Anzor Urdia

Urdia was born in Uman, Ukraine in 1939 where his father Varlam Urdia served as military pilot during World War II. Urdia and his family moved back to Georgia after his father was killed during the air battle in Ukraine. In Georgia, Urdia studied acting at the prestigious Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film Academy and began a successful career as an actor in numerous theaters in Georgia and the Soviet Union. In 1964, he married a successful mathematician Nana Gigineishvili with whom he had two children, Irakli Urdia (born 1965) and Mariam Urdia (born in 1981). During his theater career, Urdia also held leading and secondary roles in famous Georgian films such as Bardgunia in Data Tutashkhia, Kharabadze in Tetri Bairaghebi, Jibo in Kvarkvare, Kukaracha, Pirveli Mertskhali and others. In 1980 Urdia was appointed as the head of administration of famous Marjanishvili Theatre in Tbilisi where he worked until 1991.

His final rôle was in an Austrian production of the documentary film where he had a leading role as Stalin, just few months before his death. He died in Tbilisi in 2011.

• People's Artist of Georgia (1985);

• Anzor Urdia Biography on Georgian National Cinema