Franjo Dijak

Franjo Dijak (born 2 June 1977) is a Croatian actor.[1] He is known for starring in Sex, Drink and Bloodshed (2004), The Blacks, Metastases (both 2009), Koko and the Ghosts (2011) and Mali (2018).[2][3]

Franjo Dijak
Born (1977-06-02) 2 June 1977
Zagreb, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia
OccupationActor
Years active1997–present

Apart from his film work, he is acclaimed for his award-winning performances in the Gavella Drama Theatre, including Lysander in A Midsummer's Night Dream, Segismundo in Life Is a Dream, the title character in Othello, Rodion Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment and Melkior Tresić in Kiklop.[4][5]

Career

Theatre

In theatre, he is widely known for his work as an actor in the drama ensemble at the Zagreb-based Gavella Theatre. He made his debut as a guest in 1998 with the Strindberg work Miss Julie, alongside Daria Lorenci.

In 2007, he became a permanent member of the ensemble and later established himself as a drama champion in Gavella, with best-known roles include the lover Lysander in A Midsummer's Night Dream, Joseph II in Amadeus, Fernando in Candide, Lasić in Fine Dead Girls, Segismundo in Life Is a Dream, the title character in Othello and Pomet Trpeza in Dundo Maroje.[6][7]

In 2009, he has done acting work for the Filip Šovagović project Iliad 2001. That same year he achieved a lead role in Babarelo a play by Biljana Srbljanović directed by Paolo Magelli, and a supporting yet major role in Balade Petrice Kerempuh by Miroslav Krleža, with Sven Šestak, Ozren Grabarić and Dijana Vidušin.[8]

In 2013, he received critical admiration among Bojan Tesić and Milivoj Jukić for his lead role as Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment, starring alongside Ozren Grabarić as Porfiriy Petrovich and Živko Anočić as Razumikhin.[9][10][11]

Saša Anočić cast Dijak as the vulnerable scholar Melkior Tresić in the 2019 adaptation of the Ranko Marinković classic Kiklop. The version was only the second time the novel had been adapted into a theatre play (with the first one being in 1968 by the legendary Kosta Spaić).[12][13] For the lead role, Dijak received widespread acclaim and gained a Croatian Theatre Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role nomination.[14]

He has also appeared in numerous theatres in Eastern Europe, both prominent in light-hearted comedic and serious dramatic roles.[15][16] Among his roles outside the Gavella Theatre, he starred as Clive Staples Lewis in the Theatre Planet Art's production of the Mark St. Germain-written duodrama Freud's Last Session, alongside director Marko Torjanac who played the title psychoanalyst.[17] The play was met with positive reviews, with critics praising the acting, directing, tone and chemistry of the two leads.[18][19] At the Kragujevac Theatre and Culture Festival, the play won the Gran Prix and Dijak was awarded the Ring of Joakim for Outstanding Achievement in a Play.[20]

Film

Dijak has appeared in over thirty films, appearing as a leading man and a character actor in critically acclaimed box office hits including The Blacks, Behind the Glass, Koko and the Ghosts, and Goran. From the 2004 cult classic Sex, Drink and Bloodshed, he reprised his lead role in the Antonio Nuić's 2018 film Mali, starring Dijak's son, Vito. The film went on to be a success within critic circles and the box office, winning the Big Golden Arena for Best Film.

His perhaps best known film role is that of eccentric drug-addict Filip in the Branko Schmidt adaptation of Metastases. He did not reprise his role in the 2016 sequel, ZG80.[21]

Dijak joined other acting stars including Ozren Grabarić, Marinko Prga, Živko Anočić and Krešimir Mikić with doing parodic-satirical sketches for the Motovun Film Festival's segment "The Green Carpet", about established actors who want to take on new career challenges. In Dijak's sketch, he wishes to conceive a career as a German pornographic actor and signs a deal with "Udo Kugelschrieber" (a fictional porno-scout director played by Vili Matula), thanks to Lukas Nola.[22][23]

He also appeared a short film adaptation of Cymbeline, combining the bard's verses with the 21st-century Croatian temperament.[24]

Television

In 2017, he won the Croatian Theatre Award for Best Actor in a Television Drama for his leading role as Uzelac in Čuvari dvorca. Alongside Jadranka Đokić, he starred in the television film Trebalo bi prošetati psa, directed by Filip Peruzović.

On television, he is perhaps best-known for hosting the popular children's show Žutokljunac.

Voice-work

Dijak is also known for his rich career in recording radio dramas.[25] To date, he has recorded over a hundred works, spanning both literature milestones by Ante Kovačić, Albert Camus, James Joyce, Fyodor Dostoyevski, Miroslav Krleža, Marcel Proust, August Strindberg and Leo Tolstoy with independent and modern works.[26][27] For his activity in the field of radio-drama, he was nominated for three Croatian Theatre Awards for Achievement in Radio-Drama.

Dijak has also actively performed voice-work for Croatian dubs of animated feature films and television series, including Kenai in Brother Bear (2003), the Magic Mirror in Shrek 2 (2004), Lenny in Shark Tale (2004), Jon Arbuckle in the Garfield series (including the 2004 film and 2006 sequel), Betameche in Arthur and the Invisibles (2006), Arthur Pendragon in Shrek the Third (2007), Leonardo in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film (2007), Sting in Bee Movie (2007), Po in the Kung Fu Panda films (2008-2016), Lord Scott in Megamind (2010) and Victor in Ballerina (2016).[28] Alongside Arbuckle, Dijak voiced Sheldon in the Croatian dub of U.S. Acres and Garfield and Friends. Dijak is also one of the Croatian actors who provided his voice to Spider-Man on several occasions, the others being Mitja Smiljanić, Sven Šestak, Frano Mašković, Siniša Ružić and Rakan Rushaidat.[29][30][31]

Selected filmography
Year Title Role Notes
2018 Mali Frankie
2011 Koko and the Ghosts Drago
2009 Metastases Filip
The Blacks Franjo
2008 Behind the Glass Maja's brother
2006 The Border Post Alen
All for Free Josip
2005 First Class Thieves Nenad
2004 Sex, Drink and Bloodshed Njonjo
1998 Cimbelin Blaž Short film
1997 Mondo Bobo Mislav
gollark: I should really put more RAM in the server so I can actually resell hosting services or whatever.
gollark: I mean, it kind of looks somewhat sensible, but oh potatOS why?
gollark: ```Pterodactyl is the open-source game server management panel built with PHP7, Nodejs, and Go. Designed with security in mind, Pterodactyl runs all game servers in isolated Docker containers while exposing a beautiful and intuitive UI to administrators and users. Stop wasting time fiddling with other systems — make game servers a first class citizen on your platform. ```I... aaaargh... why
gollark: PHP, node *and* Go?!
gollark: *sees PHP**dislikes it*

References
  2. FRANJO DIJAK KAO GLAVNI LIK KIKLOPA 'Baš kao i moj Melkior Tresić, ljudi se i danas zatvaraju u svoje mikrosvjetove' (in Croatian)
  3. Mlada nada hrvatskog filma Vito Dijak: 'Meni je gluma prekrasna, ne bavim se njome da bih bio popularan u školi' - sin Franteka
  4. Gavella Hr Predstave (in Croatian)
  5. Franjo Dijak uloge u GDK Gavella, dr. Branko Gavella
  6. Gavella Hr Predstave (in Croatian)
  7. Franjo Dijak uloge u GDK Gavella, dr. Branko Gavella
  9. Scena Ribnjak - Projekti
  17. Franjo Dijak intervju Mirela Matkovic Svakodnevno
  18. Posljednja Freudova seansa kritike
  28. "MAJSTORI SINHRONIZACIJE: Ko se krije iza Duška Dugouška, Šilje, Popaja, Sunđera Boba? (FOTO) (VIDEO)". www.telegraf.rs.
  31. SPIDER-MAN: NOVI SVIJET Hrvatske zvijezde u novom Marvelovom filmu o omiljenom junaku oduševit će sve fanove
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