Liya Akhedzhakova
Liya Medzhidovna Akhedzhakova (Russian: Лия Меджидовна Ахеджакова, Ukrainian: Лія Меджидівна Ахеджакова; born 9 July 1938) is a Soviet and Russian film, stage and voice actress who received the title of People's Artist of Russia in 1994. She received two Nika Awards as the best supporting actress and the 2014 Nika Honorary Prize.
Liya Akhedzhakova People's Artist of Russia | |
---|---|
Лия Меджидовна Ахеджакова | |
At the premiere of Generation P in 2011 | |
Born | |
Citizenship | |
Alma mater | Russian Academy of Theatre Arts |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1961–present |
Notable work | The Irony of Fate (1975), Office Romance (1977), The Garage (1979), Sons of Bitches (1990), Promised Heaven (1991), Playing the Victim (2007) |
Spouse(s) | Valery Nosik Boris Kocheishvili Vladimir Persiyanov |
Parent(s) | Yuliya Akhedzhakova |
Biography
Akhedzhakova was born in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR (modern-day Dnipro, Ukraine). She grew up in a theatrical family in Maykop, Russian SFSR. Her stepfather, Medzhid Salehovich Akhedzhakov (1914–2012), was a Circassian nobleman[1] who served as the Principal Director of the National Theatre of the Republic of Adygea. Her mother, Yuliya Alexandrovna Akhedzhakova (1916–1990), was also an actress at the same drama theatre. At the age of 10, when her mother and aunt was suffering from tuberculosis, she wrote a letter to Joseph Stalin with a request for help. In response, a rare drug was delivered to her family.[2]
In 1956 she entered the Moscow Institute of Nonferrous Metals and Gold where she studied for eighteen months. She first appeared on stage in 1961 at Moscow Youth Theatre. In 1962, she graduated from Lunacharsky State Institute for Theatre Arts (GITIS). Her first film appearance was in Ishchu cheloveka (1973) (Russian: Looking for a Man). Her debut in this drama was awarded several prizes at international film festivals in Locarno, Switzerland and Varna, Bulgaria.[3] In 1977 she joined the Sovremennik Theatre. In 1986 she played four main roles in the play Apartment Columbine directed by Roman Viktyuk.
As a film actress Liya Akhedzhakova became widely known due to her roles in Eldar Ryazanov's films, including Tania in The Irony of Fate (1975), Verochka in Office Romance (1977) and Fima in Promised Heaven (1991). In the 2000 film Old Hags she played alongside her stepfather.
Personal life
Akhedzhakova's first husband was Valery Nosik, an actor of Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre and Maly Theatre. Her second husband was artist and poet Boris Kocheishvili. In the summer of 2001, Liya Akhedzhakova married the Moscow-based photographer Vladimir Persiyanov.
Political views
During the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis on the night before the storming of the White House happened Akhedzhakova, along with several other popular actors, attended a live broadcast at the "reserve studio" outside of the Ostankino Technical Center. She expressed support to Boris Yeltsin while also criticized the army for "not protecting us" from the old Soviet Constitution and encouraged people "to wake up", or "the Communists will return".[4][5] Yeltsin watched the broadcast in his office. He later wrote in his memoirs, "I will always remember Akhedhakova - shocked, fragile, but firm and courageous"[6] She was criticized for her speech by Alexander Prokhanov, Alexander Rutskoy, Stanislav Govorukhin and others who blamed intelligentsia for escalating the conflict.[7][8][9][10][11][12]
Akhedzhakova is a critic of the contemporary Russian politics. She protested against the law that prohibits adoption of Russian children by US citizens, persecution of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and incarceration of Vasily Aleksanyan[10]. Together with Eldar Ryazanov, Yuri Shevchuk, Andrey Makarevich, Andrey Konchalovsky and others, she protested against Russian policy towards Ukraine. Following the shootdown of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, she publicly read a poem by Andrey Orlov, Requiem for MH17 where he apologized as a Russian for shutting down the plane. In 2013, Akhedzhakova received a prize from the Moscow Helsinki Group for "the protection of human rights by means of culture and arts".[13]
According to Eldar Ryazanov, "She sympathizes with the weak, and despises the cruel. In that her artistic credo coincides with the stance of the great Chaplin".[14]
Honours and selected awards
Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1970 | Honored Artist of the RSFSR | Meritorious Artist | Won | |
1973 | Prize of the 8th International Film Screening in the Red Cross and Red Crescent in Varna[14] | Won | ||
1975 | Prize of the 8th All-Union Film Festival in Chișinău[14] | Sports Films | Won | |
1979 | Vasilyev Brothers State Prize of the RSFSR[14] | Laureate of RSFSR State Prize | Office Romance | Won |
1991 | Nika Award[15] | Best Supporting Actress | Promised Heaven | Won |
1994 | People's Artist of Russia[14] | Won | ||
1999 | Order of Honour[14] | Won | ||
2001 | "Olmypia" National Award[14] | National Prize of Public Recognition for Women's Achievements | Won | |
2006 | Order "For Merit to the Fatherland"[14] | Cavalière (4th class) | Won | |
2006 | Nika Award[16] | Best Supporting Actress | Playing the Victim | Won |
2008 | Star of Theatre Prize[14] | Won | ||
2008 | Award of "Star teatral" | Civic Courage | Won | |
2013 | Award of "Star teatral" | Best Actress | Won | |
2013 | Award of the Moscow Helsinki Group | Won | ||
2014 | Nika Award[17] | Honorary Prize | Won | |
Selected filmography
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1968 | Vozvrashchenie | Petya | |
1970 | The Blue Bird | Young boy | Voice |
1970 | Valiant Robin Hood | Little John | Voice |
1973 | Glasha and Kikimora | Pioneer cyclist | Voice |
1973 | Ishchu cheloveka | Anna Kuznetsova | |
1974 | Tanya | Mistress, housekeeper | |
1974 | Ivan da Mariya | Princess Agrippina | |
1975 | The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! | Tanya, Nadya’s friend | Television film |
1975 | Poshekhonskaya starina | Polka | |
1975 | U samogo Chernogo morya | Viola Smyr | |
1976 | Po sekretu vsemu svetu | Yelizaveta Nikolaevna, geography teacher | |
1976 | Twenty Days Without War | Clock woman | |
1977 | Zhikharka | Voice | |
1977 | Dva klyona | Ivanushka | Voice |
1977 | Zhuravl v nebe | ||
1977 | Office Romance | Vera "Verochka", secretary | |
1978 | The Handsome Man | Lupacheva | Television film |
1978 | When I Will Become a Giant | Julietta Ashotovna, nicknamed “Smiley”, English teacher | |
1978 | Podarok chyornogo kolduna | Pugalitsa | |
1979 | Pogovori na moyom yazyke | Claudia | |
1979 | Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears | Olga Pavlovna, club manager | |
1979 | The Garage | Malaeva | |
1980 | Say a Word for the Poor Hussar | Loulou | Television film |
1981 | Vosmoe chudo sveta | Yuliya Yermolina | |
1981 | Kuda ischez Fomenko? | Alina | Television film |
1981 | Otpusk za svoy schyot | Irina | Television film |
1982 | Alice Through the Looking Glass | The White Queen | |
1983 | Koe-chto iz gubernskoy zhizni | Merchutkina | Television film |
1983 | Talisman | Grandmother | |
1983 | Koe-chto iz gubernskoy zhizni | Merchutkina | Television film |
1983 | Mama Anush | Anush | |
1984 | Malenkoe odolzhenie | Toma | Television film |
1984 | Copper Angel | Rosita | |
1984 | Osenniy podarok fey | Fairy of sorrow | |
1986 | Ara, bara, pukh! | Voice | |
1986 | Igra khameliona | Irma | |
1986 | Povod | Violetta | |
1986 | Razmakh krylyev | First-class passenger (herself) | |
1987 | Dialog. Krot i yaytso | Egg | Voice |
1987 | Drugaya zhizn | Roza | |
1988 | Svirepyi Bambr | Mouse | Voice |
1988 | Greshnik | Zina | |
1989 | Vagrant Bus | Zina, administrator | |
1989 | Sofia Petrovna | ||
1990 | Yozhik dolzhen byt kolyuchim? | Mother hedgehog | Voice |
1990 | Po sledam Bambra | Mouse | Voice |
1990 | Doping dlya angelov | Nina | |
1990 | Sons of Bitches | Nanaytseva | |
1990 | Mordashka | Zoya Nikolaevna, Yuliya's mother | |
1991 | Glasha and Kikimora | Voice | |
1991 | Lovushka dlya Bambra | Mouse | Voice |
1991 | Na chyornyy den | Voice | |
1991 | Promised Heaven | Afimya "Fima" Stepanovna | Nika Award for Best Actress (1991) |
1992 | Rozhdenie Gerakla | Voice | |
1992 | Ya khotela uvidet angelov | Zhenya’s mother | |
1992 | Sem sorok | Tkachuk | |
1993 | Muravinyy yozhik | Voice | |
1993 | Bezdna, krug sedmoy | ||
1994 | Tren bren | Masha | |
1995 | Moskovskiye kanikuly | Speculator | |
1995 | Bred vdvoyom | ||
1997 | Dandelion Wine | Lena Auffmann | |
2000 | Old Hags | Lyuba | |
2006 | Playing the Victim | Waitress in Japanese restaurant | Nika Award for Best Actress (2007) |
2006 | Andersen. Zhizn bez lyubvi | Gadalkal | |
2006 | Strannoe rodzdestvo | Lucia | Television film |
2007 | Potapov, k doske! | Taisiya Ivanovna | |
2007 | Vetka sireni | Anna Sergeevna, Zverev’s wife | |
2007 | Dyuymovochka | Mouse | |
2007 | Foto moey devushki | Lyubov Grigorevna, Paul’s mother | |
2007 | The Funeral Party | Mariya Ignatyevna, healer | |
2008 | Chetyre vozrasta lyubvi | Zima | |
2009 | The Book of Masters | Baba Yaga | |
2009 | Bankrot | Matchmaker | |
2010 | Love-Carrot 3 | Yelizaveta Nikolaevna | |
2011 | Ivan Tsarevich and the Grey Wolf | Baba Yaga | Voice |
2012 | Moms | Svetlana Semyonovna |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1977 | Neznaika v Solnechnom gorode | Episode 7–8 | |
2003 | Pyatyy angel | Sara | |
2004 | Uzkiy most | Nina Petrovna | TV mini-series |
2005 | Kazaroza | Mariya Antonovna | |
2011 | Dorogoy moy chelovek |
References
- "Leah Akhedzhakova". movie-space.
- Interview at Hard Day's Night, Dozhd TV channel, 5 March 2013 (in Russian)
- Film and Theatre Star Liya Akhedzhakova Turns 70
- White House, Black Smoke documentary by NTV (Russia), archive footage at 57:50 (in Russian)
- Zheleznova N. L., Panova A. G., Surkov A. P. (1994). Moscow. Autumn-93. Chroincles of the Confrontation // From the speech by Lia Akhedzhakova given on central television on October 4, 1993. — Moscow: Respublika, p. 396-397 ISBN 5-250-02452-1
- The Invention of Russia: The Rise of Putin and the Age of Fake News, by Arkady Ostrovsky, Penguin, Jun 7, 2016 - History, page 159.
- Dmitri Furman (2010). Spiral Motion: The Russian Political System alongside Other Political Systems. — Moscow: Ves Mir, p. 71-72 ISBN 978-5-7777-0480-1 (Russian pdf at the official Dmitriy Furman's website)
- Alexander Rutskoy (1995). The Bloody Autumn: Diary of 21 September - 4 October 1993. — Moscow, p. 256 ISBN 5-900248-27-5
- Personal Opinion with Alexander Prokhanov at Echo of Moscow, March 16, 2011 (in Russian)
- Yuri Saprykin. Council of Ancients: Lia Akhedzhakova interview at Afisha, February 4, 2013 archived (in Russian)
- Oleg Kashin (2013). Putin's Reaction. What Is Good and What Is Bad. — Moscow: Algorithm ISBN 978-5-4438-0517-7
- Stanislav Govorukhin. "People are protesting, that's good, but I don't trust the leaders of opposition" interview at Argumenty i Fakty, 10/02/2012 (in Russian)
- https://www.svoboda.org/a/25293190.html
- "Ахеджакова Лия Меджидовна" (in Russian). Kino-teatr.ru. 3 October 2014. Retrieved 24 Dec 2014.
- 1991 Laureates at the official Nika Award website (in Russian)
- 2006 Laureates at the official Nika Award website (in Russian)
- 2014 Laureates at the official Nika Award website (in Russian)