Vladimir Lvovich Mashkov was born in Tula, to Natalia, a puppet theatre director, and Lev Mashkov, an actor. He worked for Oleg Tabakov's theatre where he performed in Alexander Galich's "My Big Land", Neil Simon's "Biloxy Blues", Nickolai Gogol's "The Inspector General", Jean-Batiste Moliere's "Don Juan", and other plays. As a director, he staged "A Star Hour By Local Time", "Passions For Bumbarash", "The Death-Defying Act" and Bertolt Brecht's "The Threepenny Opera".