Ilze Pukinska

Born: 25 May 1965

Born in Riga, Ilze Pukinska has worked at Valmiera Theatre since graduating from the Theatre Faculty of the Latvian State Conservatory in 1988.

Behind Ilze Pukinska’s striking appearance and rich palette of acting colours, it often goes unnoticed how delicately and subtly she is able to work. This, however, has been recognised by the cinematic eye—Ilze is frequently and gladly invited to appear on screen. For her complex role as Dagne in the short film Show Me Silence, where she portrayed a woman gradually losing her hearing and sinking into silence as if into the depths of the sea, Ilze received a special jury mention at a film festival in Finland.

On stage, Ilze has more often been called upon to use her broad gestures, eccentricity, and fearlessness, surrendering herself to all kinds of boldness in character roles. Yet even within these roles, she manages to reveal completely opposite and contrasting moments. The crude and aggressive Yefrosinya Potapovna from Ostrovsky’s The Bride Without a Dowry still carried a genuine and profound pain at the contempt shown towards her home and hospitality. Meanwhile, Chekhov’s Three Sisters antagonist Natalia—their greatest nightmare—was not malicious and vulgar from the very beginning; the actress also revealed her shyness and goodwill, qualities for which no one in the refined Prozorov household had any need.