Vilim "Vili" Matula (born 5 March 1962) is a Croatian actor, director, civil activist and politician. He serves as a representative in the

Croatian Parliament The Croatian Parliament ( hr, Hrvatski sabor) or the Sabor is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Croatia. Under the terms of the Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the people and is vested with legislative power. The Sabor ...

for green-left coalition We Can!. Some of Matula's best known acting roles include the Croatian and Yugoslav works '' S.P.U.K.'', ''

Infection An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

'', and ''

100 Minutes of Glory ''100 Minutes of Glory'' ( hr, Sto minuta Slave) is a 2004 Croatian biographical drama film directed by Dalibor Matanić. Cast * Sanja Vejnović as Slava Raškaj * Miki Manojlović as Bela Čikoš Sesija * Vili Matula as Rapacki * Nataša Lušeti� ...

''. Internationally, he has appeared in '' Wallenberg: A Hero's Story'', '' Schindler's List'' and ''

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead ''Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead'' is an absurdist, existential tragicomedy by Tom Stoppard, first staged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1966. The play expands upon the exploits of two minor characters from Shakespeare's ''Haml ...

''. He is a drama champion in the Kerempuh Satirical Theatre in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

Early life

Matula attended elementary and high school in Zagreb and was a member of the College of the Zagreb Youth Theatre. In 1978, Matula started his own theatre group, "Domaći" before enrolling in the Academy of Dramatic Art in 1980. After graduating in 1985, he joined Zagreb's Comedy Theatre. In 1988, Matula co-founded Zagreb's Acting Studio intended for developing acting skills by applying different techniques and methods such as the

Strasberg Strasberg is a surname. Notable persons with this name include: * Susan Strasberg (1938–1999), American stage, film, and television actress, daughter of Lee and Paula *Lee Strasberg (1901–1982), Polish-born American actor, director, and theatr ...

Method, the Chekhov Technique, Meyerhold's Biomechanics, and the Alexander Technique. In 1993, Matula attended the Summer Acting Programme at the

Royal National Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. From 1987 to 1997, he was employed at the drama ensemble of the Zagreb Youth Theatre (, ZKM).

Career

Acting

In 2000, he participated in the launching of the Boal Forum Theatre in response to an invitation by

theatrologist Theatre studies (sometimes referred to as theatrology or dramatics) is the study of theatrical performance in relation to its literary, physical, psychobiological, sociological, and historical contexts. It is an interdisciplinary field which also e ...

and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

critic Nataša Govedić. In 2001, Matula started his collaboration with Damir Bartol Indoš and The House of Extreme Music Theatre – Kugla (Swinging, Man-Wolf, Chinese Roulette, Green, Green, iCefas). In 2008, he appeared in the ''Metastases'' play adaptation, for which he won

Marul Marul is a village in Municipality of Prilep, North Macedonia. It used to be part of the former municipality of Topolčani Topolcani ( mk, Тополчани) is a village in the Prilep Municipality of North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; ...

and a Croatian Theatre Award. For the supporting role, he was nominated for an Apollo Prize at the Belgrade Culture Festival. On film, Matula has appeared in ''

Tranquilizer Gun A dart gun is an air rifle that fires a dart. The dart is tipped with a hypodermic needle and filled with a tranquilizer, vaccine, or antibiotic. A dart gun containing a tranquillizer is called a tranquillizer gun ( also spelled tranquilizer, tra ...

'', ''

Is It Clear, My Friend? ''Is It Clear, My Friend?'' (''Je li jasno, prijatelju?'') is a Croatian film directed by Dejan Aćimović Dejan Aćimović (born 20 May 1963) is a Bosnian-Croatian actor and film director. He was born in Čapljina, SFR Yugoslavia, now ...

'', ''

Long Dark Night ''Long Dark Night'' ( hr, Duga mračna noć) is a 2004 Croatian film dealing with World War II in Croatia and its aftermath. It was directed by Antun Vrdoljak and starred Goran Višnjić. It was Croatia's submission to the 77th Academy Awards for ...

'' and ''Šuma summarum''. For his role in the Matanić-directed ''100 Minutes of Glory'', Matula won the Best Supporting Actor at the Pula Film Festival. He has also appeared in international productions including the

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

-winning '' Wallenberg: A Hero's Story'', starring

Richard Chamberlain George Richard Chamberlain (born March 31, 1934) is an American actor and singer, who became a teen idol in the title role of the television show ''Dr. Kildare'' (1961–1966). He subsequently appeared in several TV mini-series, such as ''Shōg ...

, the

Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

historical drama '' Schindler's List'' (1993) and the 1990 ''

'', where he played

Horatio Horatio is an English male given name, an Italianized form of the ancient Roman Latin '' nomen'' (name) '' Horatius'', from the Roman '' gens'' (clan) '' Horatia''. The modern Italian form is ''Orazio'', the modern Spanish form ''Horacio''. It app ...

. His television work includes guest roles on ''

Zakon! ''Zakon!'' is a Croatian sitcom, produced by Interfilm and originally aired in 2009 by Croatian Radiotelevision, a satirical comedy about police business in a fictional Croatian backcountry with elements of the absurd, combined with references to ...

'', ''

Naša mala klinika Naša mala klinika (Our Little Clinic) was a Slovenian comedy series broadcast by Pop TV respectively, between 2004 and 2007. Seven seasons were broadcast. The series was written by Marko Pokorn, Rok Vilčnik and Branko Đurić "Đuro", who also ...

'' and ''Žutokljunac''. Matula has also filmed and produced several television specials and shorts for the Motovun Film Festival. Matula has recorded several hundred

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

s. His

spoken word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...

discography includes reciting

August Šenoa August Ivan Nepomuk Eduard Šenoa (; originally Schönoa; 14 November 1838 – 13 December 1881) was a Croatian novelist. Born to an ethnic German and Slovak family, Šenoa became a key figure in the development of an independent literary tradi ...

Ivan Goran Kovačić Ivan Goran Kovačić (; 21 March 1913 – 12 July 1943) was a Croatian poet and writer. Early life and background He was born in Lukovdol (part of Vrbovsko), a town in Gorski Kotar, to a Croat father, Ivan Kovačić, and Transylvanian Jewi ...

, Ante Kovačić,

Vladimir Nazor Vladimir Nazor (30 May 1876 – 19 June 1949) was a Croatian poet and politician. During and after World War II in Yugoslavia, he served as the first President of the Presidium of the Croatian Parliament (Croatian head of state), and first Sp ...

and Miroslav Krleža. He has provided vocals for the ''Punk Cabaret'' album by Stanislav Kovačić, on three songs. In animation, he has voiced several characters on the Croatian-American venture ''

The Elm-Chanted Forest ''The Elm-Chanted Forest'' (''Čudesna šuma'') is a 1986 Croatian-American animated musical film; in the U.S., it is also known as ''Fantasy Forest''. It was the first full-length film directed by Milan Blažeković, and also the first animated f ...

''. In Croatian dubs, he voiced Chum in the Croatian dub of ''

Finding Nemo ''Finding Nemo'' is a 2003 American computer-animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Andrew Stanton with co-direction by Lee Unkrich, the screenplay was writ ...

'' (2003) and Sterling in '' Cars 3'' (2017).

Politics

Matula was a member of the League of Communists of Croatia, as well as delegate in the 11th and final convention of the Central Committee of the League of Communist of Croatia, which resulted in the first democratic elections in 1989 the Socialist Republic of Croatia, then part of SFR Yugoslavia. Matula has opposed the

Right to the city The right to the city is an idea and a slogan first proposed by Henri Lefebvre in his 1968 book . This idea has been taken up more recently by social movements, thinkers, and certain progressive local authorities as a call to action to reclaim th ...

movement called PravoNaGRAD in Zagreb and neo-fascism. He's one of the founders of the Actor's union, of which he was also a president. Matula is a member of the coordinating committee of Zagreb is OURS! (Zagreb je NAŠ!) the progressive citizen platform that registered as a green-municipalist party. In the Zagreb municipal elections in 2017, Matula entered as a candidate in the borough council of

Donji grad Donji grad ("Lower Town") may refer to: * Donji grad, Zagreb, Croatia * Donji grad, Osijek, Croatia * Donji Grad, Zemun, Serbia See also * Gornji Grad (disambiguation) * Stari Grad (disambiguation) * Novi Grad (disambiguation) * Grad (toponymy) ...

in Central Zagreb as vice president. His reports included council suppression, corruptive and manipulative behavior of city authorities. In 2019 he became a founding member of the citizen platform We can! (Možemo!) that formed a green-left coalition for the 2020 parliamentary election where is presented as one of the candidates. He was elected in the Croatian Parliament together with 6 other members of the Coalition. In 2017, Matula signed the Declaration on the Common Language of the

Croats The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, G ...

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

Bosniaks The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry ...

and Montenegrins.Signatories of the Declaration on the Common Language
official website, retrieved on 2018-08-16.

Selected filmography

Television

Film

Awards

* 1988: Orestija Award for ''Orestija'' * 1989: Dubravko Dujšin, Veljko Maričić and Golden Laughter Award for the play ''Dekadencija'' * 1998: Veljko Maričić, Mila Dimitrijević,

and Croatian Theatre Award for Best Actor and Best Monodrama for "Münchhausen" * 2004:

Golden Arena for Best Supporting Actor The Golden Arena for Best Supporting Actor is an annual award, given by the Pula-based cinema circle at the Pula Film Festival, to honour the actors who gave outstanding performances in a supporting role. The Golden Arena is considered the Balkan ...

* 2008: Marul and a Croatian Theatre Award for his supporting role in

Metastases Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, ...

* 2010:

and Golden Laughter Award at the Kerempuh Satire Festival for ''Balon'' * 2010: Orlando Award at the

Dubrovnik Summer Festival The Dubrovnik Summer Festival ( hr, Dubrovačke ljetne igre; is an annually-held summer festival instituted in 1950 in Dubrovnik, Croatia. It is held every year between 10 July and 25 August. On more than 70 open-air venues of Renaissance-Baroq ...

for his lead role in Gogol's Revizor * 2019: Apollo Prize and the Marul Award for Best Actor in ''Govori glasnije!''

References

External links

*
Biography on the website of Kerempuh Satirical Theater
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matula, Vili 1962 births Living people Male actors from Zagreb 21st-century Croatian male actors 20th-century Croatian male actors Croatian actor-politicians Croatian male actors Croatian male television actors Croatian male film actors Croatian male stage actors Croatian male voice actors Croatian theatre directors Croatian comedians Croatian dramatists and playwrights Croatian Theatre Award winners Vladimir Nazor Award winners Signatories of the Declaration on the Common Language Croatian LGBT rights activists Representatives in the modern Croatian Parliament Politicians from Zagreb Theatre people from Zagreb