According to Levada Center, the picks largely reflected movies which were on at the time of the poll.

A third of Russians spend their spare time watching soap operas. The Russian movie industry has made a significant contribution to the segment lately, featuring theater and movie stars.

Sergei Bezrukov, working with Oleg Tabakov's Theater, is by far the most popular actor, sharing the title with Yelena Yakovleva, from Sovremennik. ... He starred in almost every new project – Yesenin, Azazel, Brigada (Brigade), Potzelui babochki (The Butterfly's Kiss), The Master and Margarita, and others. Yelena Yakovleva appeared in Peterburgskiye tainy (St. Petersburg's Mysteries), Kamenskaya, Moy svodny brat Frankenstein (My Stepbrother Frankenstein), Kursanty (Cadets), and others.

No less well-known are Yevgeny Mironov, who played the leading part in the screen version of Dostoyevsky's The Idiot, Aleksandr Domogarov, who was seen in Banditsky Peterburg (St. Petersburg of the Gangsters) and Marsh Turetzkogo (Turetzky's March), Konstantin Khabensky (Dnevnoi dozor (Day Watch) and Statskii sovetnik (The Civil Counsellor)) and Fyodor Bondarchuk (Mama ne goriui (Mama Don't Cry), Devyataya rota (9th Company)).

These are followed by Dmitry Pevtzov, Oleg Menshikov, Vladimir Mashkov, Aleksandr Abdulov and Aleksandr Baluyev.

As for actresses, the list of the most popular ones, apart from Yelena Yakovleva, includes Anastasia Zavorotnyuk, Chulpan Khamatova, Olga Drozdova, Liubov Polishchuk, Maria Mironova, Nelli Uvarova, Irina Rozanova and Alisa Freindlikh.