Ia Shugliashvili Biography: Ethnicity, Net Worth, Spouse, Movies, Siblings, Height, Age

Ia Shugliashvili is a distinguished Georgian film and theatre actress whose quiet intensity and emotional depth have earned her international acclaim in recent years.

Born into a musical family and trained at Georgia’s premier dramatic institution, she spent decades honing her craft on the stages of Tbilisi before breaking through globally with lead roles in two landmark arthouse films directed by Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Gross—My Happy Family (2017) and Beginning (2020).

Profile

• Full Name: Ia Shugliashvili
• Stage Name: Ia Shugliashvili
• Born: 1965
• Age: 60 years old
• Birthplace: Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union
• Nationality: Georgian
• Occupation: Film and Theatre Actress
• Height: Unknown
• Parents: Inola Gurgulia, and Mr Shugliashvili
• Siblings: Unknown
• Spouse: Ia Shugliashvili
• Children: Unknown
• Relationship: Ia Shugliashvili
• Net Worth: $800,000

Early Life and Education

Ia Shugliashvili was born in 1965 in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, to the celebrated Georgian singer and composer Inola Gurgulia and Mr Shugliashvili, whose first name remains private.

Details about siblings are not publicly available. Raised in a household steeped in the arts, she developed an early passion for performance and enrolled at the prestigious Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film University, graduating from the acting faculty in the late 1980s.

She immediately joined the ensemble of the Rustaveli National Theatre, where she spent more than three decades mastering classical and contemporary roles in Georgian drama. Her ethnicity is Georgian, and she has not publicly discussed religious affiliation.

Career

Ia Shugliashvili began her career on the boards of Tbilisi’s Rustaveli National Theatre straight out of university, quickly establishing herself as a versatile stage actress capable of tackling everything from Shakespeare to modern Georgian playwrights.

For nearly thirty years she remained a fixture of the national theatre scene, earning respect among peers for her disciplined technique and understated power, though she stayed largely unknown outside Georgia’s borders during the Soviet and immediate post-Soviet eras.

Her transition to cinema came late but explosively. In 2017, at age 52, she was cast as the lead in Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Gross’s My Happy Family, portraying Manana—a middle-aged teacher who abruptly leaves her family to live alone.

The film premiered at Sundance, travelled to Berlinale Forum, and introduced Ia’s face to festival audiences worldwide. Three years later she reunited with the same directors for Beginning (2020), delivering a career-defining performance as Yana, a Jehovah’s Witness wife trapped in a suffocating marriage. The film swept awards at San Sebastián, where Ia received the Silver Shell for Best Actress, cementing her status as a late-blooming international star.

Ia Shugliashvili continues to divide her time between the Rustaveli Theatre’s classical repertoire and selective film work that prioritises complex female stories.

Recent years have seen her mentor younger actors at her alma mater while taking on supporting roles in European co-productions. Her influence on Georgian cinema is profound: directors now speak of the “Ia effect,” where seasoned theatre veterans are finally being given lead roles that reflect the real faces of Georgian women.

Social Media

• Ia Shugliashvili does not have a verified social media account.

Personal Life

Ia Shugliashvili has kept her private life entirely out of the public eye. No verified information exists regarding marriage, long-term partners, or children.

She lives quietly in Tbilisi, close to the Rustaveli Theatre, and is known among colleagues for her love of literature, long walks along the Mtkvari River, and occasional masterclasses for young actors. Friends describe her as warm yet fiercely protective of her solitude, a trait that mirrors the resilient women she so often portrays on screen.

Filmography

• My Happy Family (2017)
• Beginning (Dasatskisi) (2020)
• Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry (2023)
• The Antique (2022)
• Brighton 4th (2021) – supporting role
• What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? (2021) – cameo

Net Worth

Ia Shugliashvili has an estimated net worth of $800,000. The bulk of her earnings comes from decades of steady theatre salary at the state-funded Rustaveli National Theatre, supplemented in recent years by international film fees, festival appearance honoraria, and residuals from My Happy Family and Beginning, both of which remain in rotation on major streaming platforms across Europe.