Pavlo Li: The Leading Role

Mariia vividly recalls the day her then-six-year-old son expressed his desire to visit the theater in Crimea. He sat completely absorbed in the performance, his eyes fixed on the stage, barely blinking. After the final applause, he asked his mom to stay in the hall.

"As the auditorium emptied, he climbed onto the stage, made his way to the back, and began to breathe in the scent of the theater. I asked him if he would like to perform on such a stage. And he replied, ‘Yes, Mommy, very much,’" recalls Mariia Li. "So I took him to sign up for the theater. The director wasn’t very eager to take him because he already had a group formed. Pasha had to perform in front of him. At first, he blushed, but then he shared everything he remembered, and the director changed his mind. Six months later, my child was already performing in the theater.’

And so, at the age of six, Pavlo Li found his calling and the vocation to which he dedicated his life.

Those who knew Pasha Li often described him as a self-made man. He was an actor in both theater and film, lending his voice to bring the heroes of Hollywood movies and Disney animations to life in Ukrainian. As a beloved teacher, he inspired dozens of new Ukrainian artists to discover their potential and believe in themselves. In his 33 years of life, he made an impressive amount of appearances in music videos and commercials, worked in television, and participated in photo shoots.

Like many actors, his dream was to make it to Hollywood. However, despite Pavlo’s striking appearance and undeniable talent, success did not come easily to him. Although Li had dreamed of the stage since childhood, one of his first jobs was at the Crimean Zoo, where he cared for the animals. Eventually, his talent caught the attention of Kyiv theater community, and he was invited to study at the capital’s Academy of Arts. He landed his first significant film role at the age of 17. With Russian films dominating the market, the release of Stolnya—the first Ukrainian-produced thriller in the Ukrainian language, directed by Liubomyr Levytskyi—created an immediate sensation. Pasha played Dan, a privileged student who, along with his friends, embarks on an archaeological internship and gets into trouble.

Pasha Li decided when he was 20 years old to try his hand at singing and auditioned for the popular TV show Star Factory-3. He managed to advance through three preliminary rounds and outshine several thousand competitors, but the audience let him down—he left the project in the third episode due to SMS voting. However, during this time, he became recognizable and won over not only the judges but also the singer Anastasia Prykhodko, who took him under her wing as a producer. They recorded a duet titled "Your Heart," but their collaboration ended there.

Turning setbacks into new opportunities was one of Pavlo’s superpowers. "Nothing motivates you like rejection," the actor said in one interview.

"He was constantly improving himself, taking vocal lessons, working on his body and choreography, and focusing on his diction. He never gave up," recalls his close friend and colleague Kateryna Butska.

Pasha continuously attended auditions, and when he was cast in a role, he gave it his all.

"We experienced all his highs and lows together," adds Mariia Li. "He struggled when he was not in demand as an actor. He was very hard on himself in his profession, striving for perfection in every role. Sometimes it seemed to me that he rehearsed at home to the point of obsession."

Even his minor roles were vivid and left a lasting impression on the audience.

Pavlo appeared in two more of Levytskyi’s films—he again played a history student in the mystery thriller Unforgotten Shadows and a security guard in Selfie Party. He also had roles as a DJ in the film Business as Usual, a yoga instructor and a womanizer in the comedy Classmate Reunion, and Diesel in the sports action film Rules of Engagement. In the detective series Specifics, he portrayed computer genius Stas Kim, an IT specialist who, along with his team, solves the most complex cases.

Colleagues on set remember him as cheerful, funny, and open—he quickly immersed himself in his roles and never complained about long shoots or difficult conditions. He embodied both lightness and depth, had a knack for understanding people, and could offer support in sensitive moments with great care and tact. Many fondly remember the cookies he brought to the set to share with his colleagues, which he baked using his own special recipe.

Between film shoots, Pavlo worked in voice acting and dubbing. His voice effortlessly transformed into any character, regardless of age or gender. He completed several dozen projects at various studios. For example, he voiced Frodo in The Lord of the Rings and a minion in Despicable Me 2. The actor's love story with dubbing began with rejection: his first attempt was unsuccessful, leading Pavlo to resolve to prove to himself that he could succeed. The results exceeded expectations; his intense focus on articulation and voice quickly made him one of the most sought-after dubbing actors in the country. Just before the full-scale war, he achieved another milestone: he was set to direct an annual English-language dubbing project for a foreign company. At some point, Pavlo felt ready not only to work but also to share his knowledge and experience with others. He began by teaching dubbing to children and later launched an author course titled "Acting as a Tool for Self-Discovery."

In the last years of his life, Pavlo performed in the theater productions Solomon in a Skirt and Make Yourself at Home alongside the legendary Ada Rohovtseva, frequently touring. He was preparing to play Lukash in a Crimean Tatar-language adaptation of The Forest Song. Theater remained more than just a profession for him. "For me, the theater is the actor's home and a healing space for the audience—a place where souls are healed," he once said. Even 25 years after his first encounter with the stage in Crimea, the magic of theater never faded for him.

On his last New Year’s Eve celebration, Pavlo was especially excited and confided to a close friend that he had finally realized the kind of actor he wanted to be and had so many plans ahead. He had finally achieved the recognition he had long dreamed of. Ukrainian directors were eager to cast him in their films, and his shooting schedule was booked months in advance. He also planned to expand his blog. Just a month before the full-scale invasion, he tried his hand at a new role—becoming the host of the daytime show A Day at Home on the Dom channel. In a video for his viewers, Pavlo shared a bit about himself: "I love exploring, experimenting, and traveling. I enjoy life and sharing my experiences. I’m scared of taking on responsibility, but I do it—because that’s growth. I like being the master of my own life and knowing how I want to live it."

Pavlo Li was a devout Christian and often attended church. He relieved work-related stress through sports and loved cooking. Helping others was also incredibly important to him. In one interview, Pavlo admitted that if he hadn’t become an actor, he would have become a doctor.

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As soon as the full-scale invasion began and the Russians moved toward Kyiv, activists in Irpin organized a volunteer headquarters and hotline in the city. They set up in a symbolic location—Writers' Park, where many authors whose works make up nearly half of the 20th-century school literature curriculum once rested and created. A few days later, a young man arrived at the headquarters. He introduced himself as Pavlo and immediately started working. In fact, that's why he had stayed in the city: in the early days of the war, friends and family urged him to leave, but he refused. He said he was needed there and would stay to help. Pavlo answered hotline calls, printed maps for the city's defenders, coordinated the evacuation of several families from Irpin, and helped distribute humanitarian aid.

"We had no idea he was famous. At one point, I said to him, 'Pavlo, I’ve seen you somewhere, your face is familiar.' And he replied, 'I sometimes appear in movies.' I started asking more, but he just shrugged it off, saying, 'Oh, it’s nothing, just a few short appearances here and there.' He had no trace of arrogance," recalls Irpin resident Iryna Myhitko, one of the volunteers at the headquarters during those days. "While we worked, we would sometimes sing, and Pavlo always sang along with us without stopping his work on the laptop. He was making lists and updating information about who needed what kind of help, and then the guys would take those lists and deliver aid packages around the city. Thanks to his help, the whole process moved much faster."

Meanwhile, the Russians were advancing on the city from two directions—Bucha and Hostomel—and the closer they got, the more relentless their shelling of Irpin's streets became. On March 5, Pavlo decided to leave the city, but due to the constant shelling, the volunteers spent the entire day in the headquarters' basement. In the evening, they stayed overnight at a nearby volunteer's house, as going home was too dangerous. That night, Irpin was ablaze. The next day, before leaving the city, Pavlo decided to stop by his home to bring groceries to his elderly, lonely neighbor and to rescue his pet rabbit, Karma.

On March 6, Pavlo, along with volunteers Taras Melnyk and Iryna Myhitko, headed toward his home. Neither Pavlo nor his new companions knew that the house where he lived was already under occupation and that Russian troops were spreading throughout the city. They encountered one of these groups on Pushkinska Street, where the Russians opened heavy fire on their car. Iryna and Taras managed to escape, but Pavlo was killed instantly. His body remained at the site of the war crime for a long time. Only on the third attempt, risking his life, did Irpin resident Maksym Shevchenko manage to retrieve it. Pavlo Li was buried on March 18 in Vorokhta, in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, where his mother lives. Recently, a memorial marker was placed near the spot where Pavlo was killed, with funds raised by his colleagues.

Pavlo Li never saw the last three films he appeared in—they were released after his death. The premiere of the mystical thriller Egregor, where Li played a police officer, was set for March 2022 but was postponed due to the full-scale invasion. During this time, not only Pavlo but also the project's pyrotechnician, Oleksandr Suvorov, was killed, and the team decided to dedicate the film to their memory. Another film, the romantic comedy The Taste of Freedom, in which Pavlo played a chef, was released on the second anniversary of his death.

The role of a border guard officer in Akhtem Seitablayev's film Mirny 21 was among Pavlo's last performances. The film tells a true story that most Ukrainians were unaware of how, in 2014, a Luhansk border guard unit, already fully surrounded, stood their ground against vastly better-equipped Russian forces. When work on the film began, the director offered the actor the chance to choose his character’s call sign. Pavlo named his character Osiris, after the ancient Egyptian god of rebirth, who triumphed over death. Since his passing, Pavlo continues to live on through his talent—in films, in the voices of the characters he brought to life, and in the work of the many students he taught, first and foremost, to never fear anything while chasing their dreams.

Pavlo Li was born on July 10, 1988, in Yevpatoria. He began his acting journey in the Zoloty Kliuchyk Children’s Theater. After moving to Kyiv, he performed at the Koleso Theater, acted in films, and worked as a voice actor. Pavlo was tragically killed on March 6, 2022, in Irpin. In the fall of 2022, Moskovskyi Lane in Kyiv was renamed in his honor. He was posthumously awarded the Order "For Courage" of the III degree.