Rade Šerbedžija facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Rade Šerbedžija
Раде Шербеџија
Šerbedžija at the 12th Satellite Awards in December 2007
Born	(1946-07-27) 27 July 1946 (age 79) Bunić, Socialist Republic of Croatia, Yugoslavia (now Croatia)
Other names	Rade Sherbedgia
Citizenship	Croatia North Macedonia Slovenia
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1967–present
Spouse(s)	Ivanka Cerovac ​ ​ (m. 1969; div. 1987)​ Lenka Udovički ​ ​ (m. 1991)​
Children	5, including Danilo and Lucija

Rade Šerbedžija (born 27 July 1946) is a famous actor, director, and musician from Croatia. He is well-known for playing strong characters, sometimes good and sometimes bad. He was one of the most popular actors in Yugoslavia during the 1970s and 1980s.

Around the world, he is famous for his role as Boris the Blade in the movie Snatch (2000). He also had important roles in Hollywood films like The Saint (1997), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), X-Men: First Class (2011), and Taken 2 (2012). You might also know him as General Dmitri Gredenko in the TV show 24.

Rade Šerbedžija has won many awards. He has received the Golden Arena for Best Actor four times, which is Croatia's top film award. He also won the Critics Award for Best Actor at the 51st Venice International Film Festival for his role in Before the Rain (1994). In 2019, he received the International Press Academy’s Mary Pickford Award for his amazing work in entertainment.

Early Life and Education

Rade Šerbedžija was born on 27 July 1946. His birthplace was a village called Bunić in the Lika region of Croatia. At that time, Croatia was part of Yugoslavia. His parents were Serbs who fought as Partisans during the Second World War.

In 1969, Rade graduated from the Academy of Dramatic Arts at the University of Zagreb. After finishing school, he started working as a theatre actor. He performed in plays at the City Drama Theatre Gavella and the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb.

Career in Yugoslavia

Even while he was still a student, Rade Šerbedžija began playing main roles in films and theatre. He played famous characters like Oedipus and Richard III. His performance as Hamlet in 1974 in Dubrovnik made him a huge star.

His first big film role was in 1968 in a movie called Gravitation. He acted in many well-known Yugoslav films, including Bravo maestro (1978) and Banović Strahinja (1981). He also starred in several popular TV series.

From 1979 to 1981, Šerbedžija taught as a professor at the University of Zagreb. He also taught at the University of Novi Sad from 1987 to 1991. Before he left his home country, he had acted in over 40 films. He was one of the most loved actors in Yugoslavia.

He won the Golden Arena for Best Actor four times for his roles in Bravo maestro (1978), Evening Bells (1986), 72 Days (2010), and Fishing and Fishermen's Conversations (2020).

In 2000, Šerbedžija started the Ulysses Theater on the Brijuni islands. He won several awards for his acting in theatre, including the Zoran Radmilović Award in 2019 for his role in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.

International Career

Šerbedžija at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival.

In 1988, Rade Šerbedžija appeared in his first international films, Hanna's War and Manifesto.

When things became difficult in Yugoslavia, Šerbedžija moved to Serbia in 1992, then Slovenia, and later spent time in London, England. While in London, he met director Milcho Manchevski, who cast him in the 1994 film Before the Rain. His acting in this movie earned him an award at the Venice Film Festival.

Šerbedžija has played supporting roles in many Hollywood movies. These include Mission: Impossible 2, Mighty Joe Young, The Saint, Eyes Wide Shut, Snatch, and Space Cowboys. He often plays characters who are villains.

He had a small role in Batman Begins (2005). He was asked to be in The Dark Knight later but decided not to.

In 2001, he starred in a TV movie musical called South Pacific. He also appeared in the British spy show Spooks. In 2007, he acted in the Canadian film Fugitive Pieces, which earned him nominations for Best Supporting Actor awards.

He played Dmitri Gredenko in the sixth season of the popular TV show 24. In 2009, Šerbedžija was cast as Gregorovitch, a famous wandmaker, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1. In 2014, he appeared in six episodes of Downton Abbey as Prince Kuragin.

In 2019, he received the Mary Pickford Award for his outstanding contributions to the entertainment industry.

Other Work

Rade Šerbedžija is also known for his poetry and music. He has published four poetry books and released four music albums. He recorded a popular song called "Ni u tvome srcu" with Bosnian singer Kemal Monteno.

He also co-founded the Moving Theatre Company with actress Vanessa Redgrave.

Personal Life

Rade Šerbedžija married Ivanka Cerovac in 1969. They had a son, Danilo (born 1971), who is now a film director, and a daughter, Lucija (born 1973), who is an actress. They divorced in 1987.

In 1991, he married his second wife, Lenka Udovički. They have three daughters: Nina, Vanja, and Mimi. His daughters grew up in London and later moved to California because of his acting career.

During difficult times in his home country, Šerbedžija and his family faced challenges. He moved to Ljubljana, Slovenia, with his wife and daughter Nina. He has said that he feels a sense of "Yugo-nostalgia," meaning he remembers the times in Socialist Yugoslavia fondly.

Rade Šerbedžija owns homes in London, Hollywood, California, Rijeka, and Zagreb. He spends most of his time in Rijeka with his wife. He is a citizen of Croatia, North Macedonia, and Slovenia.

Awards and Nominations

See also

In Spanish: Rade Šerbedžija para niños