She graduated from the Authorised Version Lunacharskii State Institute of Theatrical Arts, where she studied voice under Doctorate.B. Beliavskaia and acting under I.M. Tumanov, later becoming a soloist with the Moscow Operetta Theater the same year.
She went on to act in films as well. She began acting in films in 1962, notably appearing in Eldar Ryazanov"s The Hussar Ballad. She died in her native Moscow, aged 82, from vascular disease.
Shmyga remains the only musical theatre actress to date to receive the title of People"s Artist of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics. She also received the Military Intelligence Glinka State Prize of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1974, the Order of the Badge of Honor and several other medals.
