 Armen Borisovich Djigarkhanyan was born on October, 3, 1935 in Yerevan. In school he has taken an interest in theater and cinema, and after school has gone to Moscow and tried to enter GITIS, but it was unsuccessful.
Having returned to Yerevan, Armen Djigarkhanyan got a job at film studio "Armenfilm" as an assistant to the operator. In 1958 he graduated from the Yerevan Art and Theater Institute, a course taught by A.K.Gulakjan.
He first appeared on a theater stage in January, 1955 - in play "Ivan Rybakov" at Russian drama theatre of K.S.Stanislavskiy. In troupe of this Yerevan theatre where Djigarkhanyan has worked more than ten years, he was invited while being second-year student. In 1967 Anatoly Efros has invited the actor to the Moscow theatre of LENKOM, and in 1969 Djigarkhanyan became a part of the troupe of Andrey Goncharov in Moscow theatre of V.Mayakovskiy, on which stage he, in particular, has played Stenli Kowalski's roles in ?Tram ?Desire? and Big Pa in ?Cat On A Hot Tin Roof? by T.Williams, Socrat in ?Conversations with Socrat? by Edward Radzinsky, general Hludov in ?Run? by Michael Bulgakov. In September, 1996 Armen Djigarkhanyan has left Mayakovskiy theater, but continues to be on stage in plays of other theatres.
In 1960 he debuted as Akop in the movie ?Collapse?, and popularity to Armen Djigarkhanyan was brought by one of his best film-roles - the young scientist-physicist Artem Manveljan from a picture by director Frunze Dovlatjana ?Hello, that's me!?. Soon after this film he followed with new interesting works showing breadth of an actor's range and skill of transformation - smith Ust Mukuch in ?Triangle?, Levon Pogosjan in a drama ?When September comes?, Captain Ovechkin in popular ?New adventures of imperceptible? by Edmond Keosajan, security officer Artuzov in a TV movie ?Operation ?Trust?, eser Proshjan in a historical picture "On the Sixth of July", Michael Styshnoj in ?Crane?.
In several decades of his film-career, Armen Djigarkhanyan has played about two hundred film-roles, becoming the most prolific Russian actor. In his resume are versatile roles in films of the best Soviet and Russian directors, in movies of various genres, in comedies and adventure pictures, in dramas and musical films. For example it is enough to name such films loved by spectators, as ?Hello, I'm your aunt!? by Victor Titov, ?Dog in the manger? by Yan Frid, ?Meeting point can't be changed? by Stanislav Govorukhin, ?Crown of Russian empire? by Edmond Keosajan, ?Teheran-43? by Alexander Alov and Vladimir Naumov, ?Two arrows? by Alla Surikova, ?Passport? by Georgy Danelia, ?Shirly-Myrli? by Vlaimir Menshov, TV movies ?Ali Baba and 40 bandits? и ?Queen Margo?. One of the best actors of the Russian cinema, with equal success plays roles as in complex dramas, and in musical comedies and detective - adventure films. Professional that has great actor's technics, capable to create deep psychological figures, Armen Djigarkhanyan transfers his skill to students at VGIK. He has not left his students to the mercy of fate, after they finished the course. To help young actors, the master has created the Theater ?D?.
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