Andres Puustusmaa (born July 19, 1971) is an Estonian film director, actor, screenwriter, professor, and photographer who began his career in the early 1990s. He has worked extensively in his native Estonia, as well as in Russia. Andres Puususmaa was born in Tallinn to Tõnu and Eva Puustusmaa (née Mildeberg). After secondary school he enrolled in the Drama Department of Tallinn Conservatory (now, the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre) under the instruction of theatre pedagogue Ingo Normet, graduating in 1994. Following his graduation from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre he joined the Estonian Drama Theatre in Tallinn, where he performed as a stage actor until 2002 when he relocated to Russia to study High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography in Moscow until 2004.
