When they appear together, Niels Schneider and his three brothers Aliocha, Vassili and Volodia never cease to fascinate. Same singular face, same falsely neglected haircut and above all, same passion for the world of cinema and music, the Schneider siblings seem to have been born to shine. A success story that continues to be anchored in time over the years, against the backdrop of a drama that will mark their lives forever.
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“People often tell us that we look a lot alike, but those who really know us know that in reality, not so much, that we are all distinct”, Alyosha confided in August 2020. That year, the four brothers s offer the cover of the magazine “Number” and immediately, the charm works. It must be said that if this sibling is linked by the same passion for art, it only very rarely appears together. A modesty and a discretion, fruits of a youth distilled between Paris and Montreal. The three eldest – Niels, Aliocha and Volodia – were born in the French capital before flying away during their childhood on the other side of the Atlantic with their parents. Their mother being a model, their father an actor and director, everything seemed to predestine them to a career in the seventh art. In any case, this is the path that their elder brother, Vadim, will choose. “We have an older brother, Vadim, who was passionate about literature and theater very early on. He took lessons with my father. He also did vocals and guitar,” Niels Schneider will remember in particular. A passionate young man, whom the four brothers quickly take as an example. “We were like a group of friends with the same passion for music and cinema,” says Vassili for his part. They are then far from suspecting that a drama will upset them, and bind them forever in pain.
The loss of a brother
In 2003, while he was on the set of the Canadian series “15A”, with which he experienced his first screen success, Vadim Schneider was the victim of a road accident which cost him his life. The young actor was only 17 at the time, and plunged his brothers into an impossible mourning. “The disappearance of his brother, I built myself on it. He was the actor. I was a rambunctious and shy teenager at the same time. I would never have stepped onto a theater stage. And it was really when he died that I started playing to keep him alive”, remembers Niels Schneider in 2022, in “Télé 7 Jours”. A test that unites these four brothers, and pushes them all the more to persevere in their respective careers. Aliocha Schneider will explain in the columns of “ELLE”: “He was my idol, and I think I wanted to become an artist to follow in his footsteps. Around 16, I experienced a period of doubt, I didn’t know if it was my life or his that I wanted to live. Music got me out of it. And the bond with my three brothers, already strong, became indestructible, which carried me. »
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Linked by common passions
Niels Schneider, the best known of the siblings, then made his debut on screen in several feature films such as “Everything is perfect” (2008), “I killed my mother” (2009) or “Les Imaginary Loves” (2010). Then he confirmed his talent in the following years in “A meeting” (2014) and “Black diamond”, which earned him the César for best male hope in 2017. Aliocha Schneider, he experienced success in 2020 thanks to the “Vampires” series, but don’t forget his other passion: music. The same year, he also released his second album called “Naked”. An attraction for music that he shares with his brother Volodia Schneider, who built his fame thanks to his talent on the drums. So many strings to their bow that push their younger brother, Vassili, to stand out at first. Indeed, the young man first plans to be a director – he will also join Claude Lelouch’s training, called Les Ateliers du cinema –, before also turning to acting. As proof, he joined the cast of the Amazon Prime Video series, “Mixed”, in 2021. Similar careers which only strengthen the bonds between the brothers. “We always send each other our work. We are all very interested in what the others are doing”, says Vassili in “Numéro”. Is an on-screen meeting expected in the future? Anyway, we hope so.
