Rade Šerbedžija (born 27 July 1946) is a Yugoslav and Croatian actor, director and musician. He started in theatre, and became one of the best known Yugoslav actors in the 1970s and 1980s, for his stage and film portrayals of imposing figures on both sides of the law. Of Serbian descent, during the breakup of Yugoslavia he moved abroad, where he became internationally known for his role as Boris the Blade in Snatch (2000) and his supporting roles in such Hollywood films as The Saint (1997), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), Batman Begins (2005), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010), etc. He also had a recurring role in season 6 of TV action series 24. Šerbedžija is a four-time recipient of the Golden Arena for Best Actor, Croatia's highest filmmaking honors. He won the Critics Award for Best Actor at the 51st Venice International Film Festival for his performance in Before the Rain (1994). He also received the International Press Academy’s Mary Pickford Award, an honorary recognition “for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to the Entertainment Industry” in 2019.
Early life Rade Šerbedžija was born on 27 July 1946 in the village of Bunić in the Lika region of Croatia, then part of Yugoslavia. His parents were ethnic Serbs who fought in the Second World War as Partisans. Šerbedžija was raised as an atheist.
Career
In Yugoslavia In 1969, he graduated from the Academy of Dramatic Arts of the University of Zagreb, and then worked as a theatre actor in the City Drama Theatre Gavella and at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. While still a student, Šerbedžija started to play leading roles in films and theatre productions. His stage roles included Oedipus and Richard III. His performance as Hamlet in 1974 in Dubrovnik catapulted him into stardom. Šerbedžija landed his first major film role in 1968 in the Branko Ivanda-directed Gravitation. He had various notable roles in Yugoslav films, among others in Bravo maestro (1978), Journalist (1979), Banović Strahinja (1981), Kiklop (1982) and San o ruži (1986). He was also among the leading actors in several TV series, such as in Prosjaci i sinovi (1971), U registraturi (1976), and Putovanje u Vučjak (1986). Šerbedžija taught as a professor at the University of Zagreb from 1979 to 1981 and at the University of Novi Sad from 1987 to 1991. Šerbedžija was one of the most well-known actors in Yugoslavia, in addition to being one of the most beloved. Prior to leaving his home country, Šerbedžija had starred in over 40 films. He was also one of the main supporters of the KPGT Yugoslav theater, a project initiated to unite the different Yugoslav state theaters into a single troupe. Šerbedžija is a four-time recipient of the Golden Arena for Best Actor at the Pula Film Festival; in 1978 for Bravo maestro, in 1986 for Evening Bells (Večernja zvona), in 2010 for 72 Days (Sedamdeset i dva dana), and Fishing and Fishermen's Conversations (2020). In 2000, Šerbedžija founded the Ulysses Theater with Borislav Vujčić on the Brijuni islands. In a co-production between the Ulysses Theatre and the National Theatre in Belgrade, for his role in the 2019 adaptation of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Šerbedžija received the Zoran Radmilović Award, the Croatian Theatre Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and the Orlando Award. The same year, he won his second Vladimir Nazor Award for “Lifetime Achievement - Film Art”.
International career
In 1988, Šerbedžija appeared in two films that were released in the West; Hanna's War and Manifesto. As war broke out in Yugoslavia, Šerbedžija initially moved to Serbia in 1992, then Slovenia before eventually spending some time in London, England at the invitation of actor and friend Anthony Andrews. While in London, Šerbedžija met with Macedonian-American director Milcho Manchevski who cast him in his 1994 film Before the Rain. The performance earned him a Critics Award for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival. Šerbedžija has had supporting roles in Hollywood films such as Mission: Impossible 2, Mighty Joe Young, The Saint, Eyes Wide Shut, Snatch, and Space Cowboys among others. He is usually known for playing villains. He had a cameo in Batman Begins; he was asked to reprise his cameo role in The Dark Knight, but declined. In 2001, he starred in a television production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical South Pacific as French plantation owner Emile de Becque. He also appeared in the BBC spy-thriller show Spooks for one episode as a villain. In 2005 he played Captain Blake in Rupert Wainwright's remake of The Fog, and had a supporting role in the NBC science fiction series Surface. In 2007 he played Athos Roussos in Jeremy Podeswa's feature film adaptation of Anne Michaels' novel Fugitive Pieces. His performance in the Canadian film Fugitive Pieces (2007) was nominated for a Genie Award and Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor. He portrayed Dmitri Gredenko, a former Russian Army General, on the sixth season of the hit Fox show 24, first aired in 2007. He had a role in Shooter (2007). In 2009 Šerbedžija was cast in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 as the famous foreign wandmaker Gregorovitch. In 2014, Šerbedžija appeared in six episodes of Downton Abbey as Prince Kuragin, a Russian exile and long-ago lover of the Dowager Countess Violet Crawley, portrayed by Dame Maggie Smith. He had a role in X-Men: First Class released in 2011, and in the 2012 film Taken 2. In 2019, Šerbedžija was awarded the International Press Academy’s Mary Pickford Award, an honorary award “for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to the Entertainment Industry”.
Other work Šerbedžija is also known for his poetry readings and music. He has released four poetry books and four music albums. He recorded the award-winning ballad "Ni u tvome srcu" with Bosnian vocalist Kemal Monteno. While in London, Šerbedžija stayed at actress Vanessa Redgrave's residence and the two became friends. With Redgrave, Šerbedžija founded the Moving Theatre Company. In 2017, Šerbedžija signed the Declaration on the Common Language of the Croats, Serbs, Bosniaks and Montenegrins.
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