Ilya was born on the tenth of July 1947. At that time the family of the future artist Oleynikova lived in the city of Kishenevo. The parents of the artist have always tried to raise from him a good man, intellectually developed and educated. By the way, the artist's biography notes that in fact he is not Oleinikov, but Klyaver. It was this name that the parents of the artist carried. From childhood Ilya was interested in comedians and satire. That is why it was so important for Oleynikov to go there, where he would be taught the art of clowning. We ourselves know that his biography has practically no serious roles. But, nevertheless, all of his characters, even comedic, are not just ridiculous, they are meaningful, they have their own character and their individuality. Ilya has an amazing ability of each of his characters to do not only cheerful, but also profound.
After graduating from high school Oleinikov went to Moscow and entered the Moscow State College of Circus and Variety Art. In 1969, Ilya Oleinikov graduated from the clownery department, where he studied speech and musical-eccentric genres. After the training was over, the young man got a job in the orchestra of the Saul VIA-66. There he worked from 1970 to 1974, and then left this place to go to Lenkoncert. From the very beginning, the teachers, and then the critics, noted that Oleynikov has a talent that he constantly shows to the audience. This was confirmed by his first award. In 1977, Oleinikov was awarded as a laureate of the All-Union Contest of Variety Artists.
Already in those years, Oleinikov wanted to work on television as a humorist. And soon he managed to translate his dreams into reality. The actor was able to appear with his first humorous number on TV screens in the mid-eighties. By the way, even then he worked not alone, but with a partner. His first partner was Roman Kozakov. Perhaps we all would have known the tandem of Kozakov and Oleynikov, if not for the tragic death of Roman Kozakov. After that, Ilya for a while could not find the second person in the duo. He had quite a few partners on the stage before he met his future friend and an integral part of the duo - Yuri Stoyanov. This happened in the early nineties. In 1991, Oleinikov and Stoyanov together appeared in a comedy TV program, which was called "Adam's apple". It was broadcast by St. Petersburg television. It was there that Oleinikov and Stoyanov began to try to create their first joint television numbers. Of course, at first, not all turned out. Although, at that time, it seemed to the artists that they were doing an excellent and funny show. But, as artists celebrate now, reviewing their numbers, they see a lot of mistakes. Oleinikov believes that those programs were quite raw, and humor was not at the highest level. But talented people can always admit their mistakes and fix everything that initially did not work. This was confirmed by the telecast "Gorodok". She appeared on the television channel Russia in 1993. It was thanks to "Gorodok" Oleinikov and Stoyanov recognized and fell in love with the entire post-Soviet space. People liked their humor, original skits and funny dialogues. This was confirmed by the Teffi award, which the telecast received in 1996. Oleinikov and Stoyanov were at the top of humorous popularity. It is worth noting that the surprising is the fact that "Gorodok" does not lose its popularity for so long. After all, often, all the transmissions of such a plan do not live for so long, because, after all, humor runs out or ceases to be relevant. But with "Gorodok" everything is different. It has grown for several generations, and all these people are still looking at the numbers of Oleynikov and Stoyanov with pleasure.
Oleinikov and Stoyanov are an established tandem, people whom no one else takes separately. They were even born on the same day, though with a difference of ten years. But it never stopped them from being true friends. Perhaps this also played an important role in the fact that their transmission has always remained funny and popular. Of course, between them, too, sometimes there is a misunderstanding, but, nevertheless, they always know how to agree and compromise. These actors try never to quarrel and value each other's friendship and talent.
Oleinikov and Stoyanov are not only excellent humorists, but also writers. For example, in 1997 they released the book "See you in the Township". In addition, Ilya Oleinikov has his own autobiographical book called Life as a Song. It was released in 1999.
In addition to filming in Gorodok, Ilya Oleinikov also played several roles in the cinema. For example, one of the most memorable, of course, was the role in the beautiful adaptation of "Master and Margarita". In this film, Oleinikov played the director of the Rimsky variety show. Also Oleinikova can be seen in the comedies "Thin thing" and "Alchemist". The last movie was really funny. It feels the spirit of "Gorodok", where humor is intelligent enough not to fall to one vulgarity.
Ilya Oleinikov never considered himself a star. He is the person who simply loves to give people joy and live life to the fullest. If we talk about his personal life, he is happy in marriage with his wife Irina. By the way, she has absolutely nothing to do with stage and cinema. The woman is a candidate of chemical sciences. But Ilya's son is a well-known and public man. This is one of the soloists of the duet "Tea together" - Denis Klyaver.