Toji Sultonova (

Tajik Tajik, Tajikistan or Tajikistani may refer to. Someone or something related to Tajikistan: Tajik * Tajiks, an ethnic group in Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan * Tajik language, the official language of Tajikistan * Tajik alphabet, Alphabet u ...

: Тоҷӣ Султонова) sometimes called Toji Sulton (Tajik: Тоҷӣ Султон; February 9, 1918 – 2010) was a

Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...

i actress of the

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 ...

era. Sultonova was born in

Khujand Khujand, sometimes spelled Khodjent and formerly known as Leninabad from 1936 to 1991, is the second-largest city of Tajikistan and the capital of Tajikistan's northernmost Sughd province. Khujand is one of the oldest cities in Central Asia, d ...

. Beginning in 1929, she studied at the Factory School of the Kombinat, continuing until 1933; during her time there she performed with the Kombinat amateur theatrical troupe as well. In 1934 she was invited to join the company of the Pushkin Music and Drama Theater in her native city, then called Leninabad. She remained with the theater until retiring from the stage in 1976. During her career she played roles in many works by

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n, Soviet Tajik and foreign writers. Among the characterizations for which she was most notable were Katerina in '' The Storm'' by

Alexander Ostrovsky Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky (; ) was a Russian playwright, generally considered the greatest representative of the Russian realistic period. The author of 47 original plays, Ostrovsky "almost single-handedly created a Russian national repe ...

; Shirin in ''Farhad and Shirin'' by

Kamil Yashin Komil Yashin ( uz-Latn-Cyrl, Komil Yashin, Комил Яшин; , romanized Kamil Yashen; — 25 September 1997) was a Soviet-Uzbek author, poet, dramatist, screenwriter, and celebrity. ''Ogonyok'' magazine described him as "the greatest modern U ...

; Layli in ''Layli and Majnun'' by S. Khurshed; the title role in ''Gulsara'' by Kamil Yashin and Muzaffar Muhamaddov; and Mahinbonu in ''Farhad and Shirin'' by

Nâzım Hikmet Mehmed Nâzım Ran (17 January 1902 – 3 June 1963), Note: 403 Forbidden error received 10 October 2022. commonly known as Nâzım Hikmet (), was a Turkish people, Turkish poet, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, director, and memoirist. ...

. Besides her abilities as an actress, Sultonova was noted during her career as a singer and dancer. Fur her work she was awarded the Honorary Order of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of Tajikistan and the

Order of the Badge of Honour The Order of the Badge of Honour () was a civilian award of the Soviet Union. It was established on 25 November 1935, and was conferred on citizens of the USSR for outstanding achievements in sports, production, scientific research and socia ...

, along with a variety of medals. She was named a

People's Artist of the Tajik SSR People's Artist of the Tajik SSR (Народный артист Таджикской ССР), is an honorary title awarded to citizens of the Tajik SSR in the Soviet Union. It is awarded for outstanding performance in the performing arts, whose me ...

in 1941.

References

1918 births 2010 deaths People from Khujand People's Artists of Tajikistan Soviet stage actresses Tajikistani stage actresses {{Tajikistan-bio-stub