Mikhail Bulgakov was born in Kiev in 1891. His father was a professor at the Kiev Theological Academy; his grandfather was a scholar of the famous Russian playwright, Gogol.
Friendship, respect, and mutual love reigned in Bulgakov's large family and happy home. From childhood Bulgakov was drawn to theater. At home, he wrote comedies, which his brothers and sisters acted out; in high school, theater was his favorite subject. In 1909, he enrolled in Medical School of Kiev University. He graduated in 1916. In 1913, he moved with his first wife to the village of Viazma where he was assigned to obligatory medical service as part of his education. [Bulgakov had married three times: with Tatiana Nikolaevna Lappa (1913), Liubov Evgenevna Belozerskaia (1924) and Elena Sergeevna (1932).]
In 1918 Bulgakov returned to Kiev and began to practice medicine.