Tamara Shakirova

Tamara Shakirova (married name Ganieva) was born on 26 November 1955 in Tashkent. She came to cinema at 14, still a schoolgirl: in 1970 she played a student in a short episode of Anatoly Kabulov's film «Blind Rain» (Слепой дождь). The same year she appeared as a bride in «Integral».

In 1971 she played Gulsara in «Without Fear» (Без страха), in 1972 Zubeyda in «Simurgh», and in 1973 Saida in «My Good Man» and Rano in «Escape from Darkness». From 1973 she was an actress at the Uzbekfilm studio.

From 1974 to 1976 she studied in the correspondence department of the acting faculty of the Ostrovsky Tashkent Theatre and Art Institute (now the State Institute of Arts of Uzbekistan).

In the mid-1970s and the 1980s she appeared in «Abu Rayhan Beruni», «The Seventh Djinn», «It Happened in Kokand» and «Khorezm Legend», and as Yulduzkhon in the multi-part «Fiery Roads» (1978–1984). Her other roles include Khadicha in «Leningraders, My Children...», Jumagul in «Unbroken», Zamira in «Air Pedestrians» and Vazira in «Diamond Belt». She also worked on films of the Tajikfilm and Azerbaijanfilm studios and in the East German co-production «The Grey Breath of the Dragon».

In 1983 she was named Honoured Artist of the Uzbek SSR, and the same year she received the Hamza State Prize of the Uzbek SSR for her female roles in «Leningraders, My Children...» and «Unbroken».

Her filmography lists more than thirty works from 1970 to 1998, the last of them «Charming Little Girl with a Golden Heart». Tamara Shakirova died of cancer in Tashkent on 22 February 2012.