Alim Kouliev

Alim Kaisynovich Kouliev (born June 24, 1959) is a Russian-American actor and director of Balkar origin. Kouliev was born in Nalchik — a small city in USSR. His father was the Balkar poet Kaisyn Kuliev. His elder brother Eldar Kuliev is a Russian film director and a screenwriter, living in Moscow. His younger brother Azamat Kuliev is the Russian painter, living and working in Istanbul, Turkey. At the age of seven, Kouliev was influenced by Vladimir Visotsky an acclaimed Russian actor, poet and singer, one of his father's younger colleagues in a poetry field. Alim decided to become an actor.^[1]

Biography

He studied acting at the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts (GITIS) in Moscow. After serving in the Soviet Army, he continued his education at the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow, where he graduated from the acting class of Yevgeny Matveyev, an acclaimed master of theater and cinema.^[2] His class mate was Natalya Vavilova. Kouliev also studied stage directing at GITIS in 1981.

Ever since he was a student, Kouliev appeared on professional stage. His first significant role on stage was Mercutio in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet at Aleksandr Demidov Theater-Studio, where he also plaid Atavio in The Moods of Marianne by Alfred de Musset and Meleander in Maurice Maeterlinck's Aglavain and Selyzett.^[3] He broke into films starring as a Joseph Codrero in Copper Angel with Leonid Kuravlyov, Anatoly Kuznetsov, Aleksandr Filippenko, Leonid Yarmolnik. He has twelve years of acting experience working in several leading Moscow theaters and has had several roles in famous Russian feature films. He has also performed extensively as an actor for radio and TV. Kouliev created many great characters in classic and contemporary productions, under the best Russian theatrical and cinema directors.

In 1991 his life changed dramatically. He moved to the United States.

After the long break in his career as an actor Kouliev made his comeback. In Los Angeles, he became a key member of the theatrical troupe Dreamhouse Ensemble, where he played Sasha Smirnoff in Room Service and Uncle Tovit in Jimmy Christ.^[4] At the present time the producer-actor-director works in Hollywood with "The Master Project", his own stage adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel The Master and Margarita.^[5] The Staging of Master and Margarita has been Kouliev's long-cherished dream as a director. He vividly expresses himself in the Master Project as a mature and sophisticated painter of life.

Filmography

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References

External links

• Alim Kouliev at the Internet Movie Database
• Alim Kouliev. The Master and Margarita Project
• Alim Kouliev. Interview.
• YouTube. Oleander. Episode 2