After spending some years traveling around Russia, he returned to Moscow and enrolled to the newly opened National Film School to study acting.

"[2] Kuleshov was the one who introduced Fogel to the world of cinema with The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks (1924) where he played a small part and also dubbed Boris Barnet during his most dangerous trick: climbing on the cable that tears and sends him straight into the window.

Among Fogel's fellow students were acclaimed Soviet actors and directors: Vsevolod Pudovkin, Boris Barnet, Porfiri Podobed, Aleksandra Khokhlova, Valéry Inkijinoff, Sergei Komarov.

Fogel quickly turned into one of the leading Soviet comedy actors of the silent era, along with Igor Ilyinsky who was his partner in Miss Mend and The Doll With Millions.

Another acclaimed drama film with Fogel in the lead was Bed and Sofa loosely based on the lives of Vladimir Mayakovsky, Lilya Brik and her husband.