Tariku Birhanu

Tariku Birhanu (ታሪኩ ብርሃኑ; 1983 – 10 December 2022), also known by stage name Baba, was an Ethiopian film actor and director. He has worked about 40 films notably Hiwot Ena Sak, Kebad Mizan, Wondime Yakob and Ye’Arada Lij.

On 10 December 2022, Tariku died from undisclosed illness at the age of 38. His funeral service was held at Holy Trinity Cathedral on 12 December, with many celebrities and relatives presented at the event. He was survived by his son, and wife who is a popular actress named Kalkidan Tibebu.

Life
Tariku Birhanu was born in 1983 (according to some sources) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, although official obituaries did not mentioned his exact birth date. He began acting career earlier at his age, spanning from acting to directing, which brought him popular in the Ethiopian film industry scene. Tariku participated 40 films including Laundry Boy, Love and Facebook, The Engineers, Kebad Mizan, Abat Hager, Martreza, Wondime Yakob, and Ye’Arada Lij. He endorsed the campaign of Eye Bank of Ethiopia, involved in charitable work within the organization. Tariku married actress Kalkidan Tibebu, from whom he had six years old son. Tadias Addis journalist Seifu Fantahun confirmed that the couple has broken up their relationship, and the child lived with his mother due to Tariku's illness.

Death
On 10 December 2022, Tariku died in Addis Ababa from undisclosed illness. He had a life-threatening illness that caused a complication. At the time of his death, he was survived by his son. On 12 December, a farewell program for Tariku was held in the Ethiopian National Theatre and funeral service was held in Holy Trinity Cathedral. Celebrities around different professions attended to his funeral service.

Tariku's works was largely contributed to many awards such as Leza Awards. His recent film was completed production on 6 March 2023 produced by Eliana Film Productions, where Tariku starred as a protagonist along with other co-stars like Dereje Hailu, Cherenet Fikadu, Nuhamin Meseret, Mihiret Tadesse.