Bodrov wanted to enrol in the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, but his father advised him that "cinema is a passion, and if you don't feel it you should either wait for it or forget about it forever." Instead, in 1989 he enrolled in the art history program in the History Department of Moscow State University, graduating with Honors and remaining for postgraduate studies, although he already knew that he would not work in a museum or library. In his own words, at the university, he "learned to see beauty in the simple things around us". After becoming a famous actor and television host he completed and defended (in 1998) his graduate thesis entitled "Architecture in Venetian Renaissance Painting" and received the Candidate of Science degree.