Early life and career in Yugoslavia

Šerbedžija was born in the village of Bunić within Lika region, PR Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia. He is an ethnic Serb from Croatia. 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 theater productions. He is remembered as an outstanding Peer Gynt, Don Juan, Melkior Tresić, Oedipus, Hamlet, Leone Glembay and Richard III. Šerbedžija was among the top actors in the former Yugoslavia, as well as an esteemed acting teacher at the Universities of Zagreb and Novi Sad.

In 1964 he first visited the USA, where he enrolled in drama school. Small parts on stage followed for many years until his 1974 breakthrough performance as "Hamlet" at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival made him a star. Although he continued to appear in theatrical productions (notably, "Peer Gynt" and "Oedipus Rex"), Šerbedžija 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 The Republic of Užice (1974).

He had various notable roles in Yugoslav film, among others in U gori raste zelen bor (1971), Variola Vera (1981), Kiklop (1982), Život je lep (1985). He was also among the leading actors in several TV series, such as in Prosjaci i sinovi (1971), U registraturi (1976), Nikola Tesla (1977), Putovanje u Vučjak (1986).

Šerbedžija founded the Ulysses Theater with Borislav Vujčić on the Brijuni islands, where he also directs and acts in most plays. The theater was founded in 2000 and has been very successful so far.

International career

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.

In the early 1990s, during the course of the Yugoslav wars, he acted in a few films from various parts of the former Yugoslavia, including the Macedonian film Before the Rain in 1994. With the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, he and his family moved to Ljubljana, Slovenia to avoid the war. Šerbedžija then also acted in various western European films before he emigrated to the United States.

He is perhaps most often recognised by world audiences for his supporting roles in Hollywood films such as Mission: Impossible II, Mighty Joe Young, The Saint, Eyes Wide Shut, Snatch, EuroTrip, The Quiet American (2002), Shooter, and a cameo in Batman Begins, often varying between sinister villains or trusting friends. 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 classic 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.

He portrayed Dmitri Gredenko on the sixth season of the hit Fox show 24.

On 26 May 2009, Šerbedžija announced that he had been cast in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 as the famous foreign wandmaker Gregorovitch, a 'brief but very important' role. He began filming in November 2009. He announced his casting at a press conference for Fugitive Pieces, and he added that he knew he had the role six months before.

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 that was portrayted by dame Maggie Smith.

Other work

Šerbedžija is also known for his poetry readings and has released four albums. On the London stage, he won critical praise for his work in Corin Redgrave's Moving Theatre Company staging of "Brecht in Hollywood" (1994).

Personal life

Šerbedžija was married to Ivanka Cerovac, but they divorced in 1987. They have a son, film director Danilo Šerbedžija (b. 1971) and a daughter, actress Lucija (b. 1973). Šerbedžija met his second wife, Lenka Udovički, the sister of Serbian politician Kori Udovički, in Subotica in 1990 and they married in 1991.

With his current wife, he has three daughters: Nina, Vanja, and Mimi. Nina is now attending college and the younger two are in high school. The girls grew up in London during their early years, then moved to California due to their father's acting career.

His parents left Vinkovci for Belgrade in 1991. His mother died in 1997, while his father still lives in Belgrade.

In 1992, while at a club in Belgrade, an intoxicated youth swore at him, calling him "Serb traitor", then shot his gun in the air. The youth himself was from Lika, as was Šerbedžija. He then took his wife and at the time, only daughter Nina, and left Zagreb and Belgrade, and settled in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Šerbedžija has called himself "Yugo-nostalgic", and in 2011, said that times were better in Socialist Yugoslavia than now.

He has homes in London, Hollywood, California, Rijeka and Zagreb.

He lives in Rijeka (as of January 2011) and holds Academy for acting and film Rijeka together with his wife Lenka.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role
1967	Iluzija
1967	Black Birds
1968	Osveta
1968	Seansa
1968	Maratonci
1968	Gravitacija ili fantastična mladost činovnika Borisa Horvata	Boris Horvat
1969	Dio è con noi
1969	Sedmina - Pozdravi Marijo	Niko
1969	Meteor
1969	Čamac za kron-princa
1970	Sam čovjek
1970	Papagaj	Mladić
1970	Passing Days
1970	Red Wheat	Južek Hedl
1970	Kainov znak	Milan
1971	Pine Tree in the Mountain, TheThe Pine Tree in the Mountain	Domobran kicoš
1971	Prosjaci i sinovi	Matan Špalatrin
1971	Putovanje na mjesto nesreće	Vlatko
1972	Poslijepodne jednog fazana	Obijesni mladić
1972	Rođendan male Mire
1972	Zvezde su oči ratnika	Učitelj Rade
1973	Pelikani
1973	Živjeti od ljubavi	Davor
1973	Begunec	Ivan
1974	Acting Hamlet in the Village of Mrdusa Donja	Hamlet
1974	Tojota Korola 1000
1974	Obešenjak
1974	Nocturno	Lucio
1974	Obraz uz obraz	Himself
1974	Republic of Užice, TheThe Republic of Užice	Četnički oficir Kosta Parac
1974	U registraturi	Ivica Kicmanović
1975	Pesma	Mića Ranović
1976	Republic of Užice, TheThe Republic of Užice	Četnički oficir Kosta Parac	TV series
1977	Noćna skela
1977	Hajka	Lado
1977	Nikola Tesla	Nikola Tesla	TV series
1978	Bombaški proces	Josip Broz Tito
1978	Bravo maestro	Vitomir Bezjak
1979	Journalist	Vlado Kovač
1979	Živi bili pa vidjeli
1979	The Return	Komandir milicije
1979	Usijanje	Tomo
1979	Ivan Goran Kovačić	Ivan Goran Kovačić
1980	Sedam plus sedam	Himself
1980	Gospodjica
1981	Tuga
1981	Duvanski put	Tomo
1981	Banović Strahinja	Abdulah
1982	Variola Vera	Doktor Grujić
1982	Cyclops	Ugo
1982	13. jul	Kapetan Mitrović
1982	Tamburaši
1982	Nepokoreni grad
1982	Život i priča
1983	Zadah tela	Pančo Vila
1983	Kiklop	Ugo	TV series
1983	Kvit posao	Jozo
1983	Noć poslije smrti	Lucio Klarić
1984	In the Jaws of Life	Intelektualac
1984	Pejzaži u magli	Lelin otac
1984	Una	Professor Mišel Babić
1985	Life Is Beautiful	Harmonikaš
1985	Horvatov izbor	Krešimir Horvat
1986	San o ruži	Valent
1986	Večernja zvona	Tomislav K. Burbonski
1986	Putovanje u Vučjak	Krešimir Horvat	TV series
1987	Die Verliebten	Dušan
1987	Hudodelci	Raka
1988	Zagrljaj
1988	Tartif
1988	Manifesto	Emile
1988	Hanna's War	Captain Ivan
1989	Čovjek koji je volio sprovode	Hinko
1989	Seobe II	De Ronkali
1990	Karneval, anđeo i prah
1990	Majstori mraka
1992	Dezerter	Pavle Trušić
1993	Kontesa Dora	Karlo Armano
1994	Magareće godine	Narrator
1994	Before the Rain	Alexandar
1995	Urnebesna tragedija	Kosta
1995	Two Deaths	Colonel George Lapadus
1995	Belma	Josip Papac
1996	Memento	The Officer
1996	Broken English	Ivan
1997	Nečista krv	Gazda Marko
1997	Balkan Island: The Last Story of the Century	Rusty
1997	Saint, TheThe Saint	Ivan Tretiak
1997	Truce, TheThe Truce	Mardenou the Greek
1998	Mighty Joe Young	Andrei Strasser
1998	Polish Wedding	Roman
1998	Prague Duet	Jiri Kolmar
1999	Eyes Wide Shut	Mr. Milich
1999	The Sweet Sounds of Life	Bruno Maier
1999	Stigmata	Fr. Marion Petrocelli
2000	Space Cowboys	General Vostow
2000	Mission: Impossible II	Dr. Nekhorvich
2000	Snatch	Boris 'The Blade' Yurinov
2000	Je li jasno prijatelju?	Milan Rajić
2001	South Pacific	Emile De Becque
2002	Quiet American, TheThe Quiet American	Inspector Vigot
2003	Quicksand	Oleg Butraskaya
2003	The Cruelest Day	Miran Hrovatin
2003	Spooks 2.4: Blood and Money	Viktor Schvitkoy
2004	EuroTrip	Tibor
2004	Golemata voda	Old Lem
2004	Rade Šerbedžija Live in Budva	Himself
2004	Fever, TheThe Fever	Diplomat
2005	Keeper: The Legend of Omar Khayyam, TheThe Keeper: The Legend of Omar Khayyam	Imam Muaffak
2005	Surface	Dr. Aleksander Cirko	TV series
2005	Batman Begins	Homeless Man
2005	Fog, TheThe Fog	Captain William Blake
2005	Short Order	Paulo
2005	Go West	Ljubo
2006	Moscow Zero	Sergei
2006	Elder Son, TheThe Elder Son	Maxim Sarafanov
2007	Balkanski sindrom	Old Alen
2007	Hermano	Carlos Avileda
2007	Tesla	Narrator
2007	Shooter	Michailo Sczerbiak
2007	Fugitive Pieces	Athos Roussos
2007	Battle in Seattle	Dr. Marić
2007	24	Dmitri Gredenko	TV series
2007	Say It in Russian	Raf Larin
2007	Pravo čudo	Toma
2007	L... Kot ljubezen	Big Daddy
2007	Fallen	Dr. Lukas Grasic	TV mini-series
2007	Love Life	Arie
2008	My Own Worst Enemy	Yuri Volkalov	TV series
2008	Quarantine	Yuri Ivanov
2008	Eye, TheThe Eye	Simon McCullough
2009	Middle Men	Nikita Sokoloff
2009	CSI: Miami	Alexander Sharova	TV series
2009	Thick as Thieves	Nicky Petrovich/Victor Korolenko
2010	Lonesdale
2010	Kao Rani Mraz	Stari Vasa Ladački
2010	72 Days	Mane Paripović
2010	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1	Gregorovitch
2011	5 Days of War	Col. Demidov
2011	Tatanka	Vinko
2011	X-Men: First Class	Russian General
2011	Shun Li and the Poet	Bepi
2011	In the Land of Blood and Honey	Gen. Nebojsa Vukojevich
2012	Fourth State, TheThe Fourth State	Onjegin
2012	Taken 2	Murad
2012	Third Half, TheThe Third Half	Don Rafael Cohen
2012	Ustanicka ulica	Vraneš
2013	Cry of the Butterfly	Ray
2013	The Double	Frightening Old Man
2014	Hercules: The Legend Begins	Chiron
2014	Downton Abbey	Prince Kuragin
2014	Tekken 2: Kazuya's Revenge	The Minister
2015	Tesla: Iznad maste	Milutin Tesla	Pre-production
2015	Osloboduvanje na Skopje	Gjorgjija	Post-production
2015	Sparrows	Tomislav
2016	The Porcupine	Stoyo Petkanov	Announced
2016	Tesla	Professor Petrov	Announced
2016	The Promise (2016 film)	Stephan	Post-production
2017	Untitled Nikola Tesla Project		Announced

Awards and nominations

Year	Group	Award	Result	Notes
1979	Pula Film Festival	Best Actor	Won	Bravo maestro
1986	Pula Film Festival	Best Actor	Won	Evening Bells
1994	Venice Film Festival	Best actor	Won	Before the Rain (1994 film)
1996	New Zealand Film and TV Awards	Best Foreign Performer	Won	Broken English (1996 film)
2006	Monaco International Film Festival	Best Actor	Won	Short Order
2007	Rome Film Fest	Best actor	Won	Fugitive Pieces (film)
2008	Satellite Awards	Best Actor in a Supporting Role	Nominated	Fugitive Pieces (film)
2008	Vancouver Film Critics Circle	Best Supporting Actor in a Canadian Film	Nominated	Fugitive Pieces (film)
2009	Genie Awards	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role	Nominated	Fugitive Pieces (film)
2012	Tetouan International Mediterranean Film Festival	Best Actor	Won	Io sono Li

[ Source: Wikipedia ]