János Kulka (born 11 November 1958) is a Hungarian actor. He appeared in more than fifty films since 1980, and is a leading stage actor of his generation in Hungary. He received the Kossuth and Jászai Mari Prize; he is an eternal member of the Society of Immortals.

Early life

Kulka was born in Budapest, but spent most of his childhood in

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

, where his father, Frigyes Kulka was an internationally acclaimed surgeon. His father came from Ipolyság (currently Šahy in Slovakia), and was a Holocaust survivor, who lost his family during the war. His mother, Eszter Boleman was recruited as an anchorwoman for the first experimental television broadcasts in Hungary, but the revolution in 1956 interrupted her career. His sister, Janina Kulka is a full professor of pathology at the

Semmelweis University Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (; hu, Semmelweis Ignác Fülöp ; 1 July 1818 – 13 August 1865) was a Hungarian physician and scientist, who was an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures. Described as the "saviour of mothers", he discovered that t ...

Career

He started his career as a child actor at the

National Theatre of Szeged The National Theatre of Szeged is the main theatre of Szeged, Hungary. It was built in 1883 by the well-known company of Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer in Eclectic and Neo-baroque style. Theatre in Szeged The last decades of the 19th cen ...

, and wanted to study liberal arts, but eventually changed his mind and was admitted to the

Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest The Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest ( hu, Színház- és Filmművészeti Egyetem, SZFE) is an educational institution founded in 1865 in Budapest, Hungary. It became a university in 2000 and the name was changed to University of Theatre and F ...

. After his graduation in 1981, he joined the National Theatre of Pécs. In 1985 he signed on to the

Gergely Csiky Theatre The Gergely Csiky Theatre is a theatre in Kaposvár, Hungary. Opening in 1911, the theatre became a major cultural center in Somogy County, with its company achieving their greatest successes between 1970–1985. The building Designed by the w ...

of Kaposvár, which was a leading Hungarian theatre of the time. Kulka considers these years to have a huge impact on his way of acting, and benefitted much from this experience later in his career. From 1993 he was the member of the ''Radnóti Miklós Theatre'' and in 2003 he joined the

Hungarian National Theatre The National Theatre, located in Budapest originally opened in 1837. Since then, it has occupied several locations, including the original building at Kerepesi Street, the ''People's Theatre'' at Blaha Lujza Square, as well as Hevesi Sándor Squ ...

, where he stayed for 10 years. In 2013 he didn't renew his contract mainly due to the departure of Róbert Alföldi, who was the director of the theatre for five years. Between 2013 and 2018 he was the member of the ''Katona József Theatre'' in Budapest. Most Hungarians know Kulka as ''Mágenheim doktor,'' an emergency physician of high principles from the series

Szomszédok ''Szomszédok'' (''Neighbours'') was a Hungarian television series that ran between 1987–1999 and produced 331 episodes, airing its grand finale on December 31, 1999. The series aired on state-owned broadcaster Magyar Televízió (Hungarian Tele ...

''(Neighbours),'' an extremely popular television programme running between 1987 and 1999, depicting the transition of Hungary from socialism into a democratic state. Besides stage acting, he was a prominent voice actor known as the Hungarian voice of

Hugh Laurie James Hugh Calum Laurie (; born 11 June 1959) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and musician. He first gained recognition for his work as one half of the comedy double act Fry and Laurie with Stephen Fry. The two men acted together in a ...

House, M.D. ''House'' (also called ''House, M.D.'') is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on the Fox network for eight seasons, from November 16, 2004, to May 21, 2012. The series' main character is Dr. Gregory House (Hugh L ...

and

Jeremy Irons Jeremy John Irons (; born 19 September 1948) is an English actor and activist. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969 and has appeared in many West End theatre ...

in The Borgias.

Personal life

He publicly came out as gay in 2013. In 2016 he suffered a serious stroke resulting an

aphasia Aphasia is an inability to comprehend or formulate language because of damage to specific brain regions. The major causes are stroke and head trauma; prevalence is hard to determine but aphasia due to stroke is estimated to be 0.1–0.4% in th ...

, which disables his speech and limits his theatrical performances. Ever since he is doing efforts to raise awareness of the disorder.

Selected filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kulka, Janos 1958 births Living people Male actors from Budapest Hungarian male film actors