[1] Semenova became a student in the Saint Petersburg Theatre School in 1790 where she was instructed by Ivan Dmitrevsky and debuted at the stage in 1797.

She eventually became the leading interpreter of plays of William Shakespeare, Jean Racine, Friedrich Schiller and Vladislav Ozerov.

She was coached by director Prince Alexander Shakhovskoy and the poet Nikolay Gnedich.

She was mentioned in the poems of Alexander Pushkin, but also talked about because of her rivalry with Marguerite Georges, who was very popular in the Russian Empire at the time.

In 1828, Semenova married Prince Ivan Alexeyevich Gagarin and afterwards only performed in private theatres.