- Born
- Height6′ 1″ (1.85 m)
- European actor Branko Tomovic was born in Muenster, Germany, though his actual origin is from the Carpathians in Serbia. His parents emigrated in the 70s from the Golubac Fortress area on the Danube and Branko was raised between Germany and Serbia before he studied acting at the prestigious Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York City. Tomovic was first seen on the big screen in the lead role of the award winning American Film Institute/Sundance drama Remote Control (2001), for which he received the OmU-Award at the Potsdam Film Festival. Now currently settled in London, with his dark, brooding looks he has appeared in striking roles on British Television. He played the creepy main suspect Antoni Pricha, the Morgue Man, in Jack the Ripper thriller Whitechapel (2009), the pyromaniac Junky-Henchman Marek Lisowski in the final episodes of A Touch of Frost (1992) and Polish fighter pilot Miroslaw Feric in WW2 drama The Untold Battle of Britain (2010). He has been named "One to watch" by Moviescope Magazine and worked with internationally respected film directors as Ken Loach, Sönke Wortmann and Paul Greengrass. In 2010, he won the 'Best Actor' Award at the San Francisco Short Film Festival and at The Accolade Film Awards for his performance as a Serbian soldier who is tormented by grief and guilt after being a witness of war crimes in the drama Inbetween (2008). He also stars opposite Debbie Harry in Jimi Cauty 's Road movie Believe the Magic (2012) and 'Steve Stone' 's ghost thriller Entity (2012) with Dervla Kirwan and Charlotte Riley. Entity won two awards at the London Independent Film Festival 2013 and Best Film at the British Horror Film Festival where Branko was also nominated for Best Actor. The British Filmmakers Alliance honoured him as Best International Actor for his role. He is set to play the title character of Nikola Tesla in the upcoming bio-pic Tesla. In 2014, he played Jack Bauer's right hand man, the mysterious and dangerous Belcheck, next to Kiefer Sutherland in 24: Live Another Day. He was also seen opposite Brad Pitt and Logan Lerman in David Ayer's WWII drama Fury. In 2016 Tomovic made his directorial debut with Red, a short dark thriller set in the underground world of illegal organ trade. Branko stars in the lead role Niklas alongside Dervla Kirwan and Francesca Fowler. The Film has played numerous prestigious festivals, e.g. screening at the San Diego International Film Festival, Tangier International Film Festival, the European Film Award qualifying International Short Film Festival in Drama, and picking up awards and nominations at Kraljevski Filmski Festival, the Maverick Movie Awards and Naperville Independent Film Festival, and other BAFTA and European Film Award qualifying festivals. His second film as a writer/director, The Smell of Petrol, deals with human trafficking and the current refugee crisis. It world premiered at Oldenburg Film Festival in 2018 and won Best UK Short Film Special Mention at Winchester Film Festival and the Grand Prix Festival Award at Jahorina Film Festival and several selections and nominations at BFI Future Film, BAFTA and European Film Award qualifying festivals. His feature debut as a writer/director is the European arthouse horror film Vampir in which he also stars in. It had the world premiere at Sitges International Film Festival October 2021 in the New Visions competition, followed by the UK premiere at Raindance Film Festival and Trieste Science+Fiction where it was nominated for a Silver Melies Award as Best European Fantastic Film. Tomovic won the Oscull Award for his special contribution to film art at the Festival of Serbian Fantastic Film and was nominated for the German Cinema New Talent Award (Förderpreis Neues Deutsches Kino) as well as for the Hof Gold Prize (Hofer Goldpreis) at the prestigious 56th Hof International Film Festival in Germany.- IMDb Mini Biography By: J.M.
- Red birthmark
- Besides English he also speaks perfect German and Serbo-Croatian, some Russian and knows how to curse in French.
- Is of Serbian descent.
- Named 'One to Watch' by movieScope Magazine in 2008.
- His red birthmark resembles the map of the Bermuda Triangle.
- The Slavic name Branko hails in Eastern Europe from Bran Castle, also known as Dracula's Castle and means 'Glorious defender'.
- [movieScope Magazine September 2008, on what kind of roles attract him] I'm usually drawn to darker, grittier material. I'm attracted by broken people, tormented characters and lost souls. I usually find myself playing the "guys with sad eyes". Instead of going to a shrink you can let that all out in front of the camera and still hide behind the name of your character. A dream for me would be portraying Nikola Tesla, the Serbian inventor.
- [Hijack Hollywood Magazine January 2010, on what inspired him] I remember seeing David Lynch's Blue Velvet as a child and was absolutely amazed by it. I was stunned by the actors' performances and Lynch's vision, and ever since I knew that I wanted to work in film. It was some sort of powerful and overwhelming feeling cause I had never seen anything like that before. I know that I was way to young to be seeing such a movie back then but Lynch's description of Kyle MacLachlan "The boy next door, if that boy spent lots of time alone in the basement" also perfectly applied to me and maybe that's why I am still more drawn to darker and gritty material.
- [Flickering Myth Interview 2014, on inspiration] I have always been fascinated by the human mind, psychology and different personalities. I love character work, complex and unconventional stuff. I think that's why I chose to become an actor in the first place - to live many lives.
- [Flickering Myth Interview 2014, on David Lynch's lasting impression] I saw Blue Velvet when I was around 13, probably a bit too young to be watching such a movie. I felt absolutely mesmerised; it was so different, beautiful, mysterious and twisted. The weird story from finding that severed ear in the grass to the wonderful night club scenes and of course Dennis Hopper's psychotic villain. The music, the cinematography, the storytelling, the visuals and surrealism - everything Lynch did with that movie. The scene with Dean Stockwell mouthing the words to Roy Orbison's In Dreams into that work light and then Dennis Hopper's exploding psychotic rage is still so haunting. Lynch described Kyle MacLachlan as 'the boy next door, if that boy spent lots of time alone in the basement' which I thought also applied to me in a way and maybe that's why I am still more drawn to darker and gritty material.
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