He graduated from the Sverdlovsk Theater School (1970, the course of Yuri Zhigulsky) and the Philological Faculty of the Ural State University (1983).

[2] He made his debut in 1976 in Larisa Shepitko's internationally renowned film The Ascent, which brought him all-union fame.

He appeared in the role of Dr. Dmitri Ivanovich in the action movie Shadowboxing (2005) and in the crime drama Experts (2007), where he played a forensic medical worker.

In 2006, director Natalya Bondarchuk invited Plotnikov to play the Chief of the Gendarmes of the Secret Chancellery, Leonti Dubelt, in the drama Pushkin.

Boris Plotnikov also participated in the military themed series Everyone has his Own War (2011), Snipers: Love under Sight (2012), Fighters, The Last Battle (2015).