70 Notable Alumni of Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava

Josef Abrhám

Born in: Czech Republic
Years: 1939-2022 (aged 83)
Occupations: stage actortelevision actorfilm actoractor
Biography: Josef Abrhám was a Czech film and theatre actor.

Barbora Bobulová

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1974-.. (age 50)
Occupations: actor
Biography: Barbora Bobuľová is a Slovak-born Italian actress. She has lived and worked mainly in Italy since 1995.

Edita Gruberová

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1946-2021 (aged 75)
Occupations: music teacheropera singer
Biography: Edita Gruberová was a Slovak coloratura soprano. She made her stage debut in Bratislava in 1968 as Rosina in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, and successfully auditioned at the Vienna State Opera the following year, which became her base. She received international recognition for roles such as Mozart's Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte and Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss.

Magdalena Kožená

Born in: Czech Republic
Years: 1973-.. (age 51)
Occupations: opera singer
Biography: Magdalena Kožená, Lady Rattle is a Czech mezzo-soprano.

Lucia Popp

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1939-1993 (aged 54)
Occupations: opera singer
Biography: Lucia Popp was a Slovak operatic soprano. She began her career as a soubrette, and later moved into the light-lyric and lyric coloratura soprano repertoire and then the lighter Richard Strauss and Wagner operas. Her career included performances at Vienna State Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, and La Scala. Popp was also a highly regarded recitalist and lieder singer.

Milan Lasica

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1940-2021 (aged 81)
Occupations: screenwriterwritersingercomedianactor
Biography: Milan Lasica was a popular Slovak comedian, actor, singer, writer, lyricist and satirist.

Tatiana Pauhofová

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1983-.. (age 41)
Enrolled in the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava: Studied in 2001
Occupations: actor
Biography: Tatiana Pauhofová is a Slovak actress born in Bratislava.

Zdena Studenková

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1954-.. (age 70)
Occupations: actorsingerwriter
Biography: Zdena Studenková is a Slovak film and stage actress, and a musical theater singer. She is the holder of the most number of OTO Awards, having won eight times in total.

Richard Müller

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1961-.. (age 63)
Occupations: singercomposer
Biography: Richard Müller is a Slovak singer, songwriter, photographer, and occasional actor. He is one of the most successful singers in both Czechia and Slovakia, where he has sold more than one million records. At the beginning of his musical career, he was a member of Pavel Daněk's band Burčiak and later formed his own group, Banket, with whom he recorded three studio albums. He launched a solo career in the early 1990s and has issued sixteen studio albums as well as several compilations and live recordings. Müller collaborated with pianist Jaroslav Filip until the latter's death in 2000.

Juraj Kukura

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1947-.. (age 77)
Occupations: singeractor
Biography: Juraj Kukura is a Slovak actor.

Július Satinský

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1941-2002 (aged 61)
Occupations: humoristactortelevision presenterplaywrightradio personality
Biography: Július Satinský was a Slovak actor, comedian, singer, showman and writer. He is mostly remembered in Slovakia as a member of the legendary comedian duo Milan Lasica - Július Satinský, however his scope of interest was wide. He died on 29 December 2002 due to colon cancer.

Michal Dočolomanský

Born in: Poland
Years: 1942-2008 (aged 66)
Occupations: film actoractor
Biography: Michal Dočolomanský was a Slovak actor and singer. He appeared in more than forty films between 1962 and 2007.

Emília Vášáryová

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1942-.. (age 82)
Occupations: actor
Biography: Emília Vášáryová, Doctor Artis Dramaticae is a Slovak stage and screen actress, whom Variety and other publications refer to as the "First Lady of Slovak Theater". During a career of more than five decades, she has received numerous awards including Meritorious Artist (1978), the Alfréd Radok Award (1996), the Czech Lion Award, the Golden Goblet Award (2008), and a 2010 ELSA award from the Czech Film and Television Academy (2010). Because her younger sister is former diplomat Magdaléna Vášáryová, the daily newspaper iDNES said fans consider her an "Honorary Consul of Czech and Slovak Relations".

Vašo Patejdl

Born in: Czech Republic
Years: 1954-2023 (aged 69)
Occupations: guitaristrecord producercomposermusicianrecording artist
Biography: Vašo Patejdl was a Slovak musician and composer. He was best known for being a co-founder and long-term member of the pop-rock band Elán. He wrote songs for other musicians, including the Richard Müller single "Po schodoch", and he composed music for films, such as Fontána pre Zuzanu (1985) and The Seven Ravens (2015). Patejdl also released a number of solo albums throughout his career, both in Slovak and English. He died on 19 August 2023, at the age of 68.

Milan Kňažko

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1945-.. (age 79)
Occupations: politicianactor
Biography: Milan Kňažko is a Slovak actor and politician. He was one of the leading personalities of the Public against Violence movement in November 1989 and one of the most popular faces of the Velvet Revolution in Slovakia.

Diana Mórová

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1970-.. (age 54)
Occupations: actor
Biography: Diana Mórová is a Slovak film and stage actress. Among other, she is the holder of two OTO Awards.

Marián Labuda

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1944-2018 (aged 74)
Occupations: stage actortelevision actorfilm actoractor
Biography: Marián Labuda was a Slovak actor.

Zuzana Kronerová

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1952-.. (age 72)
Occupations: actor
Biography: Zuzana Kronerová is a Slovak film, television and stage actress. She has been featured in more than twenty films to date.

B-Complex

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1984-.. (age 40)
Occupations: composer
Biography: Matia Lenická, also known by the stage name B-Complex, is a drum and bass producer and DJ from Bratislava, Slovakia. In 2015, she came out as bi-gender.

Zuzana Mauréry

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1968-.. (age 56)
Occupations: singeractor
Biography: Zuzana Mauréry is a Slovak actress working in film, television, and on stage, as well as a musical singer. A six-time nominee for national movie awards and a two-time winner of the Sun in a Net Awards, she lives in her hometown of Bratislava. She is also a member of the Slovak movie and television academy.

Božidara Turzonovová

Born in: Bulgaria
Years: 1942-.. (age 82)
Occupations: pedagogueactor
Biography: Božidara Turzonovová, is a Slovak film and stage actress of Bulgarian origin, often referred to as The First Lady of Slovak Theater and Film.

Jaroslav Filip

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1949-2000 (aged 51)
Occupations: writerdramaturgemusicianactorcomposer
Biography: Jaroslav Filip, known as Jaro Filip, was a Slovak musician, composer, humorist, dramaturge, actor, columnist, and early promoter of the internet in Slovakia. His work includes numerous pop hits in cooperation with the singer Richard Müller, including "Cigaretka na dva ťahy", "Milovanie v daždi", and "Daňový únik".

Dežo Ursiny

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1947-1995 (aged 48)
Occupations: composerdirectorguitaristsingerscreenwriter
Biography: Dezider Ursiny, also known as Dežo Ursiny was a Slovak rock musician and a television and film screenwriter and director. He is considered one of the most important personalities of Slovak rock music and one of the most talented and unique Slovak popular music composers. He belongs to a wide group of legends of Czechoslovak Big Beat. Dežo Ursiny was a member of big beat bands The Beatmen, The Soulmen in the 1960s and since the mid-1970s, until his death he pursued a solo-career, composing sophisticated artistic and critically highly praised music, which varied slightly from one album to another and is sometimes hard to define, can be described as jazz rock, or more widely – progressive rock. He composed music to several films, including the popular musical "Neberte nám princeznú" and also shot several documentary movies during his lifetime.

Andrej Hryc

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1949-2021 (aged 72)
Occupations: entrepreneurfilm produceractordiplomat
Biography: Andrej Hryc was a Slovak actor. He appeared in more than fifty films since 1976.

Szidi Tobias

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1967-.. (age 57)
Occupations: singeractormusician
Biography: Szidi Tobias is a Slovak actress and musician of Hungarian ancestry. While in her native country she successfully developed an acting career, in the Czech Republic Tobias established herself as a singer of urban chanson.

Marián Geišberg

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1953-2018 (aged 65)
Occupations: writertelevision actorsingermusicianactor
Biography: Marián Geišberg was a Slovak actor. Geišberg was recognised in 2001 for his stage acting in the Jozef Kroner Awards. Geišberg won the Best Supporting Actor award at the Sun in a Net Awards in 2019 for his role in Čertí brko. His son is Slovak actor Marek Geišberg.

Kamila Magálová

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1950-.. (age 74)
Occupations: actor
Biography: Kamila Magálová is a Slovak film and stage actress, singer, and entrepreneur. She is a triple nominee for the TV-based OTO Awards. In addition to the performing arts, Magálová runs a hotel named after her in Čierna Voda.

Sahraa Karimi

Born in: Iran
Years: 1983-.. (age 41)
Occupations: film director
Biography: Sahraa Karimi is an Afghan film director and teacher currently based in Italy, who was notably the first female chairperson of the Afghan Film Organization (Afghan Film). She has directed 30 short films, 3 documentary films and one fiction film Hava, Maryam, Ayesha which had the world premier at the 76th Venice Film Festival. Prior to the fall of Kabul to the hands of the Taliban, she was the first and the only woman to be directing Afghanistan's film entity.

Gabriela Beňačková

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1947-.. (age 77)
Enrolled in the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava: Studied in 1967-1971
Occupations: opera singer
Biography: Gabriela Beňačková also Gabriela Beňačková-Čápová is a Slovak lyric soprano.

Lukáš Latinák

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1977-.. (age 47)
Occupations: television actoractor
Biography: Lukáš Latinák is a Slovak film, television and stage actor. He is a recipient of three OTO Awards in the main categories.

Juraj Nvota

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1954-.. (age 70)
Occupations: actorfilm directorscreenwriter
Biography: Juraj Nvota is a Slovak actor and film director.

Martin Huba

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1943-.. (age 81)
Occupations: stage actoruniversity teacherfilm actortheatrical directorpolitician
Biography: Martin Huba is a Slovak actor and director on stage and in film.

Dominika Kavaschová

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1989-.. (age 35)
Occupations: actor
Biography: Dominika Kavaschová is a Slovak actress. At the 2013 DOSKY Awards she was awarded the Discovery of the Year title. At the DOSKY Awards in 2015, she won in the category of Best Actress, for her performances in the play Mojmír II. alebo Súmrak ríše, directed by Rastislav Ballek. Kavaschová has German ancestry.

Sisa Sklovská

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1965-.. (age 59)
Occupations: singeropera singer
Biography: Sisa Sklovská is a Slovak singer. She studied at Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (VŠMU) and subsequently joined the Slovak National Theatre, where she performed for five years as a soloist. Sklovská was among the judges for the X Factor (Czech and Slovak series). Slovak president Ivan Gašparovič attended her wedding to Juraj Lelkes in January 2011.

Dušan Cinkota

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1970-.. (age 54)
Occupations: actor
Biography: Dušan Cinkota is a Slovak theatre and film actor.

Zuzana Vačková

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1969-.. (age 55)
Occupations: actor
Biography: Zuzana Vačková is a Slovak actress best known for her role in the television series Panelák.

Karin Haydu

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1977-.. (age 47)
Occupations: actor
Biography: Karin Haydu is a Slovak actress.

Alexander Moyzes

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1906-1984 (aged 78)
Occupations: university teachercomposer
Biography: Alexander Moyzes was a Slovak neoromantic composer.

Ján Cikker

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1911-1989 (aged 78)
Occupations: pedagoguecomposer
Biography: Ján Cikker was a Slovak composer, a leading exponent of modern Slovak classical music. He was awarded the title National Artist in Slovakia, the Herder Prize (1966) and the IMC-UNESCO International Music Prize (1979).

Roman Luknár

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1965-.. (age 59)
Occupations: actor
Biography: Roman Luknár is a Slovak actor. He appeared in more than fifty films since 1988.

Kamil Mikulčík

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1977-.. (age 47)
Occupations: actorsinger
Biography: Kamil Mikulčík is a Slovak singer and actor who was the represented Slovakia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with Nela Pocisková. They failed to reach the final.

Adriana Kučerová

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1976-.. (age 48)
Occupations: soprano singeropera singermusician
Biography: Adriana Kučerová is a Slovak operatic soprano.

Milka Zimková

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1951-2023 (aged 72)
Occupations: writerdirectorscreenwriteractorplaywright
Biography: Emília "Milka" Zimková was a Slovak actress and screenwriter. She wrote the script and acted in one of the biggest Slovak comedy blockbusters, She Grazed Horses on Concrete.

Jana Oľhová

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1959-.. (age 65)
Occupations: actor
Biography: Jana Oľhová is a Slovak actress. At the 2008 Sun in a Net Awards she won the category of Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film Music. Oľhová won another accolade at the Sun in a Net Awards, again for Best Supporting Actress, in 2014 for her performance in the 2013 film Fine, Thanks (Ďakujem, dobře).

Peter Bebjak

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1970-.. (age 54)
Occupations: television actorfilm directorscreenwriteractorfilm producer
Biography: Peter Bebjak is a Slovak actor, director, producer and writer. In 2001, and along with Rastislav Šesták, he established DNA Production company.

Marián Miezga

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1974-.. (age 50)
Occupations: actor
Biography: Marián Miezga is a Slovak actor. He was recognised at the 1998 DOSKY Awards as Discovery of the Year as part of the performance of Na koho to slovo padne. Although mainly known for his television roles on Slovak TV channels RTVS and TV JOJ, he joined the cast of Markíza's Oteckovia in 2018 as Juraj Šípka.

Deana Horváthová

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1958-.. (age 66)
Occupations: actorfilm producerscreenwriter
Biography: Deana Jakubisková is a Slovak film producer and a former stage and film actress.

Petra Vajdová

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1985-.. (age 39)
Occupations: actor
Biography: Petra Vajdová is a Slovak actress. At the 2016 DOSKY Awards she won in the category of Best Actress, for her performances in the play Fanny a Alexander at the Slovak National Theater. In 2017 Vajdová took part in the Markíza series Let's Dance, but withdrew in October after sustaining an injury to her leg.

Marek Maďarič

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1966-.. (age 58)
Occupations: dramaturgepoliticianscreenwriter
Biography: Marek Maďarič is a Slovak politician for the Direction - Social Democracy (Slovak: Smer-SD). He was between 4 April 2012 and 28 February 2018 Minister of Culture in Robert Fico's Second and Third Cabinets. Maďarič resigned as minister in the aftermath of the assassination of Ján Kuciak.

Danica Jurčová

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1976-.. (age 48)
Occupations: actor
Biography: Danica Jurčová is a Slovak-Czech actress.

Katarína Brychtová

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1967-.. (age 57)
Occupations: actor
Biography: Katarína Brychtová née Šebestová is a Slovak actress and television presenter.

Dano Heriban

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1980-2023 (aged 43)
Occupations: lyricistcomposermusicianactor
Biography: Daniel Heriban was a Slovak actor and musician who was known as one of the most universal actors in Slovakia, capable of excelling both in comedic and tragic roles.

Judit Bárdos

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1988-.. (age 36)
Occupations: actor
Biography: Judit Bárdos, married Pecháček is a Slovak actress of Hungarian ethnicity. She is the daughter of politician Gyula Bárdos and journalist Ágnes Bárdos. Bárdos won the Best Actress Award at the 2012 The Sun in a Net Awards for her performance in the 2011 film The House. In 2018, she won Best Supporting Actress Award at The Sun in a Net Awards for her role in Out.

Miroslav Dvorský

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1960-.. (age 64)
Occupations: opera singer
Biography: Miroslav Dvorský is a Slovak operatic tenor of international renown who has had an active career since the early 1980s.

Zuzana Piussi

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1971-.. (age 53)
Occupations: scenographerdirectorcinematographercostume designeractor
Biography: Zuzana Piussi is a Slovak director and documentary filmmaker, as well as an actress. She graduated from the Department of Directing at the Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. From 1992 to 2000, she worked with the theater Stoka. Subsequently, she was involved in the theater project SkRAT.

Elena Podzámska

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1972-.. (age 52)
Occupations: actor
Biography: Elena Podzámska is a Slovak actress and dubbing actress born in Bratislava.

Eva Sakálová

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1985-.. (age 39)
Occupations: actor
Biography: Eva Sakálová is a Slovak stage and television actress. As well as parts in television series and films, she has performed in productions at the Slovak National Theater.

Ľudovít Rajter

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1906-2000 (aged 94)
Occupations: conductorcomposer
Biography: Ľudovít Rajter was a Hungarian composer and conductor from Slovakia. The Rajter family immigrated to Hungary from South Germany, but were of Dutch origin.

Lucia Piussi

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1971-.. (age 53)
Occupations: actorsinger
Biography: Lucia Piussi is a Slovak actress and rock singer. She has played Bratislava's Stoka Theatre often, and is the frontwoman of rock band Živé kvety. Piussi studied at the Academy of Performing Arts (VŠMU) in Bratislava.

Attila Mokos

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1964-.. (age 60)
Enrolled in the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava: Studied in 1993
Occupations: stage actortelevision actorfilm actoractor
Biography: Attila Mokos is a Slovak actor who holds Hungarian nationality. He is a two-time winner of the Best Actor award at the Sun in a Net Awards, having won it in 2010 for his role in Soul at Peace, and again in 2014 for his role in the 2013 film Fine, Thanks (Ďakujem, dobře).

Szilvia Varga

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1966-.. (age 58)
Enrolled in the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava: Studied in 1987-1991
Occupations: actor
Biography: Silvia Vargová is a Slovak-Hungarian actress who mainly works in theatre. She has also done voice acting and appeared in films and on television.

Dagmar Bruckmayerová

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1969-.. (age 55)
Occupations: actor
Biography: Dagmar Bruckmayerová is a Slovak actress. She was born in Bratislava. She is of partially Hungarian origin on her father's side.

Alexandra Salmela

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1980-.. (age 44)
Occupations: writer
Biography: Alexandra Salmela is a Slovak author, best known for her Finnish novel 27 eli kuolema tekee taiteilijan (2010), for which she won a Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize, and was nominated for a Finlandia Prize. In 2013, Salmela published the storybook Giraffe Mum and Other Silly Adults. The book was also published simultaneously in Slovakia. It was nominated for the Arvid Lydecken Prize. Salmela's second novel, The Antihero, was published in September 2015.

Petra Polnišová

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1976-.. (age 48)
Occupations: actorwriter
Biography: Petra Brocková is a Slovak actress and stand-up comedian. She is the holder of six OTO Awards.

Marko Škop

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1974-.. (age 50)
Enrolled in the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava: Studied in 2005
Occupations: documentarianfilm directorscreenwriter
Biography: Marko Škop is a Slovak film director.

Peter Dufka

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1963-.. (age 61)
Occupations: musicologistCatholic priest
Biography: ThDr. PaedDr. Mgr. art. Peter Dufka, PhD, SJ is Slovak Roman Catholic priest, Professor at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, Radio Vatican co-worker and Pro-Rector of Collegium Russicum (since 31 January 2017).

Štefan Hoza

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1906-1982 (aged 76)
Occupations: writeropera singerlibrettistactorpedagogue
Biography: Štefan Hoza was a Slovak operatic tenor, actor, librettist, educator, music publicist, and historian.

Igor Ciel

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1931-2010 (aged 79)
Occupations: film directorscreenwriteruniversity teacheractor
Biography: Igor Ciel was a Slovak film and theatre director, screenwriter, and actor.

Jana Beňová

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1974-.. (age 50)
Occupations: journalistpoetprose writerwriter
Biography: Jana Beňová is a Slovakian poet and novelist. She studied at the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Bratislava, graduating with a degree in dramaturgy in 1998. She wrote for a number of local publications, including Dotyky, Fragment and Slovenské Pohľady. She also worked for the daily newspaper SME under a pseudonym. At present, she works at the Theatre Institute in Bratislava.

Iveta Grófová

Born in: Slovakia
Years: 1980-.. (age 44)
Occupations: producerdirectorscreenwriter
Biography: Iveta Grófová is a Slovak film director. She studied at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (VŠMU). Her directorial debut was the 2012 film Made in Ash, which was nominated as Slovakia's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Grófová's second film, Piata loď, was screened at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival. It went on to be nominated in 10 categories at the 2018 Sun in a Net Awards.