Natalya Varley was born in
Constanţa, Romania, a daughter of the
sea captain Vladimir Viktorovich Varley, who was also a one-time City Council chairman (Mayor, in modern terms) of
Murmansk where the family lived. One of his 19th century paternal ancestors was a
Welsh jockey who (along with his brother) had been invited to Russia to manage a horse-breeding factory, married a Russian and settled there. Natalya's mother, Ariadna Sergeyevna Varley (née Senyavina), a granddaughter of
geologist Yevgeny Barbot de Marni, was of
French and
German origins, a distant relative to
Alexey K. Tolstoy. As an artistic child she started writing
poetry at the age of four, and was fond of
painting and studied
music. In the late 1950s, as the family settled in
Moscow, she entered the
Tsvetnoy Boulevard Circus's Children Studio and made quick progress there, which was all the more impressive, considering she'd been a sickly child and suffered from
rheumatism-related heart disorder, which for several years prevented her from taking part in sports at school.
Career In 1965, in
Odessa where the troupe was on tour, Varley met Soviet clown and film actor
Leonid Yengibarov. He proved to be a kindred spirit and became a close friend, as well as occasional stage partner. During the filming Varley was spotted by the assistant of another film director,
Leonid Gaidai, who invited her to the auditions for his new project,
Kidnapping, Caucasian Style. In 2010, Varley joined the
United Russia party. In 2013, she was one of the organizers of the 20th anniversary event commemorating the victims of the
3–4 October 1993 events. For "statements contradicting the interests of our national security" she was banned from entering
Ukraine. ==Private life==