Chulpan Khamatova

Chulpan Khamatova (her name means the Morning Star in Tatar language) was born Chulpan Nailyevna Khamatova on October 1, 1975, in Kazan, Tatarstan Republic, Russia. She is an ethnic Tatar. Her mother, named Marina Galimullovna Khamatova, is an engineer. Her father, named Nail Khamatov, is also an engineer and a managing director of a firm in Tatarstan, Russia. Young Khamatova was a professionally trained figure skater. She suffered from a back trauma after a fall on ice; after that she quit figure skating, but continued roller-skating. She also had a gift for mathematics and studied at the prestigious School of Mathematics in Kazan. Then she studied for one semester at business school of Kazan University, but became bored and decided to change her career and entered the Kazan School of Theatre. From 1995-1998 Khamatova studied acting at the State Institute of Theatrical Arts (GITIS) in Moscow, and graduated from the class of Aleksei Borodin in 1998 as an actress. Khamatova was a third year student at GITIS when she made her film debut in the role of Katya in Vadim Abdrashitov's film Vremya tantsora (1998). She won critical acclaim in Russia after playing a female lead in Country of the Deaf (1998). Soon she gained international attention after starring as Mamlakat opposite Moritz Bleibtreu in Luna Papa (1999) by director Bakhtyar Khudojnazarov, which became a "quiet masterpiece" in Germany as well as in Russia. Khamatova's effortless style shines in a variety of her film characters ranging from farcical Lara in Good Bye Lenin! (2003), to charming seductress Nelly in 72 Meters (2004), to passionate and sophisticated Lara in Doctor Zhivago, a Russian TV-series based on the eponymous book by Boris Pasternak. Chulpan Khamatova became one of the most celebrated young actresses of Russian theatre and cinema. She was designated the title of Honorable artist of Russia. In 2004 Khamatova was awarded the State Prize by the Russian president Vladimir Putin for her achievements in acting. She has been a permanent member of Sovremennik Theatre in Moscow under directorship of Galina Volchek. Her stage and film partners has been such actors as Sergey Shakurov, Dina Korzun, Valentin Gaft, Inna Churikova, Sergey Garmash, Marina Neyolova, Elena Yakovleva and other notable Russian actors. From 1995-2002 Khamatova was married to her class-mate, a fellow actor Ivan Volkov, their daughter, named Arina, was born in 2002. She is now in her second marriage to a Russian émigré, actor-dancer Aleksei Dubinin with whom she has a second daughter, named Alina, born in 2003. She is currently residing in her two homes, one in Moscow, Russia, and one in Europe. Besides her native Russian and Tatar, Chulpan Khamatova is fluent in German and English. In 2006 Khamatova was a member of the six-person jury at the 63rd Venice Film Festival headed by French actress Catherine Deneuve. Chulpan Khamatova has been one of the leading figures for charitable causes in Russia. Since 2005 Khamatova and her fellow Russian actors started a charitable initiative "Podari Zhizn" for the benefit of children suffering from leukemia.