Fatma Gadri was born to a poor family of a merchant acolyte in Odesa (present-day Ukraine).

At age 9, she began earning money by working as a full-time nanny for a child from a rich family.

At her mother's insistence, she enrolled in a local madrasa (religious school) to receive primary education.

Choosing the artistic path for her future career, Gadri started working as an actress at the Turkic Labour Theatre in Baku and Ganja.

Unable to overcome severe depression after being forbidden to perform in theatres, 60-year-old Gadri died by suicide in her apartment in 1968.