Life and career
Fedir Stryhun was born on 1 November 1939 in the village of Tomashivka (now in Palanka rural hromada, Uman Raion, Cherkasy Oblast). In 1961 he graduated from the Ivan Karpenko-Karyi Theatre Instutute in Kyiv. During the following years Stryhun worked at the Zaporizhzhia Musical and Drama Theatre. In 1965 he moved to Lviv and joined the troupe of Maria Zankovetska Theatre. Between 1987 and 2019 he served as artistic manager and chief director of the theatre.
Throughout his career, Stryhun played over 100 theatrical roles in works by both Ukrainian and foreign dramatists. Among notable figures played by him on the stage were Othello, Richard III, Don Juan, Bohdan Khmelnytsky and Andrey Sheptytsky. As a director, he staged plays by Ivan Karpenko-Karyi, Taras Shevchenko, Lesya Ukrainka, Mykola Kulish and many other authors. An important legacy of his was the revival of popularity of Hutsulka Ksenia and several other works by Yaroslav Barnych.
Along with his work in theatre, Stryhun achieved prominence as a cinema actor. His most famous role was Zaporozhian Cossack Andriy in Borys Ivchenko's film The Lost Letter, based on a short story by Mykola Hohol. He also starred in several other Ukrainian films, including the 2014 historical drama The Guide by Oles Sanin.
In addition, Stryhun worked as a lecturer at the Lviv Conservatory and Ivan Franko Lviv National University.
Stryhun died on 23 October 2026, at the age of 86, following a long illness. His contribution to Ukrainian theatre and cultural life of Lviv and the wider region was praised by the city's mayor Andriy Sadovyi and head of Lviv Oblast administration Maksym Kozytskyi.
