Tofig Ismayilov

Tofig Ismayilov was born in Baku.

He studied at the Acting (1958-1962) and Directing (1962-1968) faculties of the Azerbaijan State Institute of Arts, and at the Higher Directing and Scriptwriting Courses of the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography in Moscow (1968-1970).

He began his career as an actor at the Young Spectators Theater while studying in high school (1954). He worked as an assistant director at the Committee for Radio and Television Broadcasts under the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan (1960-1961), director (1962-1967), assistant director at the “Azerbaijanfilm” studio, and production director of feature films (1969-1988).

For a while, he worked as an artistic director of the film actor theater studio, working under the film studio.

Since 1971, he has worked as a teacher at the Directing Department of the Azerbaijan State Institute of Arts, and was the head of the department (1988-1994).

He taught at Mimar Sinan University in Turkey for a long time (1994-2006). He was an advisor on cultural affairs at the Greater Municipality of Istanbul.

From 2007 until the last day of his life, he taught at the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Art.

He is the author of 5 books written for children. His first story, “White Towel,” was published in the magazine “Dove” (1962). He has about 100 scientific and journalistic articles.

He starred as an actor in the short film “The Wall” (Turkey) by foreign film producers, and in the TV series “Forgive Me, Teacher” (Turkey).

Professor (1992), Honored Artist (1987), People's Artist (2008) Tofig Ismaylov died in 2016 and was buried in the Yasamal cemetery.