Bio
Rade Serbedzija (often credited as Rade Sherbedgia) is a Croatian actor, director and musician best known for his recurring role as former Soviet Army General Dmitri Gredenko in the sixth season of the action television series 24, in 2007.
He also had a starring role as Andrei Petrov, Marta's father who is an organised crime boss and rival of Schiller, in the short-lived crime drama television series Red Widow, in 2013.
Croatian-born and internationally renowned actor Rade Serbedzija is considered one of the finest stage and screen actors of his time. For several decades he has enjoyed a successful film career in his home country of the former Yugoslavia, appearing in over 40 films.
He received his first major film role during his first year as a student at the Academy of Dramatic Arts, University of Zagreb. Traditionally students were not allowed to do professional work until graduating from the four-year program, but an exception was made for Serbedzija.
Since then he has appeared in countless acting roles and is heralded as Yugoslavia's definitive Hamlet.
Serbedzija gained international exposure in the Oscar-nominated Pred Dozhdot / Before the Rain (1994), which earned ten awards at the 1994 Venice Film Festival, including the Grand Prix Golden Lion, with Serbedzija also winning the festival's Critics' Award for Best Actor.
From there he went on to star in Italy's La Tregua (1997) and, beginning with the 1997 Hollywood adventure film The Saint, increased his presence in American films tenfold.
His filmography includes Mighty Joe Young (1998), Polish Wedding (1998), Eyes Wide Shut (1999) and Mission: Impossible II (2000). Other film credits include his role as Gregorovitch in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (2010), Batman Begins (2010), X-Men: First Class (2011) and Taken 2 (2012), starring alongside Liam Neeson.
Television appearances include the 2001 ABC made-for-television movie, South Pacific, as Emile de Becque opposite Glenn Close, and playing Dmitri Gredenko on the Season 6 of 24.
Serbedzija is married to theatre director Lenka Udovicki. In 2000 they founded the Ulysses Theatre Festival on the Croatian island of Brijuni. The mission of the non-profit is to bring diverse, international artists together to exchange creative ideas and build bridges between cultures and nations.
In their 2012 production of King Lear, Serbedzija played the titular role and his real-life daughters, Lucija and Nina, played Lear's daughters, Regan and Cordelia.
In 2012, Serbedzija appeared in 72 Days, Croatia's Oscar entry and the directorial film debut of his son, Danilo. For his role Serbedzija received the Pula Film Festival's coveted Golden Arena for Best Actor.
Other awards include the Golden Arena for Best Actor for the 1978 film, Bravo Maestro, the Best Actor Award at the 2007 Rome Film Festival for Fugitive Places, as well as Satellite and Genie Award nominations for the same role.
Fluent in Italian, Serbedzija was a professor of Acting at Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, Serbia. He also plays guitar, has written and published a non-fiction book, four poetry books, and released five albums.