Mikhail Artemyevich Kuznetsov was a Soviet film and theater actor. He was an Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR, People's Artist of the RSFSR, and the winner of the Stalin Prize of the first degree. He was born into a proletariat family. After the death of his father, he and his mother moved to the village Tikhoretskaya. He first received small roles, working his way up to the role of Truffaldino.