Liya Akhedzhakova

Liya Medzhidovna Akhedzhakova is an eminent Soviet and Russian academician, activist, humanitarian, film, stage, television and voice actress who received the title of Peoples Artist of Russia in 1994. She won two Nika Awards for Best Actress for her performances in Promised Heaven and Playing the Victim . She was also awarded the Nika Honorary Prize in 2015.

Akhedzhakova was born in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR. She grew up in a theatrical family in Maykop, Russian SFSR. Her stepfather, Medzhid Salehovich Akhedzhakov , was a Circassian nobleman who served as the Principal Director of the National Theatre of the Republic of Adygea. Her mother, Yuliya Alexandrovna Akhedzhakova , was also an actress at the same drama theatre. At the age of 10, when her mother and aunt was 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.

Source: Wikipedia