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Suimenkul Chokmorov
Film actor and painter (1939–1992), People's Artist of the USSR, who appeared in Kurosawa's Dersu Uzala.
Suimenkul Chokmorov was born in the village of Chong-Tash near Bishkek and graduated from the Leningrad Academy of Arts. He came to cinema as a painter and became famous as an actor.
He appeared in more than 30 Kyrgyz and Soviet films; his role in Akira Kurosawa's Oscar-winning Dersu Uzala (1975) brought him international fame.
He became a People's Artist of the USSR in 1981 and was posthumously named a Hero of Labour of the Kyrgyz Republic in 2024. His native village bears his name.
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Updated: October 3, 2026