Alex Menglet

Alex Menglet, born Alexei Menglet in Moscow, USSR, is an actor who has found success working in Australia.

Early life and family

Menglet was born in Moscow, USSR to famous parents Maya Menglet and Leonid Satanovskiy. He came from a theatrical family.^[1] His grandfather, Menglet Georgy, was a People's Artist of the USSR, his mother was a Honored Artist of the RSFSR and his father was an Honored Artist of the RSFSR and People's Artist of Russia. His maternal great grandmother, Bertha Ansovna Rusman (1889-1981) was a Latvian revolutionary, participated in the murder of a factory director in Riga in 1906 for handing over revolutionary workers to gendarmes. She was arrested and exiled to the Yenisey Governorate. A member of the CPSU with membership card #40^[2].

As a child, he played the co-lead in television series The Old Fortress, feature film The Boys and Hurray for the Holidays. He then studied a four year course in acting and stage direction at Moscow State Institute of Drama^[1] (GETES), where he received his Diploma in 1977.

Career

Film and television

Menglet is best known for his roles as chef Ray 'Gay Ray' Proctor in the 1984 season of Prisoner^[3] and as Zoran Baranoff in SBS series Kick in 2007.

Menglet's early television credits include several Crawford Productions series including Skyways, The Sullivans, Cop Shop and a six-week role in Carson's Law, playing the role of Lazlo Novack.^[3] In 1985, he appeared in miniseries Anzacs and The Dunera Boys.^[1] and played the lead role of Vladimir Petrov, a Soviet spy masquerading as a diplomat in Canberra in 1987 miniseries The Petrov Affair.^[4]

He went on to play the recurring role of Mr Hohenhaus in Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left in 1994, and Mihaly Bassa in 1995 miniseries Bordertown the following year. He then appeared as Alexei in High Flyers in 1999 and Davorin in Eugénie Sandler P.I. in 2000.

He had numerous guest roles in Wilfred II, City Homicide, Kath & Kim, Shock Jock, Janus, Phoenix. SeaChange and appeared in 1995 series Bordertown.^[1]

Menglet appeared in 2009 UKTV miniseries False Witness and played Vlad in House Rules.^[1] From 2014 to 2015, he starred as Joan Ferguson's father and fencing instructor, Ivan Ferguson in prison drama Wentworth.^[5]

Menglet's early film credits include The Clinic (1982),^[6] Sky Pirates (1986),^[3] Holidays on the River Yarra, A Woman’s Tale (both 1991) and Garbo (1992).^[6] He also appeared in the feature films Children of the Revolution (1996), He Died with a Falafel in his Hand (2001), Josh Jarman (2004), The Book of Revelation (2006), Salvation (2008)^[1] and Any Questions for Ben? (2012).^[6] In 2021, Menglet played the role of Yaroslav in the film Ascendant.^[7]

Stage

Menglet has appeared in numerous theatre productions throughout his career.^[1] He was a member of the Anthill Theatre ensemble in Melbourne in the 1980s,^[8] alongside fellow Eastern European migrant, Jacek Koman.^[8] There, he performed in productions of The Cherry Orchard, Uncle Vanya, The Imaginary Invalid, Three Sisters, The Crimson Island, The School for Wives, Mother Courage and Her Children and The Immigrants.^[1]

He went on to perform in Melbourne Theatre Company productions such as The Visit alongside Zoe Caldwell and Cyrano de Bergerac opposite David Wenham.^[8] He reunited with Koman, starring together in a production of Waiting for Godot.^[8] Other MTC credits include Rock 'n' Roll, The Madwoman of Chaillot, Cyrano de Bergerac, Julius Caesar, The Woman in the Window, When She Danced, The Selection, The Marriage of Figaro and The Taming of the Shrew.^[1] He also translated Chekhov's The Seagull for MTC in 2001.^[8]

Additionally, Menglet has performed in Goodbye Vaudeville Charlie Mudd for Malthouse Theatre, Don Juan and Miss Julie for Sydney Theatre Company, The Seagull and Picasso at the Lapin Agile for Belvoir.^[1] Other theatre credits include The Forest for Queensland Theatre Company, The Abduction from the Seraglio for Victoria State Opera and If Winter Comes for Church Theatre.^[1] He also starred in a revival of Twelve Angry Men, winning a 2005 Green Room Award for his performance.^[1][9]

Menglet has also directed for the stage including productions of Crime and Punishment and The Red and The Black for the Stork Theatre, and Rites of Passage, Yellow Moon, Jack Goes Boating and a 2005 production of Playing the Victim for Red Stitch Actors Theatre,^[1] starring Jim Daly and Angus Sampson.^[7]

Menglet has also worked for ABC Radio drama and the Russian Language Program on SBS Radio, and as a director and translator.^[1][7]

Personal life

At the age of 18, Menglet married his first wife, a school teacher. They separated ten months later, before getting divorced.^[3]

While studying drama in Moscow, met and then married Elsbeth, a West German exchange student, before moving to Germany in 1978, at the age of 22. A friend from Moscow had moved to Melbourne, where he was photographer on some Australian films, influencing Menglet (who wanted to move to an English-speaking country) to move there with his wife in 1981. Together, they had two daughters Renisia and Katerina.^[8][3]

Menglet also has a brother, Dmitri.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

As actor

As director / translator

^[17][6]

Awards and nominations

References

1. ^ "Alex Menglet". Wheeler Centre. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
2. ^ "Русман-Королёва Берта Ансовна". Archived 7 July 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
3. ^ Johnson, Jacqui (18 August 1984). "Gay's Not Okay in Russia". TV Week via Facebook. p. 86.
4. ^ Tsyskin, Sima (13 April 2024). "Petrov affair. Spy drama and human story". SBS. Retrieved 27 November 2025.
5. ^ "Wentworth: episode guide". Australian Television Information Archive. Retrieved 28 November 2025.
6. ^ "Alex Menglet". BGM Agency.
7. ^ Tsyskin, Sima (5 April 2021). "Alex Menglet". SBS. Retrieved 26 November 2025.
8. ^ "Red Star". The Age. 22 April 2005. Retrieved 26 November 2025.
9. ^ "12 Angry Men – Oz". www.theatretoursinternational.com. Retrieved 28 November 2025.
10. ^ "Antaine Furlong's 'Rising Wolf' underway in Sydney". IF Magazine. 28 August 2019. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
11. ^ "Stories of M – Tear From a Glass Eye". Stories of M. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
12. ^ "Waiting for Godot – 3". Theatregold. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
13. ^ "Harbinger | Stage Whispers". www.stagewhispers.com.au. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
14. ^ Blake, Elissa (27 October 2011). "Character assassination". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
15. ^ "Mother Courage and Her Children". Belvoir St Theatre. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
16. ^ "Bottomless » fortyfivedownstairs". Fortyfivedownstairs. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
17. ^ "Alex Menglet". AusStage
18. ^ "Past nominees and winners". Helpmann Awards. Retrieved 28 November 2025.

External links

• Alex Menglet at IMDb