Yvan Kyrlya

Who was Yvan Kyrlya?

Yvan Kyrlya was a Mari Soviet actor and poet, famous for his role of Mustafa Fert in the first Soviet sound film Road to Life.

Born into a poor peasant family, the boy had to work as a farm labourer, a herdsman, and also beg. In autumn of 1926 the Komsomol Committee of Mari Autonomous Region assigned him to study at workers' courses in Kazan University. Noticing his artistic gift the teachers gave him an assignment to the Actor’s Department of the State Cinematography School in 1929.

Among the students of ethnic studios Yuvan was engaged in crowd scenes during production of the first Soviet sound feature film Road to Life. After watching its first episode the film director Nikolai Ekk took notice of the young actor and cast him for the role of the waifs’ leader Mustafa.

After graduation the actor worked at the Vostokfilm Studio; in 1934-1936 he played the lama in Buddha’s Vicar by director Yevgeni Ivanov-Barkov. In 1937 Yuvan Kyrlya moved to Yoshkar-Ola, the capital of Mari-El, to play in the Mari State Drama Theatre. In addition to his actor’s talent Yuvan Kyrlya was also a poet. Three books of his poetry saw the light in his lifetime.