An artist in exile who has appeared in over 40 films, Rade Serbedzija was among the top actors in the former Yugoslavia, as well as an esteemed acting teacher at the Universities of Zagreb and Novi Sad, before being forced to flee in 1992. He has since become more proficient in English and has begun to make inroads in British and Hollywood films. To date, the actor has made his greatest mark playing the war photographer in Micho Manchevski's Oscar-nominated Macedonian feature "Before the Rain" (1994) and as the rich villainous Russian oligarch in Philip Noyce's "The Saint" (1997).The son of ethnic Serbians, Serbedzija was born and raised in Croatia where he first gained prominence as both a stage and screen actor. (With the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, he and his family were forced to flee to Belgrade, Serbia.) After a 1964 visit to the USA, he enrolled in drama school. Small parts on stage followed for many years until his 1974 breakthrough performance as "Hamlet" in Dubrovnik made him a star. Although he continued to appear in theatrical productions (notably, "Peer Gynt" and "Oedipus Rex"), Serbedzija broke into films around the same time. Although many of the more than 40 features he has made in the 70s and 80s have been little-seen outside of Yugoslavia, a handful have received widespread distribution. His early work included the starring role in "Uziska Republica" (1974), but it was probably not until his turn as the captain interrogating a woman who rescued hundreds of children from the Holocaust in "Hanna's War" (1988) that he was noticed in the West. US art-houses booked "Manifesto" (1988), an impish ensemble piece about life in a Balkan community overrun with assassination attempts and sexual freedoms. In 1996, Serbedzija played the refugee father in "Belma" and a New Zealand immigrant who wants his daughter to marry a wealthy Chinese man, not the Maori with whom she has fallen in love in "Broken English".
Serbedzija is also known for his poetry readings and has released four albums. On the London stage, he won critical praise for his work in Colin Redgrave's Moving Theatre Company staging of "Brecht in Hollywood" (1994).
Profession(s):
Actor, professor of acting
Sometimes Credited As:
Rade Sherbedgia
2005 Co-starred in a remake of the classic horror film “The Fog”
2002 Co-starred as Professor Vigot in "The Quiet American"
2001 Co-starred in the made-for-television drama "South Pacific"
2000 Cast as Dr. Nekhorvich in John Woo's "Mission Impossible," which starred Tom Cruise
1999 Cast as Milich in the feature "Eyes Wide Shut," directed by Stanley Kubrick
1999 Co-starred in the drama thriller "Stigmata"
1998 Co-starred in the feature "Mighty Joe Young"
1997 First Hollywood feature, "The Saint"
1994 Had featured role in the Oscar-nominated foreign film "Before the Rain"
1993 Made British stage debut, "Smoke"; made London stage debut, "Brecht in Hollywood"
1992 Forced to flee Serbia
1988 Played Fascist captain in "Hanna's War"
1974 Became star in Yugoslavia after performance as Hamlet on the Dubrovnik stage
1974 Had early film role, "Uziska Republica"
Cast opposite Glenn Close in TV version of "South Pacific"