Dima Bilan was born on 24 December 1981. He spent his childhood in Karachaevo, Cherkezia.
"I received my first round of applause in the second grade in the school canteen during lunch. During a long break, I stood up and began to sing 'Prekrasnoe Daleko' ('Wonderful future'). The noise died down and even people I had just played tricks on were staring at me with open mouths.

When he was in the tenth form, Dima visited Moscow to take part in the Chunga-Changa festival. Dima remembers his arrival with horror: everything was new and strange, and there was no one there to meet him. Plus, it was cold, rainy, and it took them all day to find the festival.
The preparation for the contest and continuous work on his own material took several months, during which time he released his song 'Bum'.

In autumn, the video clips of his first songs appeared on TV. The video for 'Night hooligan' took Dima's career to a new level. The song reflects Dima's state of mind at that time and, after it, Dima became very well-known.
The following year, Dima took part in the TV show' Fear factor' in Argentina. On it, he had to ride a bicycle on a thin rope 40 metres above the ground, eat a strawberry covered in flies. At the end of March 2004, he shot a video for the song 'Mulatto girl' in a deserted elevator not far from Savelovski station.
In summer 2004 Dima Bilan went to Venice to shoot a video for 'Na beregu neba' ('Between Heaven and the Sky'). The shoot involved several foreign professionals, including Giannenrico Bianchi, the Italian director, and a girl named Jari, playing the main heroine. Yuri Aizenshpis also took part in the shooting of the clip. After working all week, the singer fled to Turkey to have a deserved rest.

In September 2004 Dima starred in his first advertisement. He played a student chatting on a mobile phone during a lecture. It turned out to be very funny. By the way, the incendiary song 'Mulatka' ('Mulatto girl') plays in the advertisement. It was planned to release the album in English, so Dima began to study at 'Mr. English', Russia's biggest school of English.

At that time, Dima also began to work with La Scala Fashion Group and Franck Provost as well as preparing for 'Euro view 2005', the national Eurovision selection. Dima Bilan qualified for the Finals, but it was Natalia Podolskaya who went on to represent Russia in Kyiv. Despite this, Dima took part in several festivals in Russia.

On 21 September, the MTV Russian Music Awards took place in Vasilevskih. Dima received two awards: as Best Performer and as Actor of the Year. In December 2005, Dima received two golden gramophones. Dima was voted showbiz's 'Man of the year'.