Who would have thought that a man who is currently leading a country in a crisis like Ukraine is capable of giving life to one of the most beloved cinema characters in recent times? Believe it or not, Volodymyr Zelensky, the actual president of Ukraine, is the one who gave the voice in Ukrainian to Paddington Bear.
Like you heard. The man who is now fighting the resistance to a Russian invasion and that has been praised for his attitude towards this conflict, is the voice of Paddington Bear.
But, how did it get there? Easy, before Zelensky was elected President, he had a career as a comedian and actor and in 2019 he was cast to make the voice of the beloved English bear who is originally voiced by Ben Wishaw.
Studio Canal, Paddington production company, and actor Hugh Bonneville confirmed the casting through their Twitter accounts.
“Until today I had no idea who provided the voice of [Paddington] in Ukraine,” Bonneville wrote. “Speaking for myself, thank you, President [Zelensky]”, wrote Bonneville.
In addition to Paddington, Zelensky starred a Ukrainian comedy called Servant of the People, a comedy series about a school teacher who becomes President and even was part of the Ukrainian version of the show Dancing with the Stars.
