Samal Ilyaskyzy Yeslyamova ( kk, Самал Ілиясқызы Есләмова, ''Samal Iliiasqyzy Eslämova''; born 1 September 1984) is a Kazakh film actress. She is recognized internationally for starring in the film ''

Ayka ''Ayka'' (russian: Айка) is a 2018 drama film directed by Sergey Dvortsevoy. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. At Cannes, Samal Yeslyamova won the award for Best Actress. It was selected as the ...

'' directed by

Sergey Dvortsevoy Sergey Vladimirovich Dvortsevoy (born 1962) is a Kazakh filmmaker of Russian origin. His 2008 feature film '' Tulpan'', was Kazakhstan's 2009 Academy Awards official submission to Foreign Language Film category. Dvortsevoy worked as an aviatio ...

, which won her the award for

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress awar ...

at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

in 2018.

Biography

Yeslyamova was born in

Petropavl Petropavl ( kk, Петропавл, Petropavl ) or Petropavlovsk () is a city on the Ishim River in northern Kazakhstan close to the border with Russia. It is the capital of the North Kazakhstan Region. Population: 218,956. The city is also kno ...

North Kazakhstan Region North Kazakhstan Region ( kk, Солтүстік Қазақстан облысы, translit=Soltüstık Qazaqstan oblysy; russian: Северо-Казахстанская область, translit=Severo-Kazakhstanskaya oblast) is a Regions of Kazak ...

Kazakh SSR ; kk, Қазақ Советтік Социалистік Республикасы) *1991: Republic of Kazakhstan (russian: Республика Казахстан; kk, Қазақстан Республикасы) , linking_name = the ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. She always dreamed of becoming a journalist but eventually decided to become an actress. While studying at

Russian Academy of Theatre Arts The Russian Institute of Theatre Arts (GITIS) (russian: Российский институт театрального искусства – ГИТИС) is the largest and oldest independent drama school, theatrical arts school in Russia. Locat ...

– GITIS in 2008, Yeslyamova played in the film '' Tulpan'' by

. The film about the life of shepherds in the Kazakh Steppe won the main prize of the

Prix Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films w ...

competition of the

and another 9 Grand Prix of international film festivals around the world. In 2011, she graduated from the acting department of GITIS. Ten years later, in May 2018, she received the Best Actress Award at the

for her role in ''

'' by the same director. The actress played an immigrant worker from

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...

who, driven by poverty, is forced to leave her child in the hospital. Filming lasted for six years. In 2021, it was announced that Yeslyamova won the award for 2019 Best Actress for her role in the film “Ayka” at the Nika National Film Awards in Russia. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2019 and 2020 award ceremonies were postponed, and results were revealed in 2021.

Selected filmography

*'' Tulpan'' (2008) as Samal *''

'' (2018) as Ayka *''The Horse Thieves. Roads of Time'' (2019) as Aigal *''

Three 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...

'' (2020) as Dina Sadikhov

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yeslyamova, Samal 1984 births Living people 21st-century Kazakhstani actresses Best Actress Asian Film Award winners Best Actress Golden Orange Award winners Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress winners Kazakhstani film actresses Recipients of the Nika Award Russian Academy of Theatre Arts alumni