Barat Habib gizi Shakinskaya was an Azerbaijani and Soviet stage and film actress.
Background
Barat Shakinskaya was born in Shusha into a bey family. Her mother Aghja (née Hajiyeva) was the niece of Azerbaijani writer and dramatist Abdurrahim bey Hagverdiyev. Her father hailed from the khans of Karabakh on his mother"s side and from the khans of Shaki on his father"s side.
Career
Later Habib and Aghja Shakinskis became parents to two more children, Suleyman and Sariyya. Barat got primary education in Shusha. Shakinskaya participated in the female drama club of Ganja at the age of 13.
In 1935, she began to play at the Azerbaijan State Academic Drama Theatre.
Barat Shakinskaya became the first Azerbaijani actress to play male roles. The part of Kostya played by her at the Ganja Theatre and also Napoleon"s part played in Baku, in 1934 were particularly noteworthy.
The actress played children's roles too. Her last children's role of Nazly, a pupil of the seventh grade from Mahammadhuseyn Tahmasib’s play Blossoming Dreams, she played while she was at the age of 37 herself.
In 1935, Barat Shakinskaya began to participate at radio programs on the initiative of Mustafa Mardanov, People's Artist of Azerbaijan.
In 1949, she was conferred a title of People's Artist of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. Shakinskaya was married to director Mehdi Mammadov.