Oksana Leonidivna Cherkashyna^{[lower-alpha 1]} (born 7 May 1988) is a Ukrainian theater and film actress. She has won several important honors in addition to being acknowledged for her exceptional performances on stage and cinema.^[1]

Born on 7 May 1988, in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.^[2] She shown an early interest in the arts, particularly theater. She enrolled at the Kyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Kary Theatre, Cinema and Television University in 2005, and she earned a Master of Arts degree from the institution in 2009.^[1] Trainer, director, and professor at the "Tisto School of Acting" since 2014.^[3]

Joanna Vikhovska, invited Oksana to participate in the Polish-Ukrainian project "мапи страху/мапи ідентичності" in 2016.^[4] Following that, which Oksana considered to be a turning point in her career, she participated in a number of autonomous initiatives for several years in collaboration with the British Council, the Goethe-Institut in Ukraine, and the Polish Theater Institute in Warsaw. Notable performances like "ДПЮ,"^[5][6][7] "Ресторан Україна,"^[8][9] "Мій дід копав, мій батько копав, а я не буду"^[10][11][12] are among them.

Oksana started her acting career in the Kyiv theater on the left bank of the Dnieper after receiving her degree from university.^[13] She assumed a variety of roles in a variety of plays and soon established herself as the troupe's star actress. She was honored with two of the most important prizes in Polish theater in 2019: the Main Acting Award of the All-Polish Contemporary Art Competition and the second prize for Best Actress at the Divine Comedy Festival in Kraków.^[1] She was invited to the theater for 2018 and 2019, for the drama "Левів не віддамо."^[14][15]

Oksana made her on-screen debut in Vladislav Vdovchenko's "Валентинів день," where she had a major part, in 2015. She won the Kyiv International Film Festival's Best Actress prize for this performance. She has since acted in several other movies, such as "Klondike" by Maryna Er Gorbach (for which she won the same prize in 2022) and "Bad Roads" by Natalka Vorozhbyt (for which she won the "Kinokol" award in 2020).^[1]

After seeing Klondike at the esteemed Sundance and Berlin film festivals, Oksana hoped that an invasion of her own Ukraine would not occur. Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Her perspective on politics, the world, and art were all altered by this. She no longer has faith in politics, the European Union, the European Community and the global society, as they all reacted with essentially no response.^[16] As a means of protesting the rapidly increasing levels of violence in the globe, she saw Klondike as a film "dedicated to all women" and emphasized the significance of presenting a "female perspective" on the conflict.^[17]

"Klondike," Ukraine's submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film 2023, stars Oksana. For her role, she just took home the Fipresci Best Actress award from the Palm Springs film festival. Her upcoming project, the Netflix television series "Absolute Beginners," which will premiere in Poland in 2023.^[2]

Oksana is fluent in Ukrainian, English, Polish, and Russian, with a basic understanding of French and German.^[2]

In addition to receiving fame in her native Ukraine, Oksana also became well-known abroad. Critics and spectators have praised her works, which she has frequently exhibited at international film festivals. She became one of the most well-known Ukrainian actors outside because to her skills and competence.^[1] On the Day of Ukrainian Cinema, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree (№465/2021) naming Oksana as the Merited Artist of Ukraine and bestowing state medals to notable cinema professionals.^[19]