Zinaida Sharko

Zinaida Maximovna Sharko (Russian: Зинаида Максимовна Шарко; 14 May 1929 – 4 August 2016) was a Russian actress of theatre and film. She was a member of Bolshoi Drama Theatre, and was awarded People's Artist of the RSFSR in 1980. After the start of World War II she took part in concerts for the wounded in the hospitals, with a children's song and dance ensemble. For these concerts, a total of 900, she was awarded the medal For valorous work in the Great Patriotic War, which always considered later would call the most expensive of its awards.

In 1951 she graduated from the Leningrad Theatrical Institute. While studying, in 1950–1951 she performed with the Leningrad regional theater, and after graduation worked at the Lenconcert Theatre (1951–1952) and at the Lensovet Theatre (1952–1956). After 1956 she had a six-decade-long career with the Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater.