Episode 626 | Dimitry Rozental | "Lioness"

Um, so as a kid in the Ukraine, are you introduced to movies? Are you introduced to like, um, actors and shows, any of that stuff?

Um, my mom primarily thought that, um, my performance capabilities at preschool uh were so um impressive that she put me in an acting studio when i was i think uh seven years old uh and uh yeah that was pretty much it i don't think i had much of a choice in that i just remember that this is how life was from the very early age and um Um, in high school, last two years of my high school in Odessa, in Ukraine, um, I went to a special after hours, theatrical high school.

So for most kids, the classes would end at two.

And for me, they would end at nine sometimes if we were, uh, preparing a show or a performance or something like this.

So, um, that's how I graduated high school.

And, um, yeah.

I didn't have much of a choice in that, but I enjoyed it.

It was immediately something where I felt very comfortable.

I was on big stages when...

And it doesn't sound like bragging.

It's just I fell into that last few years of Soviet Union where big performances with big orchestras and army music and greeting the veterans.

And that was late 80s, beginning of the 90s.

And so I got to emcee a lot of those from the stage because they thought that little red, you know, scarf and me.

you know, saying important things in a microphone was fascinating.

Yeah.

So I had that experience last years of Soviet union.

I managed to like, you know, really, really feel it.