Sadaya Mustafayeva was born on 15 July 1926 in the city of Sheki. After completing her five-year secondary education, and with the Great Patriotic War having begun and having seen off her father Ismayil and her brother Mahammad to the front, Sadaya began working under a craftswoman named Latifa at the silk-weaving combine operating in Sheki. Because she was very tall and always seemed to be gazing at the sky, she became known by the nickname "Sunflower Mukhtar," and it was through a person of that name that she was brought to the Sheki State Drama Theatre as an actress. Having created, one after another, a gallery of fascinating characters there for a time, People's Artist Sadaya Mustafayeva went on to continue her career at the theatres of Agdash and Goychay. In March 1950 Sadaya khanum was invited to the Ganja State Drama Theatre as an actress by its director, People's Artist of the Republic and theatre and film actor and director Mahammad Burjaliyev. On that theatre's stage she went on to create a gallery of more than 400 fascinating characters. Among the finest examples of People's Artist S. Mustafayeva's work are Khuraman and Gulnar in "Vaqif," Gultakin in "Aydın," Peri in "Pəri Cadu," Sara, Peri and Gulnisa in "Solğun çiçəklər," Emilia in "Otello," Elizabeth in "III-Riçard," Xanthippe in "Sokratla söhbətlər," Sabiha in "İtkin gəlin," Hajar khanum in "Yad qızı," Aliya in "Dairəni genişləndirin," Nila in "Təbilçi qız," Banovsha in "Kəndçi qız," Shahnigar in "Dəli Kür," the Mother in "Ana vüqarı," Rashida khanum in "Bəraət," Dilshad khanum in "Atayevlər ailəsi," Natavan in "Xurşudbanu Natavan," Matanat in "Qonşular," Almaz in "Almaz," Nargila in "Sən həmişə mənimləsən," and Rakhshanda khanum in "Mahnı dağlarda qaldı," among others. Today most of the actors and actresses working at the Ganja State Drama Theatre are graduates of S. Mustafayeva's school. Mustafayeva also appeared in more than 20 films produced by Azerbaijanfilm. Among them are Khatun in "Qanun naminə," Gozal in "Mən ki gözəl deyildim," Shamama in "Şərikli çörək," Mulayim in "Qaynana," Sughra khala in "Ölsəm... bağışla," Grandmother Mirvari in "Ağ atlı oğlan," the Mother in "Həm ziyarət, həm ticarət...," and Asmar in the American-produced film "İlk körpü." She died in the city of Ganja on 13 August 2004. In 2000 the "Askaroglu" publishing house published a monograph titled "The Stage Is the Light of My Life," written by her grandson, theatre critic Anar Burjaliyev.
