Azniv Hrachia

Azniv Hrachia was an Ottoman Armenian actress and director.
She debuted on the Arevelian Tatron in 1869, and was later engaged at the Ottoman Theater.
The first actresses in the Ottoman Empire where from religious minorities, since Islamic sex segregation made it impossible for Muslim women to perform onstage. To perform was not considered a respectable profession, and because of this, female actors where hard to find, and were paied higher wages than their male colleagues.
In a speech on her birthday in 1909 she commented her career:
In the 1880s she was active in Tiflis. She retired in 1883 for private reasons. She resumed her career in 1893, and was active in Baku, where she also debuted as a director of plays.