Mammadali Balayev

Mammadali Balayev was born in the village of Kasaman in the Basarkechar district of Western Azerbaijan. In 1950, he was deported along with his family from Western Azerbaijan to the Dashkasan district.

He studied in a two-year directing course at the Moscow State University of Arts and at the Faculty of Language and Literature of the Pedagogical Institute.

In 1954, he organized an amateur arts group at the Miners' House of Culture. He worked as an actor at the Ganja State Drama Theatre (1961–1973) and as a deputy director for mass and cultural activities at the Ganja Technical-Vocational School (1973–1984). In 1984, he returned to the Ganja State Drama Theatre as an actor. In 1990, he also began working as an actor at the Ganja State Nizami Poetry Theatre. He has authored plays.

Since 1994, he has served as the chairman of the Ganjabasar branch of the Union of Theatre Workers of Azerbaijan.

He was awarded the "Golden Dervish" prize (2002).

He holds the titles of Honoured Artist (2000) and People's Artist (2014).