Alim Kaisynovich Kouliev (born June 24, 1959) is a Soviet-born American actor, theatre director, and screenwriter of Balkar origin. Kouliev was born in Nalchik — a small city in USSR. His father was a Balkar poet Kaisyn Kuliev and his mother was his Ingush wife Maka. His elder brother Eldar Kuliev was a Russian film director and a screenwriter. His younger brother Azamat Kuliev is a Russian painter, living and working in Istanbul, Turkey. At the age of seven, Kouliev was influenced by Vladimir Visotsky, an acclaimed Russian actor, poet, and singer, and one of his father's younger colleagues in the poetry field. Alim later decided to become an actor.