Maria Zolotukhina, granddaughter of the legendary Valery Zolotukhin, is ready to give up her famous surname for her husband. The actress frankly spoke about life in the shadow of a famous name, about her childhood in a priest's family, and about her memories of her grandfather.

On August 24, the series "Gudovy" premieres on the STS channel, where Maria Zolotukhina plays Olga, the daughter of the main character Sergey. Her character is preparing for a wedding and dreams of her own family, but her father, the head of the farm, sees in her the only heiress and guardian of the family. In the series, Olga is going to take her husband's surname, which causes sharp disapproval from her father.

Maria admits that for her, the surname Zolotukhina is not just a set of letters, but a memory of her grandfather, grandmother, father, and the entire family. However, she believes that love for ancestors should not turn into an obligation to preserve a certain combination of letters at any cost. The family, in her opinion, continues in children, in upbringing, in the transmission of values. The actress states that she could well take her husband's surname, as she feels close to the idea that spouses become one family.

For her role in "Gudovy," Maria had to radically change her image and try on a wig. According to her, this was done to create a distance between the actress and the character, to remove the familiar and find a more specific type. The change in appearance helped her transform, to feel like someone else.

Maria Zolotukhina remembers her grandfather not as a people's artist, but as Grandpa Valera. Their meetings were rare, but always felt like a holiday. She notes his incredible energy. After his passing, having grown up, Maria began to understand her grandfather more deeply, watching his films and reading about him.

The surname Zolotukhina, according to the actress, simultaneously helps and creates pressure. It can attract attention, but it won't play for you. The main pressure comes from a constant internal question: do you really have the right to be in this profession, or were you noticed only thanks to your surname? Maria admits that for a long time she wanted to prove primarily to herself that she was worth something.

Media presence was never a goal for Maria. She entered the profession to talk to the audience about important things through roles, not for recognition on the street. Fame is a consequence of work, not its replacement. The actress does not rule out participating in shows if it is a creative experiment, but categorically refuses reality shows built on family secrets and the display of personal life. She is convinced that a person should have a space where cameras do not penetrate.

Maria has a personal dream: for the stories and scripts of her father, Denis Zolotukhin (son of Valery Zolotukhin and Nina Shatskaya), to one day become a film. She believes that he has an amazingly cinematic vision and a special feeling for pre-revolutionary Russia. She would like that part of his life, which he once consciously abandoned, to receive a creative continuation.