In 1932 he graduated from the directing department of the Leningrad Theatrical Institute (workshop of Vladimir Solovyov), and in 1938, from the VGIK, where his mentor was Sergei Eisenstein.

Yan Frid received all-union recognition after Dog in the Manger hit the television screens, which was based on the play of Lope de Vega, with Mikhail Boyarsky Margarita Terekhova in the lead roles.

Great success awaited Yan Frid with films Die Fledermaus (based on the operetta of Johann Strauss II) with Yuri and Vitaly Solomin, Lyudmila Maksakova; "Silva" (based on Emmerich Kálmán's operetta) with Ivar Kalninsh; "Pious Marta" (Tirso de Molina) with Margarita Terekhova and Emmanuel Vitorgan; "Don Cesar de Bazan" with Anna Samokhina, Mikhail Boyarsky and Yuri Bogatyrev.

In addition to the above, the director has directed the films "The Road of Truth", "Another's Trouble", The Green Carriage, "Free Wind", "Tartuffe".

[5] In the mid-1990s, Yan Frid, along with his wife Victoria Gorshenina (who was an actress at the Satyricon Theater for many years) moved to permanent residence in Stuttgart, Germany.