| Illya Kuryakin | |
|---|---|
| |
| Status: | Alive |
| Date of birth: | July 25, 1931 |
| Birthplace: | Moscow, Russia |
| Nationality: | Soviet |
| Nickname(es): | Peril |
| Affiliation: | KGB, U.N.C.L.E |
| Marital status: | single |
| Played by: | Armie Hammer |
| First appearance: | The Man from U.N.C.L.E. |
| Appears in: | 1 film, 1 video game |
Illya Nikolayevich Kuryakin (Russian: Илья Николаевич Курякин ) is a Russian KGB spy who teams up with Napoleon Solo and Gaby Teller to stop a possible nuclear war. He is an extremely strong gentleman.
Biography[]
Illya Kuryakin was born in Moscow on July 25, 1931.[1] His father was a high-ranking member of the Communist Party, until he was caught embezzling Party funds around 1941 or 1942[2] and was sentenced to the gulag in Siberia. After that, it is stated that Illya's mother "became very popular with [his] father's former friends" which implies either that she was sleeping around or became as a de-facto prostitute.
Some time after that, Illya was the youngest man to ever join the KGB and became their best agent within three years.[3]
On June 10, 1963[4], Illya tried and failed to prevent Napoleon Solo from taking Gaby Teller out of East Berlin. This more or less resulted in the two of them being assigned as partners for a mission in Rome.
After their mission in Rome, Illya followed U.N.C.L.E. and his team to Istanbul, where they presumably remained until at least the first of September.[5]
End credits file[]
In addition to Illya's date and place of birth, the file presented in the end credits gives the following information:
Specialties[]
- Surveillance cert, X1 level
- Tech, Comp, FACT/COBOL
Combat experience[]
Psychological profile[]
- B3 Volatile personality disorder
- Disturbed childhood
- E1 Oedipus complex
Other skills or knowledge[]
- Fluent in English, Russian and German
- Power boat champion (silver medal, 1958)
- Chess International Master (IM) - Elo rating 2401
Other/behind the scene[]
- An underlying theme of the movie is Illya's connection with undercover spy, Gaby Teller. Although they never kiss, they nearly do at least three times, but always seem to be interrupted.
- Armie Hammer was very embarrassed of his Russian accent.[6]
References[]
- ↑ Date and place of birth listed in his file from the movie's end credits.
- ↑ Napoleon estimates Illya's age as ten or eleven when his father was sent to Siberia.
- ↑ Napoleon's introduction speech during the café scene.
- ↑ When Napoleon meets his handler that same night, J.F. Kennedy is speaking on TV. We hear the words "Our commitment to defend Western Europe and West Berlin, for example, stands undiminished [...]." which were extracted from JFK's speech 'A Strategy Of Peace', delivered on June 10, 1963.
- ↑ The end credits features pictures of the characters post canon, including one of Waverly dated September 1st (presumably, still 1963) and labeled 'Director| Bureau of I... | Department'. Considering the rest of the credits share pictures of the crew in Istanbul, this timeframe sounds like a reasonable assumption.
- ↑ Interview with POPSUGAR, published on YouTube September 8, 2015.