”I myself don’t know how I became an actor. One goes through many
things until he or she reaches his goal in life. I still get amazed at
everything around me, I always find something interesting for myself.
My teacher Armen Gulakyan used to tell me: “As long as you have not yet
lost your ability to get amazed, you can continue doing what you do,
and that is called “theatre”,” says well-known actor Armen Jigarkhanyan
who is celebrating his 70th birthday. He has played more than 300 roles
in cinema and theatre and just for that he has been registered in the
Guinness Book of Records. “I have played the roles that I want. Playing
a role is not just a speech. It means letting people know about your
problems, expressing pain and joy. I have portrayed all my emotions on
stage,” says Jigarkhanyan. There is life and glamour in all the roles
that Armen has played. The capricious spectator of Moscow used to go to
the theatre just to see Armen Jigarkhanyan play because he shined in
any role that he played in. It would take a very long time to list the
roles that he has played in. They are all memorable and well-known.
“Creative life is something like the birth of a child. Even though the
child has not been born yet, everyone wants to know if it is a boy or a
girl and how it will be born. Believe me when I say that you must not
interfere. The audience is there only to see the final product,” said
the actor in one of his interviews. The theatre named after
Jigarkhanyan has been putting on plays for the past ten years in
Moscow. At the theatre, Armen prefers to consider himself not as a
director, but rather the creative manager. This is so that he can open
the doors for talented youth. He continues to work, waits for new roles
to play and does not wish to make everlasting plans. Armen simply lives
in the present. “By planning out our life, we forget about all the
things that happen by accident in life. What if…? We are very
vulnerable when it comes to that. The important thing for us is to
simply live life and let everything that happens in life happen.
Everything needs to develop in its own way, including human beings. By
classifying man as a saint or a hero, we destroy him,” says Armen
Jigarkhanyan.
