Kristina Orbakaitе (Russian: Кристина Орбакайте, Lithuanian: Kristina Orbakaitė, born 25 May 1971), better known as Kristina Orbakaite is a Russian singer and actress. Her parents are Russian pop star Alla Pugacheva and Lithuanian circus performer Mykolas Orbakas. Meritorious Artist of Russia (2013).

Biography

Kristina Orbakaite was born in Moscow and spent much of her childhood between Šventoji, the home of her father's parents, and Moscow, the home of her mother's parents. After the couple divorced in 1978, she was brought to Moscow by her mother, Alla Pugacheva, and lived with her maternal grandparents.

At the age of 7, she debuted in the Soviet children's television program "Veseliye Notki" (Happy Musical Notes) with the song "Solnyshko Smeetsa" (The Sun Laughs). In 1982, she was cast in the leading role of "Lena Bessoltseva" in Scarecrow, a film by Rolan Bykov based on the Vladimir Zheleznikov play of the same name. Production began in 1982 and the film premiered in 1984. It became a critical success, not only in Russia but also overseas, and turned Orbakaite into a child star.

Alongside her acting, Orbakaite continued with her budding singing career. In 1983, she sang "A znayesh, vse yesche budet" (You know, it will all happen yet) in a duet with her mother. In 1985, she sang the song "Pust' Govoryat" in the popular TV program "Utrenyaya Pochta" (Morning Mail).

Now a young woman, Kristina appeared in the films Vivat, gardemariny! (1991), Gardemariny 3 (1992), Blagotvoritelny Bal (1993), and Limita (1994). In 1992, she sang "Pogovorim" (We'll talk) at a holiday show sponsored by her mother. The song became a hit and launched Orbakaite as a pop star. In 1994, she released her debut album titled "Vernost" (Fidelity).

Having met with success in film and music, Orbakaite tried her hand at the theater, appearing in 1995 as Helen Keller in an adaptation of Gibson's The Miracle Worker on the stage of the Moscow Artists' Theater. She subsequently received an award from the Russian Ministry of Culture for best female theatrical performance.

In 1996, Orbakaite joined her mother, Alla Pugacheva, her step-father, the singer Philipp Kirkorov, and her husband, the singer Vladimir Presnyakov on a family performance tour through the United States titled "Zvezdnoye Leto" (Starry Summer). During this tour, she performed for the first time at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Later the same year, Orbakaite released her second album, titled "Nol' Chasov, Nol' Minut" (Zero Hours, Zero Minutes).

In 1998, Orbakaite released her third solo album, "Ty" (You). It included 12 new songs, 5 of which were suggested by Alla Pugacheva from compositions created for her, including "Muzikant" (Musician), "Navsegda" (Forever), "Pegiy Pes" (Spotted Dog), "Smorodina" (Currant), and "Ptitsy" (Birds). She also appeared in the films "Doroga, dorogoy, dorogaya" (1997, Road, dear man, dear woman) and "Fara" (1998).

In 2000, Orbakaite won at the World Music Awards in Monte Carlo as the best-selling Russian singer. Later that year, she released her fourth album, titled "May". In 2001, she appeared in the film "Zhenskoye schastye" (A Woman's Happiness).

In 2002, she released her fifth album, "Ver v chudesa" (Believe in miracles) and appeared in the television series "Moskovskaya saga" (Moscow Saga). She again became Russia's best-selling singer and won the World Music Awards for the second time. In 2003, she released her sixth album, "Pereletnaya ptitsa" (Wandering bird) and in 2005, she released her seventh album, "My life". The same year, she won the "MUZ-TV" award in the category "Best female singer".

In 2006, Orbakaite appeared in the comedy "Lyubov-morkov" (Love-carrot) together with Gosha Kutsenko. The film was a hit in Russia, bringing in a domestic box office of $11.5 million, and spawning two sequels, with the second film coming out in 2008 and the third in 2011. Amid filming the series, Orbakaite released her eight album, titled "Slyshish - eto ya" (Listen - it's me).

In 2011, Orbakaite celebrated her 40th birthday and, as part of celebrating the year, unveiled a new performance program and a new album, both titled "Potseluy na bis" (Encore kiss). Two years later, in April 2013, she released a new music video for her song "Maski" (Masks) and began a tour of the Baltic countries. She also received the award of "Honored Artist of the Russian Federation" from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

She is currently married to a Russian-American businessman named Mikhail Zemtsov. They have a daughter, Claudia, born on March 30, 2012. Orbakaite also has two sons from previous marriages: Nikita born in 1991, and Deni born in 1998.