Unless you’ve been living under a rock over the past week, you’ve probably heard that Russia invaded Ukraine in an unprovoked violent manner. All over social media, you’ve likely seen just about everyone from A-list celebrities to your crazy Uncle talk about the potential for another catastrophic World War III scenario. In addition, there’s been a lot of shows of support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Well, in a bit of an interesting “did you know?” people are starting to learn more about the work Zelenskyy did before becoming a political leader, including a voice role in “Paddington.”
Over the weekend, Black List founder Franklin Leonard confirmed that Volodymyr Zelenskyy actually voiced the title character in the Ukrainian dubs of “Paddington” and “Paddington 2.” This was followed by official confirmation from StudioCanal and “Paddington” actor, Hugh Bonneville.
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And it wasn’t just a surprising bit of news for most of the world, but also for Bonneville, who tweeted, “Until today I had no idea who provided the voice of @paddingtonbear in Ukraine. Speaking for myself, thank you, President Zelenskiy.”
Now, unless you know a bit about Zelenskyy’s history, you might be confused about how a political leader was able to provide the most important voice role in a major kid’s film franchise. Well, before winning the Presidential election in 2019, Zelenskyy was a major comedian and star in Ukraine. In addition to his various film work, he actually won Ukraine’s version of “Dancing with the Stars” in the 2000s. To say that going from “Dancing with the Stars” and “Paddington” to leading a nation into battle is a huge contrast is an understatement.
In addition to confirming the news, StudioCanal released a bit of behind-the-scenes footage from “Paddington.”You can watch the behind-the-scenes clip below, showing Zelenskyy voicing the character: