Yvan Kyrlya

[1] Born into a poor peasant family, as a boy Kyrlya had to work as a farm labourer, a herdsman, and also beg.

In the autumn of 1926 the Komsomol Committee of Mari Autonomous Region assigned him to study at workers' courses in Kazan University.

Among the students of ethnic studios, Kyrlya 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.