In 1980 he graduated from the State Institute of Theatre Arts in a workshop under supervision of Oleg Tabakov.

After graduation, he started working as actor on the stage of the Moscow Art Theatre.

In 2002 Andrey Smolyakov, received an award from the Stanislavsky International Fund as well as an award from the Moscow Expert Jury for his role as Brucson in Der Theatermacher, a playwright by Thomas Bernhard.

Thank You For Being Alive as Viktor Bekhteev, a KGB Colonel in Uzbekistan, a drama film about Vladimir Vysotsky.

The Russian series Grigorii R, directed by Andrey Malyukov, began on Russian TV Monday 27 October 2014; with Vladimir Mashkov as Grigori Rasputin and Smolyakov as the investigator Smitten.