Modest Ivanovich Pisarev (Russian: Модест Иванович Писарев, 14 February 1844 — 13 October 1905) was a Kashira-born Russian stage actor, reader in drama and theatre critic. A Moscow University graduate, Pisarev earned the reputation of a true intellectual of Russian theatre stage, who always "preferred to play thinkers, not lovers." He started to act professionally in 1867 in Simbirsk, later he moved to Orenburg, then worked for some time in Moscow, in Anna Brenko's Pushkin Theatre troupe and Korsh Theatre (which he was a co-founder of), before joining the Saint Petersburg's Alexandrinka in 1885.