Was Volodymyr Zelenskyy a comedian? How did Zelenskyy become president?
Around the world people see Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a hero for his courage. Where did Zelenskyy begin his acting and political career?
Before Volodymyr Zelenskyy rose to fame as an international hero, fighting to protect his country from the Russian invasion, he was an actor and comedian. In a few short years he has gone from a civilian celebrity to world leader defending his country against the attacks of a nuclear power.
Interestingly, Zelenskyy played a fictious Ukrainian president on the hit show Servant of the People --from which his party gets its name. The show first aired in 2015 and came to an end in 2019 when Zelenskyy went from playing a the president on TV to serving as the legitimate head of state. Find out where to watch it.
The origins of Zelenskyy's career
After graduating from the Kyiv National Economic University with a degree in law he decided to peruse a career in comedy.
In 2003, Zelenskyy, Shefir Serhiy,and Shefir Boris launched a public television production company called Kvartal 95 Studio. Zelenskyy was quoted saying that the group was motivated to establish the company to "make the world a better place, a kinder and more joyful place with the help of those tools that we have, which are humor and creativity."
When did Zelensky become president?
Zelenskyy became the sixth president of Ukraine in 2019, defeating Peter Poroshenko. Poroshenko, a member of the party European Solidarity lost handily to Zelenskyy only managing to obtain around eight percent of the vote in the 2019 parliamentary elections.
Servants of the People, Zelenskyy's party, received around forty-three percent of the vote --more than double that of the next party, The Opposition Platform — For Life, during the first round of voting.
When was Servants for the People founded?
The party was established in 2017 as the successor to the Party of Decisive Change. Inspiration for the party came from the hit Ukrainian TV show with the same name that started Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the fictional president of the country.
In late 2018 the party announced that Zelenskyy would lead the ticket for the party in the 2019 election. During the first round of elections, Zelenskyy received the highest number of votes sending him to a face off with Poroshenko where he received over seventy-three percent of the vote.
His widespread popular support came from his unifying message.
As a Jewish person and a Russian speaker, Zelenskyy is queenly aware of the divisions within Ukraine and ran on a platform that focused on bringing the country together. Now, during the invasion, rather than taking up the offer of many western countries to be evacuated, Zelenskyy has chosen to stay in Ukraine and pick up a riffle. His courage has not gone unseen and his attitude has inspired many all over the country to defend their land against the Russian invasion.