Tinka Kurti (born 17 December 1932) is one of the best known Albanian actresses. Her body of work, in about 60 years, includes more than 50 feature movies and 150 theatre plays. She has been awarded the People's Artist of Albania medal.

Biography

Tinka was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (then part of Yugoslavia) to an Albanian father and Hungarian mother. She was the oldest of four children. At a young age her family returned to the city of Shkodra in northern part of Albania. It is in Shkodra where she would spend most of her life and join the theatre at a young age.

In 1947 she was expelled from the Liceu Artistik (School of Arts) in Tirana and was never able to graduate. However, this did not stop her from pursuing her acting career. She made her first theatre appearance at the age of 16, a minor role, in the play Dasma Shkodrane (Wedding from Shkodra.) From 1949 she became a member of the Theatre Migjeni in Shkodra where she was part of over 120 plays (dramas and comedies). Such plays include "Gjaku i Arbrit", “Histori Irkutase”, “Toka Jonë”, “Fisheku në pajë” and “Fejesa e Çehovit”.

Kurti did not limit herself only to theatre and decided to try film too. In 1958, she was chosen as the leading female role in the first Albanian feature film “Tana.” What followed was an endless series of film roles that would rightfully make her name a treasure of Albanian art. Some include Mother Pashako in "Yjet e netëve të gjata", the Mother in "Cifti i lumtur", Sinjorina Mançini in "Vajzat me kordele të kuqe", the Grandmother in "Zemra e Nënës".

Two cinemas in Tirana and Durres are named after her. The same is the school of Lekbibaj (a village of Albania).

In 2003, the Albanian director, Esat Teliti, made a bibliographical documentary as a tribute to her life. It was simply named “Tinka”.

To this day Kurti still acts and amazes her audience wherever she goes. She once said: "I don't fear the old age, not even death. But, I do fear the senility of the brain, and when that moment will come, I think I would be dead twice. That's why I want to work."