He’s starred at Gateway’s Barnyard Theatre, won the Mr uShaka title, played in various bands and walked fashion ramps. Victor Samsonov told DEBBIE REYNOLDS about his life in the limelight
The cool, calm and collected 22-year-old giving me his undivided attention over a cappuccino undoubtedly has the X-factor. With the swarthy good looks of a high fashion model and a keen sense of humour it’s hard to believe he’s also a talented musician and a gifted academic.
Victor Samsonov has come a long way from the streets of Sofia in Bulgaria where as a five-year-old he began playing the guitar and then the violin. He was just 10 when his activist mother Lilly brought him to South Africa to escape communist rule. With connections to musicians in the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra, the family settled in Durban.
Victor was enrolled in Grade 4 at Chelsea Drive school and recalls the only English words he knew were “good morning”. “I had to go for private lessons to try to catch up, with my goal being to learn 20 new words a day,” he says.
Within a year he was speaking fluent English and at the end of Grade 6 he achieved the highest aggregate in his grade.
He then went on to Durban High School where he continued to sail through his exams while taking private violin lessons. Stints with quirky Durban band Neon Anthems and a session band followed where he also “got into percussion”.
It was at the insistence of his manager Terence Pillay that he auditioned for the Barnyard show, Broadway Rocks. Producer Ian von Memerty was so bowled over by him that a character around Victor was worked into the show.
“It was very much me,” laughs Victor. “A sort of model guy who also plays violin. It was my first big stage musical so I was really stoked.”
And while Victor would love to do more stage shows he had to free himself up for his role as uShaka ambassador, which will see him lining up for the Mr SA title early next year.
That opportunity came via his being signed up with Ice Models in 2007 and working on various print campaigns and top fashion shows around the country. “While modelling is a lot more hard work than people think, it is also a lot of fun – and you get paid for it. Wow!”
While Victor admits to loving the spotlight, modelling has served the far more serious purpose of helping him pay his university fees. In the last year of his B.Comm degree at UKZN, Victor is also doing a jazz guitar bridging course.
“I love the violin but it’s not an area which holds a lot of future potential in this country,” he says. “It’s very important for me to have academic substance and while I’ll probably end up in supply chain management or logistics, my end goal is an entrepreneurial joint venture involving the entertainment and fashion industries.”
In store for next year, if all goes according to plan, is travel, travel, travel! “I’d like to take a trip around Australia and ultimately South America – I love the Latino culture.”
In the meantime he’s trying to keep a healthy balance between his studies, exercising and socialising. “I’m quite a party animal, but I also need to keep focused.”
Quite a tough call when the world is your oyster.
FACT FILE:
Born: April 18, 1987
Parties at: Bean Bag Bohemia, Society
Eats out: Spiga d’Oro, Havana Grill, Market and Harvey’s
Favourite music: Funky house, jazz
Best bands: Rudimentals, Napalma and Watershed
Hobbies: Touch rugby and body boarding