BIOGRAPHY
Gregory Antimony was born on February 5, 1945, in Kyiv, Ukraine, into a family of doctors. His parents studied in the same class during their evacuation to Kokand and later enrolled together at the Medical Institute in Dnipropetrovsk. After graduating, they initially worked in medical institutions in the Dnipropetrovsk region. In 1951, they joined Dalstroy as doctors. This decision ultimately saved his father, who had by then become the Chief Sanitary Doctor of Dniprodzerzhynsk, from being targeted in the infamous 1953 "Doctors' Plot." The family moved to Ust-Omchug, located at the 271st kilometer of the highway northwest of Magadan. Between 1949 and 1956, this area was home to one of the Soviet forced labor camps of the Gulag system—Tenlag.
In 1963, Gregory entered Blagoveshchensk Medical Institute, and in 1969, he was admitted to the postgraduate program at Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University. Under the mentorship of renowned scientist Pyotr Kuzmich Anokhin, he pursued research in experimental neurophysiology, eventually defending his dissertation and earning a PhD in Medical Sciences in 1974.
In 1980, he began working as a literary consultant at the Taganka Theatre. After the death of Vladimir Vysotsky, at the request of his widow, Marina Vlady, he worked with the poet's archive. He was one of the co-authors of the script for the play "Vladimir Vysotsky", staged in 1981 by Yuri Lyubimov at the Taganka Theatre. The play was banned from being performed and was only revived during the Perestroika period.
Together with Vysotsky’s friends—Valery Yanklovich, Igor Shevtsov, Vsevolod Abdulov, and Alexander Kazakov—he worked on the creation of the literary-theatrical program "The Creative Quest of Vladimir Vysotsky", which included unique photographs and film recordings of the poet, little known at the time. With this program, the authors traveled across almost the entire country.
In 1986–1987, Gregory contributed to two books about Vysotsky: "I Will Certainly Return…" and "V. Vysotsky. Selected Works." In 1988, his radio program "The Concert That Never Was" (scripted by Antimony) aired on All-Union Radio.
In 1992, he emigrated to the United States, settling in Boston, where he founded the company Contact Overseas. The company specialized in producing video materials about the USSR for Slavic Studies departments at American universities. In 1993, he was invited to the first Russian-language television station in the United States—WMNB in New Jersey.
In 1994, while still working at WMNB, he decided to create his own television company capable of entering the Russian TV market. Upon arriving in Moscow, he pitched the idea for the program "New York, New York" to Vladislav Listyev. After watching a video of the potential host, Alexander Gordon (then a reporter, announcer, and producer at WMNB), Listyev, according to Gregory, uttered the memorable phrase: "Well, I get everything about this guy." Vladislav Listyev advised him to approach the newly established TV-6 channel. The channel's executives—Eduard Sagalaev, Alexander Ponomarev, and Ivan Demidov—supported the project and approved Alexander Gordon as the host of "New York, New York." By the end of 1994, according to a poll of television critics, "New York, New York" ranked second among Russian TV programs, second only to "Namedni."
In 1997, the program "Lonely Hearts Club" premiered on TV-6, with Gregory Antimony as its creator and producer. A major article about the program was published in The New York Times, which happens extremely rarely. In 1998, his documentary film "Vysotsky in America" aired on TV-6. At the same time, Wostok Entertainment was involved in several television projects in the United States and produced commercials for American cable TV.
In 2001, Gregory Antimony was invited to serve as the general director of the newly established NTV America by Boris Jordan, an American businessman who, in April of the same year, became the general director of NTV Broadcasting Company after Media-Most's assets were transferred under Gazprom's control. In October, he also took over as the head of Gazprom-Media. At that time, NTV remained Russia's leading television channel, founded by Vladimir Gusinsky and his team. Jordan emphasized his independence from the Russian authorities, citing his U.S. citizenship, and sought to preserve the channel’s core principles, including its innovative formats and independent editorial policy. Nevertheless, in 2004, the authorities decided to completely replace the channel’s leadership.
In the given situation, Gregory and his NTV partners—Slava Levin and Oleg Masliy—decided to radically transform their business model, moving away from retransmitting exclusively Russian-language channels. Instead, they envisioned creating a company that would unite television channels from around the world and offer them to subscribers. Canada, with its multicultural landscape, proved to be the ideal country for implementing this concept, as there was no existing television network broadcasting in multiple languages at the time. An additional advantage was that one of the partners held Canadian citizenship. The company they founded became the first in Canada to bring together dozens of television channels from around the world under one roof. Today, ECG broadcasts more than 100 television channels in 24 languages, providing ethnic communities in Canada and beyond with access to television programming in their native languages.
Over 20 years, the company has significantly expanded. The technology company Nextologies was established, becoming one of the leaders in television signal delivery. Additionally, ECG Productions was founded, which not only produces Canadian content but also collaborates with the Canada Media Fund (CMF) to create documentary and feature films in multiple languages.
In 2012, the first episodes of the program "Hour of Interview with Gregory Antimony" aired, directed by his wife, Olga. Over the years, the show has become the most popular Russian-language program in North America, garnering millions of views and 35,000 loyal subscribers. Among its guests have been prominent scientists, writers, politicians, actors, and directors. One of the most notable episodes was Gregory’s interview with Boris Nemtsov, recorded in 2012. A few years later, Nemtsov was assassinated in Moscow. The program airs on the American Russian-language channel RTVi and two YouTube channels, becoming a flagship of Russian-language broadcasting in North America.
Gregory and Olga Antimony have assembled a unique team of young Canadian creatives—immigrants from Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Bulgaria, Chechnya, and other countries—giving them a platform to develop their talents and establish themselves in the film industry. Under their mentorship, this talented new generation has grown into directors, producers, screenwriters, cinematographers, editors, sound designers, and graphic artists, creating award-winning films and series recognized at international film festivals.
Gregory Antimony remains a key figure in the media industry, continuously expanding the boundaries of documentary filmmaking and cultural representation on a global level.
