Yuli Gusman - Life and Career

Life and Career

Yuli Gusman was born in Baku, Azerbaijan to military physician Solomon Gusman and actress Lola Barsuk, who later became a translator and professor at the Azerbaijan University of Languages. His brother Mikhail is the vice-president of the Information Telegraph Agency of Russia. In 1966 Yuli Gusman graduated from the Azerbaijan Medical University, majoring in therapeutics, and in 1970 earned a Master's Degree in Psychology and Psychiatry. He wrote a research paper to defend a thesis for another medical degree, but chose not to do so after being admitted to the Higher Film Directing Courses at Goskino. Upon graduating in 1976 he worked at Azerbaijanfilm where he created and directed stage performances and was the director of the satirical newsreel Mozalan. In the 1970s and the 1980s he worked as manager and director of the Azerbaijan State Theatre of Musical Comedy and the Song Theatre. He has directed seven films, including outside the Soviet Union (in the United States, Japan and China).

In 1965–1972 he was head of Baku's KVN team. He introduced the uniform practice for all KVN teams. In 1993 he was elected to the State Duma of the first convocation (1993–1995). In 1988–2002 Gusman was chairman of the Cinematography Centre (Dom Kino) in Moscow. In 1996–2000 he hosted the primetime talk-show Tema and the weekly talk-show Vecher s Yuliem Gusmanom ("An Evening with Yuli Gusman") on Channel One (Russia). In 1996 he founded and became one of the CEOs of the Russian Jewish Congress. In 2004 he was awarded with the Order of Friendship.

He is married to Valida Gusman, a French language teacher and lecturer in the Slavic Languages Department at Georgetown University. They have a daughter named Lola and a grandson named Maximilian.