She was born on July 12, 1944, in the village of Chayek in the Jumgal district into a peasant family.
Her delighted grandfather Tursunbay named her Tatybubu, which translates to "sweet." Despite being born during the difficult years of the Great Patriotic War, she had a happy and carefree childhood. Surrounded by loving parents and three older brothers, she was a cheerful child. The future actress studied at a Russian school in the village of Chayek. In the area, everyone called her Tanya in the Russian manner. The girl was tall and stately, with thick, long hair; in terms of beauty, there was no equal to Tatybubu in the village. Her kind, gentle gaze and dazzling smile completely captivated people.
In 1960, as a schoolgirl, she played her first role in the film "The Song of Salima." Even in her school years, Tatybubu had no doubts about her career choice, convinced that she should and would be an actress. Doubts came later when, at 17, after participating in a republican amateur art competition where she sang folk songs, she received a recommendation to enroll in the vocal department of the Moscow Conservatory. She almost decided to go to Moscow but changed her mind at the last moment and sent her documents to the Tashkent Theater Institute for the acting faculty.
In 1966, she graduated from the acting faculty of the Tashkent Theater and Art Institute. After graduating, her journey into the great art on the stage of the Kyrgyz State Academic Drama Theater began.
At the same time, she worked a lot and productively in film. She created many diverse characters on screen and stage.
Her first major screen role was Ak-Möör in the television film "Ak-Möör," directed by Melis Ubuikeev. This role required the actress to fully immerse herself in the character and demanded great emotional intensity. The film "Ak-Möör," thanks to Tatybubu's participation, became an extraordinary phenomenon in national cinema.
In 1971, director Tolomush Okee invited Tatybubu to play the role of Urkuya. Urkuya Salieva was a real person, the first female chairperson of a collective farm in southern Kyrgyzstan, who was killed by the enemies of Soviet power.
Working with T. Okee became a wonderful and challenging school for the actress. The director and actress sought to capture the precise emotional state of their heroine at every moment she was on screen. They aimed to poetize the character of Urkuya, placed in harsh real circumstances. The character's nature is ambiguous, rich in contrasts and unexpected nuances. Tursunbayeva's performance has emotional sensitivity and warmth. The actress invested in this role everything that was in her creative baggage at that time, everything that enriched her spiritual world. In the film "Urkuya," Tatybubu experienced the most difficult and tragic of all her cinematic fates.
The creative alliance between Okee and Tursunbayeva was also interesting because together they were in constant search for those precise and subtle nuances that create great cinema. One cannot forget another great image created by Tursunbayeva — the beautiful stranger in the film "Red Apple."
Tursunbayeva, being an extraordinary person, a beautiful woman, and a versatile actress, created many more female images on screen and stage.
At the Kyrgyz State Academic Theater, she was involved in all the leading roles of the current repertoire. This included world and Soviet classics, modern Soviet and Kyrgyz drama: Shakespeare, Lope de Vega, G. Lorca, Ch. Aitmatov, M. Karim, E. Schwartz, Malikov, Baidzhiev, Abdumomunov, Makaenok, and others.
She played over 100 roles, including: Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet," Bianca in "The Taming of the Shrew," Omelia in "The House of Bernarda Alba," Felisyevna in "The Dance Teacher," Asel in "My Little Poplar in a Red Scarf," Anwar in "Ascent to Fujiyama," and many others.
Honored Artist of the Kyrgyz SSR.
She died at the age of 37 from tuberculosis on December 21, 1981.
WOMEN OF KYRGYZSTAN
