Madonna’s Leading Men: Goran Visnjic
Today MadonnaTribe presents a brand new feature: “Madonna’s Leading Men“. No, no way we’ll be writing about the men of her life, but we’ll be presenting short profiles of those who co-starred in her movies and videos. From time to time, we’ll offer you a biography profile of one of Madonna’s Leading Men in the news page, and we’ll invite you to join the discussion about him in Tribers!, the Off-Topic section of MadonnaTribe’s Community Forum.
Let’s start today with an actor who’s on the big screen right now playing the leading role in one of the first blockbuster movies of the year: Goran Visnjic.
Madonna’s fans know Goran for his intense act in her “The Power of Goodbye” 1998 music video, while the mainstream audience know him as Dr. Luka Kovac in the “ER” TV series and recently for playing the lead character of Mark Miller in the 2005 Rob Bowman directed movie “Elektra” with Jennifer Garner. But the story of this handsome and talented actor starts on September 9, 1972 in the Eastern European land of Croatia.
Goran was born and raised in Sibenik, a port town on the Adriatic Sea, where he decided at an early age that he wanted to be an actor, starting performing in local theaters. When war broke out in his native Croatia in 1991, Goran had just finished his required stint in the army, but he voluntary stayed on for three more months. “When somebody is attacking your hometown and you’re just sitting in the basement, you feel really useless, I felt I had to do it to defend my country,” he said. When word came through that he had been accepted in the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb, his older brother volunteered to take his place in the Army so he could study his craft. He gained popularity in Croatia when, at the age of 21, he played Hamlet at the prestigious Dubrovnik Summer Festival, receiving rave reviews, and earning three national Best Actor awards, including an Orlando – the Croatian equivalent of a Tony Award.
Goran spent many years in Croatian theatre and making international movies. In 1997, director Michael Winterbottom cast him in the highly acclaimed drama “Welcome To Sarajevo“. In year 2000 was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. In January 2003 he appeared in PETA‘s first campaign in Eastern Europe with his dog, Bugsy. The ads read: “If you wouldn’t wear your dog, please don’t wear any fur.”
Goran practices windsurf, swinning, diving, fencing and kung fu. He is married to sculptor Ivana Vrdoljak, daughter of film director Antun Vrdoljak. They reside mainly in Los Angeles, California.
“Lots of people want to be movie stars,” Goran once said. “But they don’t realize that to be a celebrity is not that beautiful if you can’t go to the store to buy toothpaste.”
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