Oleg Pavlovich Tabakov (Russian: Олег Павлович Табаков) (born 17 August 1935) is a Soviet and Russian actor and the artistic director of the Moscow Art Theatre. Tabakov studied at the Moscow Art Theatre School. Upon graduating from the school, he became one of the founding fathers of the Sovremennik Theatre. He administrated the Sovremennik until 1982, when he moved to the Moscow Art Theatre, where he has played Molière and Salieri for over 20 years. In 1986, Tabakov persuaded his students to form the Tabakov Studio attached to the Moscow Art Theatre. Several notable Russian actors including Yevgeny Mironov, Sergey Bezrukov, Vladimir Mashkov and Alexandre Marine studied at the studio. Tabakov also worked in numerous foreign countries, spreading his theatre's ideals abroad. Tabakov's movie career paralleled the theatrical.