As the president of Ukraine, his defiance has made him a hero across the world. Could his success as a politician lie in his years as an entertainer?
Hugh Bonneville was as surprised as anyone this week to learn of the extent of the talents of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “Until today,” he tweeted, “I had no idea who provided the voice of Paddington Bear in Ukraine.” But there is plenty about Zelenskiy’s showbiz career that has been underestimated. When Zelenskiy was elected in April 2019, at the age of 41, the Russian commentator Sergey Parkhomenko said: “He is weak, he does not have a religion, he does not have a nationality.” It was meant as a criticism, even though all these reasons were precisely why people had voted for Zelenskiy. He is not intimidating. He does not come from a political background. He is a Russian speaker from the centre of the country. But, most of all, to Ukrainians, he was recognisable and he was funny. That nice guy off that TV show Servant of the People. You know, the one where the geeky history teacher becomes the president overnight. The Paddington voice guy.
Outside the Russian-speaking world, you wouldn’t have known any of this. You probably wouldn’t even have heard of the TV show, even though it was eventually snapped up by Netflix. (It is now available on YouTube with English subtitles.) Beyond Ukraine, until last week, he was simply referred to as “a comedian who became president”. Initial coverage of his landslide victory – in which he won 73.2% of the vote – was derisory. What were the Ukrainians thinking? Who is this guy anyway? He is hardly Ronald Reagan. What a joke.
