Goran Višnjić (/ˈvɪʃnjɪtʃ/ VISH-nyitch; Croatian pronunciation:
[É¡oran Ê‹iʃɲitÉ•]; born September 9, 1972) is a Croatianâ€"American
actor who has appeared in American and British films and television
productions. He is best known in the United States for his roles as
Dr. Luka KovaÄ on ER and Garcia Flynn on Timeless, both NBC
television series. For ER, he and his cast were nominated for two
Screen Actors Guild Awards. He is the son-in-law of Croatian film
director and former head of Croatian Radiotelevision (1991â€"95),
Antun Vrdoljak. He moved to the United States in the late
1990s.Višnjić was born in Šibenik. He has one sibling, an elder
brother, Joško. His father, Željko, was a bus driver, and his
mother, Milka, worked in a market. He appeared in plays throughout his
childhood and made his screen debut at age 16 in the controversial
Yugoslav film, Braća po materi (1988), playing a young Ustaša.In
1990, at the age of 18, Višnjić was drafted to serve his one-year
military obligation in the Yugoslavian army, and volunteered as a
paratrooper. Only weeks after his military discharge in 1991, as
Yugoslavia began to dissolve, he joined the nascent Croatian Ground
Army. After leaving the army, he moved to Zagreb to study at the
Academy of Dramatic Art.Višnjić was the youngest actor to be chosen
for the title role in Shakespeare's Hamlet at the Dubrovnik Summer
Theatre Festival. Originally cast as Laertes and understudy to Hamlet,
he took over the role when the star dropped out of the production
shortly before the first performance. He portrayed the doomed prince
from 1994 to 2000, winning several Orlando Awards (the equivalent of
the Tony Award). During an episode of ER, he demonstrated his
expertise in the part of Hamlet, by reciting an excerpt from the "To
be, or not to be" soliloquy in Croatian.
[É¡oran Ê‹iʃɲitÉ•]; born September 9, 1972) is a Croatianâ€"American
actor who has appeared in American and British films and television
productions. He is best known in the United States for his roles as
Dr. Luka KovaÄ on ER and Garcia Flynn on Timeless, both NBC
television series. For ER, he and his cast were nominated for two
Screen Actors Guild Awards. He is the son-in-law of Croatian film
director and former head of Croatian Radiotelevision (1991â€"95),
Antun Vrdoljak. He moved to the United States in the late
1990s.Višnjić was born in Šibenik. He has one sibling, an elder
brother, Joško. His father, Željko, was a bus driver, and his
mother, Milka, worked in a market. He appeared in plays throughout his
childhood and made his screen debut at age 16 in the controversial
Yugoslav film, Braća po materi (1988), playing a young Ustaša.In
1990, at the age of 18, Višnjić was drafted to serve his one-year
military obligation in the Yugoslavian army, and volunteered as a
paratrooper. Only weeks after his military discharge in 1991, as
Yugoslavia began to dissolve, he joined the nascent Croatian Ground
Army. After leaving the army, he moved to Zagreb to study at the
Academy of Dramatic Art.Višnjić was the youngest actor to be chosen
for the title role in Shakespeare's Hamlet at the Dubrovnik Summer
Theatre Festival. Originally cast as Laertes and understudy to Hamlet,
he took over the role when the star dropped out of the production
shortly before the first performance. He portrayed the doomed prince
from 1994 to 2000, winning several Orlando Awards (the equivalent of
the Tony Award). During an episode of ER, he demonstrated his
expertise in the part of Hamlet, by reciting an excerpt from the "To
be, or not to be" soliloquy in Croatian.
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