Alim Kaisynovich Kouliev (born June 24, 1959) is a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

-born American

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

theatre director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

, and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

Balkar Balkars ( or аланла, romanized: alanla or таулула, , 'mountaineers') are a Turkic ethnic group in the North Caucasus region, one of the titular populations of Kabardino-Balkaria. Their Karachay-Balkar language is of the Ponto ...

origin. Kouliev was born in

Nalchik Nalchik (, ; ; ) is the capital city of Kabardino-Balkaria, Russia, situated at an altitude of in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains; about northwest of Beslan (Beslan is in the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania). It covers an area of ...

— a small city in

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. His father was a

poet Kaisyn Kuliev and his mother was his Ingush wife Maka. His elder brother Eldar Kuliev was a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

and a

. His younger brother

Azamat Kuliev Azamat Kaisynovich Kuliev (born March 1, 1963) is a Russian artist of Balkar origin. Kuliev was born in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, to the Balkar poet Kaisyn Kuliev and his Ingush wife Maka. His elder brother, Alim Kouliev, ...

is a Russian

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

, living and working in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. At the age of seven, Kouliev was influenced by Vladimir Visotsky, an acclaimed Russian actor, poet, and singer, and one of his father's younger colleagues in the poetry field. Alim later decided to become an actor.

Biography

He studied acting at the

Russian Academy of Theatre Arts The Russian Institute of Theatre Arts (GITIS) () is the largest and oldest independent theatrical arts school in Russia. Located in Moscow, the school was founded on 22 September 1878 as the Shostakovsky Music School. It became the School of Mu ...

(GITIS) in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. After serving in the

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

, he was studying stage directing in GITIS, and continued his education at the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in

, where he graduated from the acting class of Yevgeny Matveyev, an acclaimed master of theater and cinema. His classmate was Natalya Vavilova. Ever since he was a student, Kouliev appeared on the professional stage. His first significant role on stage was

Mercutio Mercutio ( , ) is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's 1597 tragedy, ''Romeo and Juliet''. He is a close friend to Romeo and a blood relative to Prince Escalus and Count Paris. As such, Mercutio is one of the named characters in the ...

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's ''

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

'' at Aleksandr Demidov Theater-Studio, where he also played Atavio in ''

The Moods of Marianne ''The Moods of Marianne'' () is an 1833 play by the French dramatist Alfred de Musset. It served as the basis for Jean Renoir's film ''The Rules of the Game'' (1939). The play was first published on 15 May 1833 in '' La Revue des Deux Mondes''. ...

'' by

Alfred de Musset Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay (; 11 December 1810 – 2 May 1857) was a French dramatist, poet, and novelist.His names are often reversed "Louis Charles Alfred de Musset": see "(Louis Charles) Alfred de Musset" (bio), Biography.com, 2007 ...

and Meleander in

Maurice Maeterlinck Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count/Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the 1911 Nobel Prize in ...

's ''Aglavain and Selyzett''. He broke into films starring as Joseph Codrero in '' Copper Angel'' with

Leonid Kuravlyov Leonid Vyacheslavovich Kuravlyov (; 8 October 1936 – 30 January 2022) was a Soviet and Russian film actor. He became a People's Artist of the RSFSR in 1976. Early life Kuravlyov was born in Moscow into a working-class family. His father Vyac ...

, Anatoly Kuznetsov, Aleksandr Filippenko,

Leonid Yarmolnik Leonid Isaakovich Yarmolnik (; born 22 January 1954) is a Soviet and Russian actor and film producer. Biography Yarmolnik was born on 22 January 1954 in Grodekovo, Primorsky Krai, where his father, Isaac Yarmolnik, a Soviet Army officer, was s ...

. He has twelve years of acting experience working in leading Moscow theaters and has had several roles in the famous Russian feature films. Kouliev created many great characters in classic and contemporary productions, under the best Russian theatrical directors. In 1991, his life changed dramatically; he moved to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. After a long break in his career as an actor, Kouliev made his comeback. In

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, he became a key member of the theatrical troupe ''Dreamhouse Ensemble'', where he played Sasha Smirnoff in ''

Room Service Room service or in-room dining is a hotel service enabling guests to choose items of food and drink for delivery to their hotel room for consumption. Room service is organized as a subdivision within the food and beverage department of high-end ...

'' and Uncle Tobit in ''Jimmy Christ''. In 2009, the producer-actor-director presented his "master project", his own stage adaptation of

Mikhail Bulgakov Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov ( ; rus, links=no, Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ɐfɐˈnasʲjɪvʲɪdʑ bʊlˈɡakəf; – 10 March 1940) was a Russian and Soviet novelist and playwright. His novel ''The M ...

’s novel ''

The Master and Margarita ''The Master and Margarita'' () is a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, written in the Soviet Union between 1928 and 1940. A censored version, with several chapters cut by editors, was published posthumously in ''Moscow (magazine), Moscow'' magazine in ...

''. Alim Kouliev performs extensively as an actor in the Hollywood film industry, on stage, and on TV.

Filmography

Stage

Acting

Directing

References

External links

*
Alim Kouliev. The Master and Margarita ProjectAlim Kouliev. Interview.YouTube. Oleander. Episode 2
* Alim Kouliev
United States Copyrights Office. Kouliev Alim. ''Mansur''. PAu003862115 / 2017-05-12

* ttp://www.kinobusiness.com/news/kinoaktery-iz-rossii-sygrayut-v-gollivudskom-teatre/index.php Киноактеры из России сыграют в голливудском театре br>Backstage. ROOM SERVICE
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kouliev, Alim 1959 births Living people People from Nalchik Soviet male film actors Russian male film actors Russian male stage actors American male film actors American male stage actors American theatre directors Russian Academy of Theatre Arts alumni American male television actors Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography alumni Soviet emigrants to the United States