Karel Roden (born 18 May 1962) is a Czech actor, known for his roles in Hellboy and The Bourne Supremacy, Frankenstein's Army, and his voice work in Grand Theft Auto IV.
Life and career Roden followed his father and grandfather into acting. Roden first graduated from the Comprehensive Art Secondary School for Ceramics before being admitted to the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
Roden's feature film career began almost simultaneous with his theatre work in 1984 as Honza, a medical student in the 2nd part of a trilogy entitled "How the poets are losing their illusions" (Jak básníci přicházejí o iluze), a lighthearted, comic look at life through the lives of young university students. Roden's Honza also appeared in the final installation of the trilogy, "How poets are enjoying their lives" (Jak básníkům chutná život).
Other comic turns include Roden's Captain Tuma in Who's That Soldier?, a humoristic look at life as a soldier in the socialist Czech army, the character Dragan in the action-thriller Dead Fish with Gary Oldman and Terence Stamp. In the comedy crime-thriller Shut Up and Shoot Me, Roden plays the hen-pecked husband hired to assassinate a grieving widow.
During the 1990s, he spent some time in London, which improved his English. He has become known for his character actor roles which began in 2001 when Roden was in the American psychological thriller, 15 Minutes, where he played the criminal Emil Slovak partnered with Oleg Taktarov opposite NYPD cop Eddie Flemming played by Robert De Niro. This was followed by a similar role, as the lawyer Carter Kounen, in the service of a vampire clan, in the movie Blade II in 2002.
This was followed by Bulletproof Monk, where he plays the Nazi megalomaniac Strucker.
His movie roles to date include 15 Minutes (2001), Blade II (2002), Bulletproof Monk (2003), The Bourne Supremacy (2004), as Grigori Rasputin in Hellboy (2004), Running Scared (2006), Largo Winch (2008), RocknRolla (2008), and Orphan (2009). He also played the Russian movie critic Emil Dachevsky in the film Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007). He played Noble Thurzo in Bathory (2008), co-production movie filmed by Slovak director Juraj Jakubisko, A Lonely Place to Die (2011) and a role as the Czech mobster Karel Benes in the TV series McMafia (2019).
For his main character in Guard No. 47, Karel Roden received the Czech Lion Award for Best Actor in Leading Role. 8 years later, he received the same award for the portrayal of Jan Masaryk in A Prominent Patient. He also received Alfréd Radok Award in 1998 for performing Bruno in Le Cocu Magnifique by Fernand Crommelynck. Other notable role was Don Juan in Grabbe's Don Juan and Faust (Divadlo v Dlouhé). He also appeared in two plays with his brother Marian. He was also a member of the Prague National Theatre. In 2019 he was at Theatre Studio DVA.
Roden has voiced Mikhail Faustin and Wade "the Fixer" Johnson in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV.
Filmography Film Year Film Role 1987 Who's That Soldier? Captain Tůma 1990 Masseba Tall Youth 1997 Pták Ohnivák Skeleton1998TrapsDr. Marek 2000 Wild Flowers Dead Man - Soldier 2001 15 Minutes Emil Slovák 2002 Blade II Karel Kounen 2003 Bulletproof Monk Strucker 2004 The Bourne Supremacy Yuri Gretkov Hellboy Grigori Rasputin 2005 Dead Fish Dragan Shut Up and Shoot Me Pavel Zeman 2006 Running Scared Anzor Yugorsky The Abandoned Nikolai 2007 Mr. Bean's Holiday Emil Duchevsky 2008 Bathory György Thurzó Guard No. 47 Frantisek Dousa Largo Winch Michail Korsky RocknRolla Uri Omovich 2009 Orphan Dr. Värava 2010 Habermann Karel Březina 2011 Lidice František Šíma A Lonely Place to Die Darko Alois Nebel The Mute 2013 Frankenstein's Army Dr. Viktor Frankenstein 2015 Sword of Vengeance Durant Photographer Jan Saudek 2016 Murder in Polná Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk A Prominent Patient Jan Masaryk We Are Never Alone Father 2017 Little Crusader Bořek 2020 The Racer Viking 2021 Večirek Richard Crha 2022 Medieval Wenceslaus IV of BohemiaTBAThe Way of the WindMamon
Television Year Title RoleNotes 2003 Spooks Miroslav GradicEpisode: "Legitimate Targets" 2011–2019 Terapie Dr. Marek Pošta 2012 Missing Viktor Azimoff4 episodes 2013 The Wrong Mans Marat Malankovic2 episodes 2018 McMafia Karel Benes4 episodes2022A Spy Among FriendsCol. Sergei Brontov2025Rise of the RavenMatejcik3 episodes
Video games Year Title Role 2008 Grand Theft Auto IV Mikhail Faustin / Wade "The Fixer" Johnson
References
External links Biography, including list of roles (in Czech)
Karel Roden – Juraj Thurzo