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Born in a town of Tula, Russia, Yulia Snigir was playing chess competitively and at the age of 15 was awarded the prestigious title of Candidate Master of Sports in Chess. She was planning to have a professional chess player career but instead made a decision to continue her education and moved to Moscow on her own where she was accepted to State Pedagogical University. Yulia had to study and work at the same time to support herself financially. She was teaching English in the nursery school, when a friend showed photos of Yulia to a representative of one of the most prestigious Moscow modeling agency. While continuing her study program in University, Yulia became a successful model. She was offered a contract with a leading French jewelry brand and was planning to move to France when a casting-director saw her at the modeling agency and invited for an audition. Her acting career officially started when she was accepted to the famous Vakhtangov Theatre Academy and was cast in two independent films. Yulia's big break came when she was offered one of the leading roles in the Russian sci-fi blockbuster "The Inhabited Island" and the sequel "The Inhabited Island 2: Rebellion". It made her a star in Russia. Yulia became the face of L'Oreal, Mexx clothing and Mexx perfume in her home country.

Yulia divided her time between TV series, theater and film playing the vast variety of roles and becoming a versatile actress with her projects ranging, from small indie films, to TV dramas, large studio projects and experimental theater. In the theater Yulia played a male role in a very successful production of King Lear, which won several European and Russian theater awards. In 2012 she was cast in a lead role in the fifth installment of Die Hard, released in February 2013.