Ivan Kamaras (born 22 December 1972)https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0436442 Biography at imdb.com. Accessed 18 February 2011. is a Hungarian actor who became first known worldwide for his role as Agent Steel in the 2008 superhero fantasy thriller Hellboy II: The Golden Army, directed by Guillermo del Toro.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0411477 www.imdb.com entry for Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Accessed 21 February 2011. Kamaras voices the title character in the 2018 Hungarian animated feature Ruben Brandt, Collector.
Personal life Kamarás was born and raised in Pécs, Hungary.www.imdb.com/name/nm0436442/ Biography on imdb.com. Accessed 20 February 2011. His mother, Teodóra Uhrik, and his stepfather, Pál Lovas, were both ballet dancers, and much of his childhood was spent in theatres.www.baranyanet.hu "Many times, we took him with us to rehearsals": Interview with Pál Lovas, baranyanet.hu. Accessed 20 February 2011. When he was seven, the family acquired a recording of the 1980 BBC production of Hamlet starring Derek Jacobi as Hamlet and Patrick Stewart as Claudius. Kamarás fell in love with the role of Hamlet and within two or three years had learned Hamlet's monologues from the play by heart. He was in elementary school when he became a regular member of an amateur acting company and by the time he was in high school he played his first serious role in a performance of the Pecs Chamber Theater.www.origo.hu Interview with Kamaras on 17 June 2005. Accessed 24 February 2011. From 1991 to 1995, he studied at the Academy of Theatre and Film in Budapest.
After gaining experience with major theatrical companies and alternative theater groups, he emerged as one of Hungary's prominent actors. Despite continuing stage performances at various theaters until 2009, a growing passion for film led him to shift his focus. Seeking international exposure, he decided to relocate to the United States. Initially delving into directing, he later enrolled in filmmaking and acting courses, honing his skills for several years. Drawing from his combined Hungarian and American education and practical experience, he now imparts his knowledge by teaching acting classes at the inaugural accredited Hungarian school dedicated to training movie actors, which opened its doors to students in the fall of 2012.Webpage of "Go to Casting!" Film Acting School Tanárok (Teachers) (Accessed 14 April 2015)Kamarás Iván Go to piknik! , sztarklikk.hu - 29 August 2013
His hobbies include sports and fitness training. He likes to promote charitable causes. Since 2014 he has been an Ambassador for the "Keznyom" campaign of SOS Children's Villages in Hungary.Szily Nóra: Kamarás Iván: "Másoknak megfelelni nem ment annyira", life.hu - 6 August 2014Kamarás Iván keresi az utat önmagához, velvet.hu - 18 July 2005G.Zs.: Nagykövet lett Kamarás Iván, nlc.hu - 7 Oktober 2014
Career
Theatre From 1995 until 1997 he was a member of the Budapest Chamber Theatre,www.budapestiKamaraszinhaz.hu Website of the Budapest Chamber Theatre. Accessed 18 February 2011. between 1997 and 2008 a member of the Comedy Theatre of Budapest. He won widespread admiration for his first role playing Othello at the age of 23 in 1995.www.szinhaz.net/pdf/1996_04.pdf "Bérczes László: A Gyermek Halála: Othello: Kamaras Ivan". Review of Othello in the Hungarian theatre newspaper szinhaz.net. Accessed 20 February 2011. Also, www.criticailapok.hu, obituary and retrospective of the work of the director, Jozsef Ruszt. Accessed 24 February 2011. Also, www.youtube.com, full performance of Othello on YouTube. For the Budapest Chamber Theatre he has also starred as Horst in Martin Sherman’s Bent (1996),A listing of theatre roles undertaken by Kamaras and verified by the Hungarian Theatre Museum and Institute can be found at www.ivankamaras.com and also at hu.wikipedia.org. Accessed 18 February 2011. Treplyov in Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull (1997),www.origo.hu Kamaras Ivan: "Nem bántam meg semmit": Interview with Kamaras on 17 June 2005 which refers to The Seagull. Accessed 24 February 2011. Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire in 1999 (a role he had previously played for the National Theatre of Győr in 1997),www.terasz.hu "Magnified shadow", by Andrea Stuber, interview with Kamaras in which he discusses playing Stanley, Brick, Antony in Antony and Cleopatra and Othello. Accessed 24 February 2011. Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (1998), and James Tyrone Jr in A Moon for the Misbegotten by Eugene O’Neill (2003).velvet.hu "Kamaras Ivan szerelmes a motorjába": interview with Kamaras which refers to his role in A Moon for the Misbegotten, 18 May 2004. Accessed 24 February 2011.
For the Comedy Theatre of Budapest he has played Wayne in Ben Elton’s Popcorn (1998), Alyosha in an adaptation of Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov (1999), Edmund in King Lear (2001), Su Fu in Brecht’s The Good Person of Szechwan (2001), Raskolnikov in an adaptation of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment (2001), Eugenio in The Coffee House by Carlo Goldoni (2005), Benedict in Much Ado About Nothing (2007),https://cosmopolitan.hu/ "Shakespeare: Sok hűhó semmiért", article in Cosmopolitan about Much Ado About Nothing in 14 February 2008. Accessed 24 February 2011. and Trofimov and Pjotr Sergeyevich in The Cherry Orchard (2007).
He has also played Julien Sorel in an adaptation of The Red and the Black by Stendhal for Gyor National Theatre (1995),Kurir, 28 November 1995, "Tombszoroset adja": interview with Kamaras in Hungarian newspaper Kurir. Accessed 24 February 2011. Brick in Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2000) for the Pest Theatre, Antony in Antony and Cleopatra (2002) for the Pest Theatre, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester in Friedrich Schiller’s Mary Stuart (2006) for the Pest Theatre,www.kontextus.hu Cast list for Mary Stuart. Accessed 24 February 2011. Christian in Festen for the Pest Theatre (2006), Jamie in Jason Robert Brown’s one-act musical two-hander The Last Five Years for the Palace of the Arts (2007), a role he debuted in Hungary,www.xpatloop.com/news "Unconventional Musical on Palace of Arts Programme." Accessed 21 February 2011. and Ruy Blas in the Szeged National Theatre production of Victor Hugo's Ruy Blas (2009).
Film
Aside from his role as Agent Steel in Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Kamarás has had an extensive career in Hungarian cinema. Notable roles have included the hit bedroom farce Out of Order (1997),www.imdb.com/title/tt0119677 Imdb.com entry for A miniszter félrelép (1997). Accessed 21 February 2011. in which he played a jealous boxer in pursuit of his errant girlfriend and her politician lover, the thriller Európa expressz (1999), in which he played Jimmy, a man who becomes caught up in events when the train he is in is hijacked by a Russian mafia boss, and more recently the cult comedy GlassTiger 3 (2010),www.imdb.com/title/tt1683040 Imdb.com entry for GlassTiger 3 (2010). Accessed 21 February 2011. in which he played Ferenc Csopkai, a rich lawyer who pursues the bumbling heroes after they steal his car and with it a huge sum in cash. In 2013 Kamarás starred in the film Outpost: Rise of the Spetsnaz.
Television In addition to Silent Witness – in which his character, detective Tibor Orban, helped to uncover a baby-farming racket in Budapest while trying to track down series regular, forensic pathologist Dr Harry Cunninghamwww.guardian.co.uk "Silent Witness: has the BBC gone Harry potty?", article in The Guardian newspaper 26 January 2011. Accessed 24 February 2011. – Kamarás has played Pipin, the son of Charlemagne, in the miniseries Charlemagne (1993); Louis II, King of Hungary, in the costume drama Mohacs (1995); Ivan, a man who becomes obsessed on his wedding day with his newly met twin sister in Alice and the Seven Wolves (2009);hmdb.com Hungarian Film & TV database. Accessed 20 February 2011. and the machiavellian nightclub owner and antihero Evil in the 10-part drama First Generation (2001). He was also the creative force behind Mobile Poem, a series of poetry readings done by notable Hungarian actors and filmed on mobile phone, which screened on the Hungarian TV channel MTV1 in 2009.www.ivankamaras.com Taken from ivankamaras.com. Accessed on 20 February 2011. In January 2011, he played a Hungarian detective, Tibor Orban, in Bloodlines, the fourth episode in the 14th series of the BBC crime drama Silent Witness.www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00y4xbl BBC One programmes - cast list for Silent Witness. Accessed 20 February 2011. In 2014 he played the role of Rasputin in the two-part History Channel miniseries Houdini.Jennifer Lafferty Adrien Brody Will Star in 'Houdini' Miniseries stack.com - 18 August 2014
Music He has released two solo pop albums – Bombajó (2000),www.allmusic.hu Bombajó, accessed 21 February 2011; also www.ivankamaras.com , accessed 23 April 2011. and Revelation (2005)www.ivankamaras.com Revelation. Accessed 23 April 2011. – and been a contributor to two others, So We Sing (2003) and Actor Songs (2009).
Directing Kamarás has shot an experimental film on his mobile phone, Sigh,The opening 12 minutes of Sigh can be viewed here . Accessed 26 April 2011. which was inspired by the Yukio Mishima drama Aoi no Ue and which screened at the Hungarian Film Festival in 2005 and the Moziünnep film festival in 2006.www.mancs.hu "Nincs megörökítve a munkánk" - Interview with Kamarás about Sigh in Magyar Narancs online 23 August 2007. Accessed 24 February 2011, and "Kamaras Ivan szokatlan kísérlete" at terminal.hu, interview with Kamaras on 10 August 2007. Accessed on 24 February 2011. He undertook a course in directing at UCLA in 2009 and in the same year directed a production of Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin at Keszthely Castle, Hungary.www.ivankamaras.com Accessed 21 February 2011.
Awards Szinikritikusok critics’ award (1996) for Othello,Színházi Kritikusok Céhe weboage: Színikritikusok díja 1995/1996 Andor Ajtay memorial award (2000), given annually to the best actor and actress in the Comedy Theatre of Budapest,The winner of the Andor Ajtay memorial award vigszinhaz.hu Hegedűs Gyula award (2000) for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,The winner of the Hegedűs Gyula award vigszinhaz.hu Súgó Csiga díj (2003) a prize for most popular actor voted for by audiences, Mari Jászai Award (2006) a state award given in recognition for acting excellence, is the premier award of national dramatic artists,State honors and art awards - 2006, theater.hu - 16 marc 2006 VII. National Theatre Festival of Pécs (2007) for best male actor of the year award for Festen,VII. POSzT winners , archiv.poszt.hu (hozzáférés: 2015. március 26.)http://www.storyonline.hu/hircikk/kamaras/2240/ "Kamaras Ivan kerüli a pszichológust": interview with Kamarás on 14 July 2007 in which he discusses some of his awards. A listing of his awards is also available at :hu:Kamarás Iván, Accessed 24 February 2011. Gold Medallion Award (2012) actor of the year audience awardMészáros Márton: Bodrogi Gyula életműdíjat kapott, filmtekercs.hu - 14 December 2012
Theatrical roles Number of his registered theatrical presentations in the Hungarian Theatre Database : 56.Hungarian Theatre Database: Performance database (Performances = Előadások) , 26 March 2015