Sergey Zhenovach was born on May 15, 1957. In 1979, he graduated from the directorial faculty of the Krasnodar Institute of Culture and headed the Krasnodar Youth Amateur Theater, where he staged performances: “On Wet Snow” (the second part of F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “Notes from the Underground”) “The Son of the Beauty of Jigsaw” on four chapters of M. A. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita”; “Notes of One Person” based on the stories of F. M. Dostoevsky “Bobok” and “The Dream of a Funny Man”.
In 1983 he entered the directorial faculty of GITIS (the course of P.N.Fomenko), after which in 1988 (the diploma performance – “Fools from Mayo” based on the play by J.M. Singh “The Good Man – the Pride of the West”, 1987) passed an assistantship – internship and began pedagogical activity at the department of directing in the workshop of Professor P.N.Fomenko.
While teaching at the department, Sergey Zhenovach staged performances: “Vladimir III degree” – scenes from the unfinished comedy of N. V. Gogol (1991), “Noise and Fury” based on the novel of the same name by W. Faulkner (1993), “Winter fairy tale” by W. Shakespeare (1996), “Hot heart” by A. N. Ostrovsky (2000).
From 1988 to 1991 Sergey Zhenovach was a director in the theater-studio “Man”. In this studio, he released performances: “Pannochka” by N. Sadur based on Gogol’s novel “Viy” (1988), “Illusion” by P. Cornel (1989). Both productions were awarded the I-th prize of STD of Russia "Results of the season". From 1991 to 1998 he worked at the Theatre on Malaya Bronnaya (since 1996 - the main director), staged performances: “King Lear” by W. Shakespeare (1992) (the Moscow City Hall Award in the field of literature and art, I-I-I award of the STD of Russia “The results of the season”); “Puchina” (1992) on the big drama by A. N. Ostrovsky and M. Dino “Thirty Years, or the Life of a Player”; “Mennik – a sorcer, a deceiver and a matchmaker” (1995) “The Golden award by A. Pymukov”, “Theatricalda” (1993); “Theatricalda” by Mov”.
With the artists in the Moscow theater “Workshop P.N.Fomenko” Sergey Zhenovach staged a play based on the play of I.S. Turgenev “A month in the village” (1996), awarded the prize of the festival “Young talents – the city and the world”. In 1994, 1996 and 1997 in Norway, Sergey Zhenovach staged plays based on the plays of A. P. Chekhov, G. Ibsen and W. Shakespeare.
In 1997, Sergey Zhenovach was awarded the K.S. Stanislavsky Prize.
In 2000, in the Maly Theatre, Sergey Zhenovach staged a play based on the play “Woe from Wit”. In 2002, there in the Maly Theatre he produced a play based on the play by A.N. Ostrovsky “Truth is good, and happiness is better”, awarded prizes: the national theater award “Golden Mask” – a special jury prize “For the best ensemble” and “The nail of the season” as the best performance of the 2002-2003 season. In 2004, for directing Sergey Zhenovach was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation in the field of literature and art.
In 2004, the premiere of the performance “White Guard” by M.A. Bulgakov took place at the Chekhov Moscow Art Theatre.
From 2001 to the present day, Sergey Zhenovach is the artistic director of the workshop for joint training of directors and actors at the Department of Directing of RATI. In the autumn of 2004, Sergey Zhenovach became head of the Department of Directing of the Russian Academy of Theatrical Arts.
In November 2004, with his students, Sergey Zhenovach released the play “Boys” in 9 chapters of F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “The Brothers Karamazov”. This performance is included in the extracompetitive program of the Golden Mask and in the Moscow program of the VI International Chekhov Festival. For directing the play "Boys" Sergey Zhenovach was awarded the prize "Crystal Turandot".
In 2005, the Maly Theatre premiered the play "The Imaginary Sick" by J.-B. Moliere in the production of Sergei Zhenovach (the Golden Mask Award - "the best performance of a large form").
In December 2005 in the nomination "For contribution to the development of theatrical pedagogy" Sergey Zhenovach was awarded the Stanislavsky Prize "for the revival of the spirit of studio". In 2006, the play "Boys" was nominated for the "Golden Mask" award in two nominations: the best performance of small form and the best work of the director.
In March 2006, Sergey Zhenovach was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the Russian Federation.
In May 2006, on the stage of the Center named after Vs.Meyerhold, the first premiere of the “Studio of Theatre Art” took place - the play “The Seedy Family” staged by Sergey Zhenovach (the Golden Mask Award for “best director”, “best performance of a small form”). April 13, 2007 "Studio" released the play "Players" by Nikolai Gogol. Director-director Sergei Zhenovach.