The son of Yakov Vesnik,[2] the first director of the Kryvorizhstal plant, he fought the Germans in World War II.

He worked at the Maly Theatre from 1963 and was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1989, three years before his retirement from the stage.

[2] Primarily a comedian, Vesnik is remembered as the first Soviet actor to play the character of Ostap Bender.

After he was remembered as Taratar in The Adventures of the Elektronic (1979), one of greatest Soviet films for children'.

[2] Among his other roles are the policeman in Old Khottabych, boss of sport complex in Seven Old Men and a Girl, procurator in Die Fledermaus, commissioner in Charodei (1982), radist in Weather Is Good on Deribasovskaya, It Rains Again on Brighton Beach and many other films.