Gavhar Zokirova

Gavhar Zokirova (born 10 September 1949) is an Uzbek stage and film actress. She first studied at the Tashkent Polytechnic Institute, then moved to the Ostrovsky Tashkent Theatre and Art Institute, graduating in 1971. In interviews she describes herself as a great-granddaughter of the educator Abdulla Avloniy.

She is a member of the company of the Hamza theatre, today the Uzbek National Academic Drama Theatre. Her stage roles include Desdemona in Shakespeare's Othello; she has also appeared in Nurillo Abboskhon's plays Tanho yulduz and O'zgalar dardi, and on the stage of the Academic Russian Drama Theatre of Uzbekistan.

She came to cinema in 1978 with Eduard Khachaturov's To'ylar muborak. Later she appeared in Olmos kamar, Temir erkak, the Soviet-Indian film Shikari (Jungli qonuni bo'yicha), and in Shaytanat, Sarvinoz, Mehmonxona and other films and series, often playing the mothers of the lead characters.

She was named Honoured Artist of the Uzbek SSR in 1988 and People's Artist of Uzbekistan in August 2016. She has served in the theatre for more than forty years and, at 77, still performs on stage and in television series; she also works at the Botir Zokirov National Institute of Pop Art.