Valery Nikolayevich Ryzhakov (Russian: Вале́рий Никола́евич Рыжако́в; 23 December 1945, Moscow – 31 December 2015, Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian film and theater actor, Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1984), winner of the USSR State Prize (1980).

From 1968 to 1970, he served as an actor troupe Russian Army Theatre.

He became widely known for his role as Nikolai Petrovich from the cult of the military action movie by director Yaropolk Lapshin Before Dawn (1989) [ru].

[1] In the early 1990s he has left an acting career and became an entrepreneur, successfully engaged in publishing.

But financial failure and betrayal associates forced him to stop work.