Merab Ninidze

Merab Ninidze born 3 November 1965 is a Georgian actor He is best known for the roles of Oleg Penkovsky in The Courier Walter Redlich in Nowhere in Africa and Giulio Sabbadin in Conclave Ninidze was born into an artistic family and was introduced to acting at a young age He was heavily involved in the theatrical world in Georgia At the age of 13 he successfully auditioned for the role of Prince Edward in Shakespeares Richard III at the Rustaveli State Academic Theatre in Tbilisi which premiered in 1979 and toured the UK three times From 1982 to 1985 he studied at the Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Georgia State Film Institute under the guidance of Gizo Jordania which eventually led him to become a fullfledged member of the Theatre Company Later he would perform in plays such as Hamlet The Merchant of Venice The Diary of Anne Frank and David Kldiashvilis StepMother Ninidzes first major film role was in Tengiz Abuladzes 1984 film Repentance in which he played Tornike Aravidze At the age of 25 Ninidze immigrated from Georgia following the Civil War in Georgia During this time he was offered a role in Goran Rebics Yugofilm which led him to work in Vienna for several months For more than 20 years Ninidze has worked in Georgian Russian German and Englishlanguage film and TV