Uzbekistan's People’s Artist Yoqub Akhmedov Dies Aged 87

Yoqub Akhmedov, a prominent stage actor of the Uzbek National Academic Drama Theatre and People’s Artist of Uzbekistan, has passed away at the age of 87, The Caspian Post reports, citing Uzbek media.

Yoqub Akhmedov - a laureate of the State Prize, recipient of the Order “For Selfless Service,” and a renowned theatre, film, and dubbing actor - died at the age of 87.

Yoqub Akhmedov was born on 3 January 1938 in Namangan. From an early age, he developed a passion for the stage and took part in performances at the Namangan Regional Musical Drama and Comedy Theatre.

In 1959, he graduated from the Tashkent Institute of Theatre and Fine Arts named after A. N. Ostrovsky (now the Uzbekistan State Institute of Arts and Culture).

Beginning in 1958, Akhmedov worked as an actor at the Hamza Academic Drama Theatre in Tashkent (renamed the Uzbek National Academic Drama Theatre in 2001), where he created nearly 50 diverse roles on stage. From the late 1990s to 2013, he served as the theatre’s director, and in 2015, he founded the “School of Acting Mastery” studio under the theatre.

Akhmedov began appearing in films in 1958 and participated in hundreds of cinematic projects. He also contributed his voice to the dubbing of more than 400 films. His notable works include roles in Shum bola (1977), The Adventures of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1980), and Starry Nights, among many others.