The name of director and cinematographer Alik Sakharov, born in the USSR, stands behind several iconic American television series that achieved worldwide fame. After directing 38 episodes of ‘The Sopranos’, including the pilot and the finale, Sakharov went on to work on numerous prestigious dramas such as ‘Boardwalk Empire’, ‘The Americans’, ‘House of Cards’, and ‘Game of Thrones’.
Alik Sakharov was born in May 1959 in Tashkent. His father left the family when he was two, and Sakharov never mentions him. His mother came from a modest background: her father was a shoemaker, and she worked as a nurse for twenty years before retraining as a cosmetologist, since nurses in the USSR earned very little. She always tried to give her children a better life. After the 1966 Tashkent earthquake destroyed their home, the family moved to Moscow. Sakharov took photo classes as a child, and when his younger brother was born, he received a film camera and began recording home videos. That was how his interest in visual storytelling developed.
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At the age of 17, he first saw Andrei Tarkovsky’s film Mirror. The film deeply affected him, and later he understood why: he recognized in it the emotional experience of Soviet children who grew up in difficult circumstances. Sakharov did not consider himself someone who rejected the Soviet system. He grew up within it, and for a long time continued to perceive the world through that upbringing.
Over time, he realized that it would be nearly impossible for him to enter professional cinema in the USSR, since he had no influential connections. Still, his fascination with the kind of art represented by Tarkovsky remained strong. He wrote poetry and short sketches, but to support himself he became a watchmaker.
Although Sakharov viewed the Soviet Union with relative warmth, his mother had long dreamed of emigrating. In 1981, they were granted permission to leave, and he moved to New York for her sake. Life abroad was difficult at first: at 22, he spoke no English and felt strong homesickness. New York made little impression on him.
Early Work and Breakthrough
Sakharov worked as a watchmaker for three years, continuing to write and reflect on his situation. He eventually decided to record interviews with fellow Soviet émigrés using a secondhand film camera. This resulted in his first documentary, Russian Touch. Though a simple and technically rough work, it became the starting point of his career.
Unlike how such work might have been received in the USSR, the American film community responded with curiosity and support. Sakharov gradually found work as a freelancer on film and television sets, learning lighting, camera operation, and cinematography through practice, since he had no formal film education. As he gained experience, new opportunities followed naturally.
His path eventually led him to The Sopranos. Creator David Chase saw Sakharov’s earlier film Pause and invited him to work on the series, valuing what he described as Sakharov’s distinctly Eastern European visual sensibility. Their collaboration lasted ten years and became central to Sakharov’s career.
Acclaimed Career
After The Sopranos, Sakharov continued to work on major television projects. He served as cinematographer and director on Sex and the City and Rome (for which he won an Emmy) and later worked as a director on Game of Thrones and House of Cards.
More recently, he has directed episodes of Gypsy (2017), The Witcher (2019), Invasion (2023), and Dark Matter (2024). His new superhero television project Lanterns is expected to premiere on HBO in early 2026.
“I regard Danish cinema more highly than American cinema”
Sakharov has said that the cultural sensibility of Eastern Europe differs greatly from that of the United States, and that this perspective is sometimes of particular interest to Western filmmakers. He has expressed admiration for Danish, French, and Iranian cinema, which he considers more thoughtful and humane than much of Hollywood. To him, the value of directors such as Tarkovsky, Antonioni and Bergman lies in their honesty and respect for the viewer. Among American filmmakers, he highlights Stanley Kubrick and the Coen brothers.
Among contemporary Russian directors, he especially appreciates Andrey Zvyagintsev for his careful approach and unwillingness to simplify difficult questions.
“I Belong to My Soviet Roots”
Although Sakharov has spent 45 years in the United States, he does not consider himself American. He believes that his creative identity is rooted in the Soviet culture in which he was raised, and that preserving this identity was essential to his success. He has spoken about wanting to make a film about the Soviet Union or even pre-revolutionary Russia but admits that such a project would need to be produced for an international audience and likely in English.
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