Yuri Ivanovich Kayurov, People's Artist of Russia, laureate of State Prizes of the USSR and Russia, was born on September 30, 1927 in Cherepovets. Kayurov graduated from the Ostrovsky Leningrad State Theatre Institute and in 1952 made a stage debut in the Saratov Drama Theatre named after Karl Marx. For 15 years of work in Saratov he played a multitude of characters, among which are Neznamov «Guilty Without Guilt» and Karandyshev «Without a Dowry» (Alexander Ostrovsky), as well as Marat in Alexei Arbuzov’s «Marat» and Alexei in Vsevolod Vyshnevsky's «An Optimistic Tragedy».

In 1961 Yuri Kayurov first played the role of Vladimir Lenin (in the film directed by Anatoly Rybakov «At The Beginning Of The Century») that will later become symbolic in his creative biography. Kayurov will turn again and again to the image of the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. He played the founder of the Russian Communist Party a total of 18 times - in 16 films and 2 performances.

It was Lenin, who made a path in 1967 to Kayurov to the Maly Theatre, where he was invited to portray the eponymous hero in «John Reed», which was staged to mark the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. In 2010 Yuri Ivanovich gets back to the glorified image in the tragicomedy of Alexander Galina «Dream of the Heroine», where he portrays the old actor Shubin, Lenin’s official impersonator, who is offered to play... his monument.

In the Maly Theatre Kayurov played over 25 roles and worked with some of the most eminent Soviet and Russian directors - Boris Babochkin, Leonid Varpakhovskiy, Boris Ravenskikh, Boris Lvov-Anokhin, Leonid Kheyfets, Boris Morozov, etc. Alexander Ostrovsky, Anton Chekhov and Maxim Gorky - these are three playwrights who played an important role in Kayurov’s career: Savva Vasilkov in Ostovsky’s «Money To Burn», Kuligin in Ostrovsky’s «The Storm», Firs in «The Cherry Orchard» by Chekhov, Ryabinin in «Dostigayev and Others» by Maxim Gorky, and many others.

Since 1961 Yuri Kayurov has been involved in feature films and TV shows, including «Through The Icy Haze», «The Sixth of July», «The Flame», «Missing Expedition» , «Widows», «Golden River», «Fiery Bridge», «My Anfisa», «The White Snow of Russia», «Chief Designer», «State Border», «Lenin in Paris», «Moscow’s Speaking», «The Case of Sukhovo-Kobylin», «Petersburg Secrets», «The Romanovs. The Crowned Family» and many others.