Barat Habib Shakinskaya (28 June 1914 – 14 January 1999) was an Azerbaijani and Soviet stage and film actress, who was born in an ancient Azerbaijani town of Shusha.

Her mother Aghja was the niece of Azerbaijani writer and dramatist Abdurrahman bay 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. The name Barat means ‘God-given’, a name chosen by her grandmother Govhar, as Barat was the first surviving child in the family following three her still-born siblings. Later Habib and Aghja Shakinski became parents to two more children, Suleyman and Sariyya.

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 SSR.

Source: AZERBAIJAN STATE NEWS AGENCY