Today, the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum unveiled the first bobblehead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy has become a face of defiance and a symbol of strength in the midst of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He has been called a hero at home and abroad as he refuses to leave the nation’s capital in Kyiv while Russian forces continue to attack the country. The bobblehead is being produced by the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, which is donating $5 from every bobblehead sold will go to GlobalGiving’s Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund, supporting humanitarian assistance in impacted communities in Ukraine and surrounding regions where Ukrainian refugees have fled.
Born to Jewish parents in Kryvyi Rih, then in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Zelenskyy earned a law degree from the Kryvyi Rih Institute of Economics. While his first language is Russian, he is also fluent in Ukrainian and English. An actor, comedian, screenwriter, and director, the 44-year-old Zelenskyy appeared in more than a half-dozen films. From 2015-19, Zelenskyy starred in the hugely popular television series “Servant of the People,” where he played the role of the President of Ukraine. In the series, Zelensky’s character was a high school history teacher who won the presidential election after a viral video showed him ranting against government corruption in Ukraine.
The political party, Servant of the People, was created in March of 2018 by the TV production company Kvartal 95, which also created the TV series of the same name. Zelenskyy announced his candidacy for the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election on December 31st, 2018. Six months before he announced his candidacy, he was already one of the frontrunners in opinion polls. A political outsider, he won the election in a landslide with 73.2 percent of the vote, defeating incumbent Petro Poroshenko and becoming the sixth president of Ukraine on May 20th, 2019. Identifying as a populist, Zelenskyy has positioned himself as an anti-establishment, anti-corruption figure who fights for democracy. Zelenskyy is married to Olena and is the father of Oleksandra (17) and Kyrylo (9).
"To show our support like countless others throughout the country and across the world, we are excited to release this bobblehead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to help raise funds and awareness for Ukraine,” National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum co-founder and CEO Phil Sklar said. “With the spotlight shining on him during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Zelenskyy has become a worldwide hero, and we think he deserves to be honored with a bobblehead.”
And yes, this hall of fame is real. See the video!