Mamuka Kikaleishvili

Mamuka Kikaleishvili — Biography

Mamuka Kikaleishvili (Mamuka Andreyevich Kikaleishvili) was a stage and film actor and director who worked in Soviet, Georgian and Russian cinema. He played leading and supporting roles in films made in the USSR, Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. He died in Moscow in 2000, aged 39, and was buried at the Vake Cemetery in Tbilisi.

Born in Tbilisi in 1960, he graduated from the Tbilisi Theatre Institute in 1981. He worked at the Marjanishvili National Academic Drama Theatre until 1984, when he moved to the Georgia Film studio. His filmography began with An Unusual Trip (1983) and Gentlemen Adventurers (1985), and its turning point was the Azerbaijani production Yaramaz (1988): his role as Xəttam Əsgərov won him the State Prize of the Azerbaijan SSR in 1991. He had also won the best comedy actor prize at the international festival in Gabrovo, Bulgaria, in 1988. In Passport (1990) he played Moisha Sepiashvili, and in Weather Is Good on Deribasovskaya, It Rains Again on Brighton Beach the casino owner Tsuladze. The Life of Don Quixote and Sancho, Wandering Stars and The Princess on a Bean were also among his films.

In 1992 he made his directing debut, co-directing Fallen Angel with Levon Uzunian. In his last years he worked at the Georgian Embassy in Moscow. In 2000 he appeared in Old Hags and Instead of Me.