[1] Yarmolnik was born on 22 January 1954 in Grodekovo, Primorsky Krai, where his father, a Soviet Army officer, was stationed.

Leonid studied at the local music school and was involved in plays at the Lviv Folk Theater.

In 1972, he became a student at the Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute and graduated from the acting class of Yury Katin-Yartsev, a famous Russian actor and acclaimed pedagogue of the Vakhtangov Theater Arts School, in 1976.

Yarmolnik started his own studio, L-Club, specializing in film distribution, and anchored a TV program with the same name.

Oksana Afanasieva is a former girlfriend of Soviet singer songwriter Vladimir Vysotsky.