Tinka Kurti is one of the most famous Albanian actresses. She has had a long and successful stage career. She was born in Sarajevo on December 17, 1932. She spent most of her life in Shkodra, where she started from humble beginnings but was determined to make the most  and join the theater at a young age.

Tinka Kurti first took the stage when she was only 14 years old. For several years she was active in the amateur theater in Shkodra. In 1947 she was expelled from the Artistic High School of Tirana and never received a school diploma, but this did not stop her from becoming a great actress. The ability, even the smallest role, would elevate her to the pedestal with high interpretive mastery and artistic spirit.

With the characters and profiles brought to life in art, Tinka has penetrated deep into the memory of generations, as an admired actress, as a prominent character in the great stage of Albanian art.

With a stage profile all her own, a penetrating timbre dressed in feminine charm, in every role, the artist knew how to always convey kindness, this exchanged with the adoration of all the people. Being an actress of huge dimension, she always came out successfully in the role of Tana, and mother Pashako with the film “Stars of long nights”, of Halit Berat’s mother, in “General Gramafoni”,  Dr. Keti, in the movie “I love the Wind”, or Dila in the movie “Red Besa”.

Tinka Kurti embodies the role itself, and even added to it the interpretive force, the experience of the character until she personified it in life, as the second name of the actress, as happened with mother Pashako…

From 1949 until she retired, she was an actress at the “Migjeni” Theater in Shkodra, where she performed about 120 roles. Particularly successful in the strong dramatic roles of mothers, but just as successful in comedy.

She excels with protagonist roles in “Arbri’s blood”, ” Ircutas story”, “Our land”, where she plays first the role of File and then that of Loke, “Bullet in the dowry”, or “Chekhov’s Engagement”. Tinka Kurti in the film “Tana” reconfirms her talent in cinema, acting in about 35 feature films, starting with the first feature film, “Tana”, in 1958. Unforgettable have remained Mother Pashako in “Stars of long nights” (1972), aunt in “Happy Couple” (1975), sister Mancini in “Girls with red ribbons” (1978), grandmother in “Mother’s Heart”, “Filumena Marturano” (2009) Theater, “We and Lenin” (2008), “Sakos Wedding” – (1998),”Horse Death” – (1992), “The Ballad of Kurbin” – (1990) – Mother of Dard,”Butterflies in my cabin” – (1988),”One Morning Phone” – (1987) – Neritan’s Mother, “In the Name of Freedom” – (1987),”Like everyone else” – (1981) – The director of the orphanage etc..

Tana – (1958)She has grabbed various awards, both at national film and theater festivals, culminating in career awards in both fields. To these awards are added other important awards, such as the medal “Grand Master of Labor”, awarded by the President of the Republic.

The passion for acting, the first steps on stage, or special memories, such as the kiss in the movie with the actor Naim Frashëri are the traces that Tinka firmly imprinted in the Albanian cinema, when she had just started to take shape. The artist of a brilliant career of a role gallery, remains the actress who realized the first kiss for the Albanian film and as she herself has claimed, that scene is not broadcast even today…

The star with the original brilliance in the constellation of actors of Albanian cinema, born in Sarajevo, always chooses to say: “I am an actress from Shkodra. There I have my love and my pain, my goods and my hostages.”

It was the award “Best Actress of the Republic” at the first Albanian Theater Festival that promoted actress Tinka Kurti in the category of professional actors with the role in the play “Our Land” directed by Kol Jakova. During her career, actress Tinka Kurti has performed about 260 roles on the theater stage and 95 roles in cinematography.

In 1994, she entered the Encyclopedia of the American Biographical Institute as one of the 5,000 most prominent women in the world. Her most recent role would be in cinematography, in the movie “The World” (2014).

Tinka Kurti has been awarded with other awards and titles, such as “Merited Artist” and “People’s Artist” 1961, with the order “Grand Master”  by the President of the Republic for her artistic activity.

/Klara Ruci/