Vladimir Burlakov was born in Moscow in 1987. In 1996, his family relocated to Germany and he was raised in Munich. From 2006 until 2010, he studied acting at the renowned Otto-Falckenberg-Schule. Already before his graduation, Burlakov was cast by director Dominik Graf for a supporting role in the acclaimed TV miniseries "Im Angesicht des Verbrechens" ("In the Face of Crime", 2010). Along with the rest of the cast, Burlakow won a special prize at the German Film Award for his performance.

He went on to play the male lead in "247 Tage" (2011, TV), which garnered him numerous award nominations and won him the 2011 Bavarian Television Award. Burlakov then made his debut in a theatrical release, playing a translator in the comedy "Ausgerechnet Sibirien" ("Lost in Sibiria", 2012). This was followed by a memorable turn in Bettina Blümner's award-winning drama "Scherbenpark" ("Broken Glass Park", 2012).

After a string of TV roles, including parts in "Schneewittchen muss sterben" (2013), "Der Wagner-Clan. Eine Familiengeschichte" (2013, TV) and "Tödliche Versuchung" (2013, TV), Burlakov returned to the big sceen with the 2015 release "Nachthelle" ("Bright Night"). The same year, Vladimir Burlakov played the male lead in the made-for-TV romance "Nele in Berlin", was a regular cast member of the highly anticipated TV series "Deutschland 83" and starred opposite Christian Ulmen in the comedy "Macho Man".

In the following years, Vladimir Burlakov's appearances on the big screen became less frequent. He played a leading role in Jan Krüger's "Die Geschwister" ("Brother and Sister", 2016), portraying a lonely gay real estate agent manipulated by a supposed sibling duo out of love. In the science fiction comedy "Iron Sky - The Coming Race" (DE/FI/BE 2018), he starred as a Russian fighter pilot. 

On television, he appeared in Züli Aladağ's exploration of the right-wing terrorist group NSU, "Die Opfer - Vergesst mich nicht" (2016), and in Philipp Kadelbach's dark sports mafia drama, "Auf kurze Distanz" ("Point Blank", 2016). He played a German lawyer in Holland in the romantic comedy "Verliebt in Amsterdam" (2017) and took on the role of a psychopathic stalker in the thriller "Dein Leben gehört mir" (2019). 

From 2020, Burlakov appeared as Inspector Leo Hölzer alongside Daniel Sträßer in the Saarbrücken episodes of the popular crime series "Tatort." That same year, he played a manipulative Schwabing bohemian in the six-part series "Oktoberfest 1900." 

In early November 2021, he made his first public appearance with his partner at the "GQ Men of the Year" gala in Berlin, marking his public coming out. The following year, he starred in the comedy miniseries "How to Dad," which centers on four very different fathers who regularly meet in the waiting room of a children's ballet studio. In the Netflix series "Kleo," he had a significant role as a Stasi agent and the lover of the title character. In the crime thriller "Der Bozen-Krimi: Familienehre," Burlakov took on the lead role of a gay singer who performs as a drag queen. 

Burlakov played a lead role in the feature film "Münter & Kandinsky" (DE/CH 2024), which explores the romantic relationship between painter Gabriele Münter and the Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky.