Liya Akhedzhakova

Liya Medzhidovna Akhedzhakova (Russian: Лия Меджидовна 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
Лия Ахеджакова
Akhedzhakova in 2023
Born	Liya Medzhidovna Akhedzhakova (1938-07-09) 9 July 1938 (age 86) Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Citizenship	Soviet (1938–1991) Russian (1991–present)
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)
Spouses	Valery Nosik Boris Kocheishvili Vladimir Persiyanov
Parent	Yuliya Akhedzhakova

Biography

Akhedzhakova was born in Dnepropetrovsk (modern-day Dnipro, Ukraine). She grew up in a theatrical family in Maykop. Her step father, 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 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.^[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), 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".^[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 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.^[10] Together with Eldar Ryazanov, Yuri Shevchuk, Andrey Makarevich, Andrei Konchalovsky and others, she has expressed opposition to Russia's policy toward 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 the incident. In 2013, Akhedzhakova received a prize from the Moscow Helsinki Group for "the protection of human rights by means of culture and arts".^[13] She spoke out in opposition to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[14]

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".^[15]

In April 2023. Russian- and English-language independent news website Meduza reported that Vitaly Borodin, head of the Federal Security and Anti-Corruption Project, asked Russia’s Prosecutor General to launch a criminal case against Akhedzhakova. He claimed that Akhedzhakova has criticized “the state organs’ and the president’s decisions and policies with regard to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He accused the actress of "treason" and "discrediting" the armed forces. Akhedzhakova denied the allegations. Borodin recommended labeling Akhedzhakova a "foreign agent".^[16] As a result of these accusations, she had to leave Sovremennik Theatre where she has been working for many years.

Honours and selected awards

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1970	Honored Artist of the RSFSR			Won
1973	Prize of the 8th International Film Screening in the Red Cross and Red Crescent in Varna[15]			Won
1975	Prize of the 8th All-Union Film Festival in Chișinău[15]	Sports Films		Won
1979	Vasilyev Brothers State Prize of the RSFSR[15]	Laureate of RSFSR State Prize	Office Romance	Won
1991	Nika Award[17]	Best Supporting Actress	Promised Heaven	Won
1994	People's Artist of Russia[15]			Won
1999	Order of Honour[15]			Won
2001	"Olmypia" National Award[15]	National Prize of Public Recognition for Women's Achievements		Won
2006	Order "For Merit to the Fatherland"[15]	Cavalière (4th class)		Won
2006	Nika Award[18]	Best Supporting Actress	Playing the Victim	Won
2008	Star of Theatre Prize[15]			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[19]	Honorary Prize		Won

Selected filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968	The Retirning	Petya
1970	The Blue Bird	Young boy	Voice
1970	Valiant Robin Hood	Little John	Voice
1973	Glasha and Kikimora	Pioneer cyclist	Voice
1973	Looking for a Man	Anna Kuznetsova
1974	Tanya	Mistress, housekeeper
1974	Ivan and Marya	Princess Agrippina
1975	The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!	Tanya, Nadya’s friend	Television film
1975	Poshekhonskaya Starina	Polka
1975	Near the Black Sea	Viola Smyr
1976	In Secret to the Whole World (Po sekretu vsemu svetu)	Yelizaveta Nikolaevna, geography teacher
1976	Twenty Days Without War	Clock woman
1977	Zhikharka	Zhikharka	Voice
1977	Two Maples	Ivanushka	Voice
1977	Crane in the Sky	Roza Kozodoeva
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	Black Wizard's Gift	Pugalitsa
1979	Speak My Language	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	The Eighth Wonder of the World	Yuliya Yermolina
1981	Where Did Fomenko Disappear to?	Alina	Television film
1981	Vacation at Own Expense	Irina	Television film
1982	Alice Through the Looking Glass	The White Queen/The Sheep
1983	Something From the Provincial Life	Merchutkina	Television film
1983	Talisman	Grandmother
1983	Mama Anush	Anush
1984	Little Favor	Toma	Television film
1984	Copper Angel	Rosita
1984	Fairy Autumn Gift	Fairy of sorrow
1986	Ara, bara, pukh!	Alla	Voice
1986	Chameleon Game	Irma
1986	Occasion	Violetta
1986	Wingspan	First-class passenger (herself)
1987	Dialog. The Mole and the Egg	Egg	Voice
1987	Another Life	Roza
1988	Ferocious Bambr	Mouse	Voice
1988	A Sinner	Zina
1989	Vagrant Bus	Zina, administrator
1989	Sofia Petrovna	Maria Erastovna Kiparisova
1990	Should a Hedgehog be Prickly?	Mother hedgehog	Voice
1990	In the Footsteps of Bambr	Mouse	Voice
1990	Dope For an Angels	Nina
1990	Sons of Bitches	Nanaytseva
1990	Mordashka	Zoya Nikolaevna, Yuliya's mother
1991	Glasha and Kikimora	Kikimora	Voice
1991	Trap for Bambr	Mouse	Voice
1991	For a Rainy Day	Mother Hedgehog	Voice
1991	Promised Heaven	Afimya "Fima" Stepanovna	Nika Award for Best Actress (1991)
1992	Birth of Hercules	Olga's mother	Voice
1992	I Wanted to See Angels	Zhenya’s mother
1992	Seven Forty	Tkachuk
1993	Ant Hedgehog	Mother Hedgehog	Voice
1993	Abyss, Seventh Circle	Olga's mother
1994	Tren bren	Masha
1995	Moscow Vacation	Speculator
1997	Dandelion Wine	Lena Auffmann
2000	Old Hags	Lyuba
2005	Gorynych and Victoria	Violetta Polikarpovna Lurie
2006	Playing the Victim	Waitress in Japanese restaurant	Nika Award for Best Actress (2007)
2006	Andersen. Life Without Love	Gadalkal
2006	Strange Christmas	Lucia	Television film
2007	Potapov, to the Board!	Taisiya Ivanovna
2007	Branch of Lilac	Anna Sergeevna, Zverev’s wife
2007	Thumbelina	Mouse
2007	Photo of My Girl	Lyubov Grigorevna, Paul’s mother
2007	The Funeral Party	Mariya Ignatyevna, healer
2008	Four Ages of Love	Zima
2009	The Book of Masters	Baba Yaga
2009	Bankrupt	Matchmaker
2010	Love-Carrot 3	Yelizaveta Nikolaevna
2011	Ivan Tsarevich and the Grey Wolf	Baba Yaga	Voice
2012	Moms	Svetlana Semyonovna
2017	The Meek	Human rights activist
2018	Summer	Landlady
2021	Halley's Comet	Yanga Lvovna Artemyeva, mother of Yulia Borisovna, grandmother of Taisiya and Daria
2022	Golden Neighbors	Stepanovna

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

References

1. "Leah Akhedzhakova". movie-space.
2. Interview at Hard Day's Night, Dozhd TV channel, 5 March 2013 (in Russian)
3. Film and Theatre Star Liya Akhedzhakova Turns 70
4. White House, Black Smoke documentary by NTV (Russia), archive footage at 57:50 (in Russian)
5. 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
6. The Invention of Russia: The Rise of Putin and the Age of Fake News, by Arkady Ostrovsky, Penguin, Jun 7, 2016 - History, page 159.
7. 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)
8. Alexander Rutskoy (1995). The Bloody Autumn: Diary of 21 September - 4 October 1993. — Moscow, p. 256 ISBN 5-900248-27-5
9. Personal Opinion with Alexander Prokhanov at Echo of Moscow, March 16, 2011 (in Russian)
10. Yuri Saprykin. Council of Ancients: Lia Akhedzhakova interview at Afisha, February 4, 2013 archived (in Russian)
11. Oleg Kashin (2013). Putin's Reaction. What Is Good and What Is Bad. — Moscow: Algorithm ISBN 978-5-4438-0517-7
12. 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)
13. ""Сделать ничего нельзя"".
14. "84-year-old theater star Liya Akhedzhakova banished from stage, together with D. L. Coburn's 'The Gin Game'". Meduza. 8 February 2023. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
15. "Ахеджакова Лия Меджидовна" (in Russian). Kino-teatr.ru. 3 October 2014. Retrieved 24 Dec 2014.
16. "Snitch instigates criminal case against state-honored film and theater star Liya Akhedzhakova". Meduza. 11 April 2023.
17. 1991 Laureates at the official Nika Award website (in Russian)
18. 2006 Laureates at the official Nika Award website (in Russian)
19. 2014 Laureates at the official Nika Award website (in Russian)

External links

• Liya Akhedzhakova at IMDb