Arousyak Papazian was born in
Constantinople,
Ottoman Empire (now
Istanbul, Turkey), in 1841. Before becoming an actress, she worked as a teacher. In the 1850s, the modern theatre was founded in the Ottoman Empire by an Armenian theatre company, and Papazian was reportedly the first female actor to perform onstage, making her debut in 1857 as a member in the Hekimian theatre company, where she was engaged in 1857–1859. and she also toured with the company, such as to
İzmir in 1867. As Muslims did not consider acting a suitable profession, the first actors in the Ottoman Empire were Christian Armenians, and the stigma of the profession was especially the case for females, the actresses received a higher salary than their male colleagues, and they could also continue their careers undisturbed after the Armenian theatre monopoly was abolished in the Ottoman Empire in 1879. Arousyak Papazian retired after her marriage, because of her spouse was opposed to her theatrical career. She died in Constantinople in 1907. == See also ==