Barat Habib khan gizi Shakinskaya was born on 28 June 1914 in Shusha, into a family of the beg nobility. Her mother, Gohar khanum, was a cousin of Abdurrahim bey Hagverdiyev. Her father, Habib khan, was forced to flee in 1920, on 28 April, when the Bolsheviks seized Baku. As a child, Barat Shakinskaya took part in the play Shabih staged in Shusha in 1920, in the role of Sakina. She received her first education in Shusha. On 21 August 1920 her mother left Shusha together with the children — Barat, Sariyya and Suleyman — and moved to the village of Goytapa in the Aghdam district. In 1923 they moved to Ganja. On 1 September of that year she began classes at first-degree girls' school No. 2 in Ganja. In 1927 she was admitted to a pedagogical school in Ganja. She began performing as an amateur actress in various drama clubs, both at the school and around the city. On 18 September 1929 she was taken onto the acting staff of the "Workers' Club" of the Ganja Trade Union. On 25 June 1930, having graduated from the pedagogical school, she was sent to teach at the Sarkar village school. At the same time she increased her activity as an amateur actress in the drama clubs of the "Women's Club," the "Workers' Club" and the "Railwaymen's Club." On 7 January 1933 she was taken onto the troupe of the Ganja Turkish Workers' Theatre as an actress. On 23 February 1935 she left the Lavrentiy Beria Ganja State Drama Theatre and came to Baku with the aim of pursuing a medical education. On 1 September 1935 she was accepted into the acting troupe of the Academic National Drama Theatre.
