Ekaterina Barabash was born in Kharkov (present-day Ukraine).  She graduated from the Philological Department of Moscow State University.  Shortly after graduating she began writing about culture and cinema for a number of journals and newspapers.  She has published in Megapolis-Ekspress, Obshchaia gazeta, Nezavisimaia gazeta, Vechernii klub, Vek.  She was head of a department in the national Kul’tura channel.  She currently works for the Russian Service of Radio France International, where she hosts a weekly program on culture and cinema.  She is also a film critic for the daily Novye izvestiia.