Lado Okhotnikov was born in Kazakhstan and grew up in Tatarstan. In his childhood and teenage years, he trained in Greco-Roman wrestling under the guidance of his father, who was also his coach. He repeatedly won regional championships. In 2001, Lado graduated from the Directing Faculty of VIPPKRK, a branch of VGIK (the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography), with a degree in film directing. Wh...