Liya Akhedzhakova

Liya Mejidovna Akhedzhakova (; 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.

Biography Akhedzhakova was born in Dnepropetrovsk (modern-day Dnipro, Ukraine). She grew up in a theatrical family in Maykop. Her stepfather, Mejid Salehovich Akhedzhakov (1914–2012), was a Circassian nobleman 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 were 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.

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. 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 Tanya in The Irony of Fate (1975), Verochka in Office Romance (1977), Malaeva in The Garage (1979), 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, Akhedzhakova and 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." Yeltsin watched the broadcast in his office. He later wrote in his memoirs, "I will always remember Akhedzhakova – shocked, fragile, but firm and courageous." She was criticized for her speech by Alexander Prokhanov, Alexander Rutskoy, Stanislav Govorukhin and others who blamed intelligentsia for escalating the conflict.

Akhedzhakova is a critic of contemporary Russian politics. She has protested the law that prohibits adoption of Russian children by US citizens, the persecution of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the incarceration of Vasily Aleksanyan. She spoke out in opposition to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

According to Eldar Ryazanov, "she sympathizes with the weak, and despises the cruel. In this, her artistic credo coincides with the stance of the great Chaplin." As a result of these accusations, she had to leave Sovremennik Theatre, where she had been working for many years.

Honours and selected awards Year Award Category Work Result 1970 Honored Artist of the RSFSR 1973 Prize of the 8th International Film Screening in the Red Cross and Red Crescent in Varna Best Supporting Actress Promised Heaven 1994 People's Artist of Russia 1999 Order of Honour Best Supporting Actress Playing the Victim 2008 Star of Theatre Prize Honorary Prize

Selected filmography

Film

Television Year Title Role Notes 1977 Dunno In The Sunny City Bukovka Episode 7–8, voice 2003 Fifth Angel Sara 2004 Narrow Bridge Nina Petrovna TV mini-series 2005 Kazaroza Mariya Antonovna 2011 Dear My Man Ashkhen Ovanesovna Oganyan