Born on February 5, 1950 in Khartoum, Sudan, of Armenian parents. Father in sales business. Childhood and adolescence spent in Khartoum. Excels in school, completing high school requirements in less time than usual. At the age of 15, enrols in University of Khartoum to study Business Administration for one year. In 1967 family moves to Montreal so that Alianak can continue his studies at McGill University. Spends one year in an Economics program. Already fluent in Arabic, English, and Armenian, gains proficiency in French language. Family moves to Toronto in 1968, and he enrols in York University’s night school as an English major. In the next four years holds various positions during the day including mail delivery, factory and office jobs. At this time he also develops an interest in the theatre which leads to technical and acting work with several small theatre groups. Because his experience in theatre is limited at this point, he decides to study acting with Eli Rill. After two years of training, he works briefly in the professional theatre, including a role in Theatre Passe Muraille’s production of Dog in The Manger. Realizing that the hectic pace and insecurity of an actor’s life is not for him, he tries his hand at playwriting. A professional production of Tantrums, the first play he writes, convinces him to pursue writing as a career. After Tantrums in 1972, Alianak decides that he would like to direct all his own plays. As an entry into the field, he directs five of his short plays — Western, The Violinist And The Flower Girl, Mathematics, Brandy, and Christmas — at various small theatres in the city, on a production budget of $10 per play. In 1973 he becomes a Canadian citizen. In 1974 a volume of his plays is published, and interest in his work is shown in other parts of the country. In 1976 his play The Blues is produced in Petrolia, Ottawa, and Vancouver. A movie fan for most of his life, he begins to describe his plays as “shorts” or “full-length features”. Through 1978 he remains in Toronto working on various commissions mostly from the alternative theatres.