the official Sergei Lisovsky the customer of Listyev's murder. Ernst himself called this information a fake.
The following year, rumors appeared in the media that Konstantin Lvovich was trying to take his own life. However, this time the information turned out to be a newspaper "duck".
During the opening ceremony of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, a remix of the song by rock singer Zemfira “Want?” Was performed at the Fisht sports arena.
Zemfira harshly criticized the actions of the organizers of the competition, expressing a number of unflattering phrases against Ernst. She stated that Channel One used the song without her consent, thereby violating copyright. However, the case never came to court.
In 2017, the star TV presenter Andrei Malakhov left Channel One. He explained his departure by the fact that he was required to discuss political topics that were not interesting to him on the program “Let them talk”.
Personal life
Not much is known about Konstantin Ernst's personal life, since he does not like to make it public. Moreover, the producer has no official social media accounts.
Ernst has never been in a registered marriage. It is known that for some time he lived with theater critic Anna Silyunas. As a result, the couple had a girl named Alexandra.
After that, Konstantin Ernst was in an informal marriage with entrepreneur Larisa Sinelshchikova, who today heads the Krasny Kvadrat television holding.
In 2013, journalists increasingly noticed 53-year-old Ernst next to 27-year-old model Sophia Zaika. Later, information appeared in the press that two daughters were born to young people - Erica and Kira.
In 2017, the newspapers began to write that Ernst and Zaika were married. However, there are no reliable facts about the registration of this marriage.
Konstantin Ernst today
In 2018, a Russian court ordered Konstantin Ernst to pay a fine of 5,000 rubles for promoting child alcoholism in the Let Them Talk programs dedicated to the case of Diana Shurygina.
In the same year, Vladimir Putin expressed gratitude to Ernst for his active participation in the social and political life of Russian society.
During the biography of 2017-2018. Konstantin Lvovich became the producer of such film projects as "Mata Hari", "Nalet", "Trotsky", "Sleeping-2" and "Dovlatov".
Ernst is still one of the central figures on Russian TV. He often appears on various programs as a guest, and also continues to be a member of the KVN jury.
Photo by Konstantin Ernst
