Vladimir Bortko was born 7 May 1946 in Moscow. He grew up in the family of the Ukrainian Soviet playwright Oleksandr Korniychuk. After his studies in the Geological College in Kyiv and his military service in 1965-1966, he worked three years as an electrical engineer in Kyiv.
In 1969 he went to the Karpenko-Kary State University of Theatre, Film and Television in Kyiv. After graduating in 1974 he worked as an assistant director at the Dovzhenko Film Studios. In 1975 he was directing his first film, entitled Channel.
In 1980, Vladimir Bortko became production leader in the Kinostudiya Lenfilm in Leningrad, the largest film production company of the Soviet Union after Mosfilm in Moscow. He received relative fame in the Soviet Union, but his big breakthrough came with the film adaptation of the novel Heart of a Dog by the Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov, which was awarded with a Grand Prix at the Film Festival in Perugia.

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