Yeva Olenskaya

Yeva (Yevgenia) Nikitichna Olenskaya (1900, Quba, Baku Province, Russian Empire – 20 May 1959, Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union) was an Azerbaijani Soviet actress, Hero of Labor, People's Artiste of the Azerbaijan SSR (1949). She is best known for her role in the silent film “Arshin mal alan” (The Cloth Peddler) (1917).

Life Yeva Olenskaya was born in 1900 in Quba, Baku Governorate, Russian Empire. Later the sister's husband, Heydar Vezirov, People's Commissar of Agriculture of the Azerbaijan SSR, was repressed as a people's enemy along with his wife and two sons.

Career Olenskaya appeared on the stage for the first time in 1913 at the age of 13 at the premiere of the operetta “Arshin mal alan” in the role of Asya. The same year, in 1913, Olenskaya joined the Azerbaijani dramatic troupe “Nikat”, and then the troupe “Safa”.

Olenskaya studied at the Baku Theatrical Technical School (now the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts) in 1923–1926.

From late 1920 to early 1925, she worked at the Baku Turkish Free Criticism and Propaganda Theater. Olenskaya created dramatic, tragic and comic roles both in the national drama and in the translated performances.

In 1927, Olenskaya was awarded a title of “Hero of Labor”. In 1949, she was awarded the title of People's Artist of the Republic.

Yeva Olenskaya died on 20 May 1959 in Baku.

Theater works

Maria Antonovna (The Government Inspector by N. Gogol); Arkhipovna (Guilty Without Fault by A. Ostrovsky); Dunka (Lyubov Yarovaya by K. Trenyov); Oksana (The Death of the Squadron by O. Korneichuk); Manya (Strangers Child by V. Shkvarkin); Grandmother Vera (The Young Guard by A. Fadeyev); Erna Curcius (Manor in the alley by P.Tour); Leokadia Lvovna (Daughter of the Prosecutor by Y. Yanovsky); Dergacheva (Personal case by A. Stein).