Jiří Strach (born 29 September 1973) is a Czech film director and actor. He is considered one of the most talented and kindest Czech film directors of the 21st century. Among his most successful films are the fairy tales ''

Angel of the Lord The (or an) Angel of the Lord ( '' mal’āḵ YHWH'' "messenger of Yahweh") is an entity appearing repeatedly in the Tanakh on behalf of the God of Israel. The guessed term ''malakh YHWH'', which occurs 65 times in the text of the Hebrew Bi ...

'' (as film director) and '' Lotrando a Zubejda'' (as actor).

Life

Jiří Strach was born on 29 September 1973 in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. He has an older brother. As a child, Strach got several roles in films. After graduating from high school, he decided to study acting direction at

Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague The Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague () or FAMU is a film school in Prague, Czech Republic, founded in 1946 as one of three branches of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. It is the fifth oldest film school in ...

(FAMU). In 2006, he got married. Strach is a practising

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and a member of the Order of Saint Dominic.

Acting

Strach started out as an actor. He acted in more than twenty films and TV series as a child, but his most famous role and the only lead role (in the fairy tale film '' Lotrando a Zubejda'') came as an adult, at a time when he no longer planned to return to acting. After that, he only occasionally appeared in minor roles. Notable films and TV series in which he appeared include: *'' Forbidden Dreams'' (1987) *'' Křeček v noční košili'' (TV series; 1987) *'' The Dance Teacher'' (1994) *'' Bylo nás pět'' (TV series; 1995) *'' Lotrando a Zubejda'' (1997) *'' Strážce duší'' (TV series; 2005) *'' Little Knights Tale'' (2009) *'' How Poets Wait for a Miracle'' (2016)

Film directing

Jiří Strach is considered one of the most talented Czech directors of the 21st century and one of the kindest filmmakers. His film fairy tale ''

'' has become a cult film in the Czech Republic and is regularly reprised every Christmas. He likes to make films of different genres. Among the actors most frequently cast in his films are

Ivan Trojan Ivan Trojan (born 30 June 1964) is a Czech people, Czech actor, widely considered to be one of the greatest Czech actors of all time. With four Czech Lion Award for Best Actor in Leading Role, Czech Lions for Best Actor in a Leading Role, he has ...

and Jiří Dvořák, who also played the lead roles in ''Angel of the Lord''. Films directed by Strach include: *''

'' (2005) *''

Operace Silver A ''Operace Silver A '' is a Czech drama film directed by Jiří Strach, based on the military operation of the same name. It was released in 2007, winning various awards from the Czech Film and Television Academy that year. Cast * Klára Issov� ...

'' (2007) *'' Ďáblova lest'' (2009) *'' Ztracená brána'' (2012) *'' Labyrint'' (TV series; 2015–2018) *'' Angel of the Lord 2'' (2016; also as screenwriter) *''

Docent The term "docent" is derived from the Latin word , which is the third-person plural present active indicative of ('to teach, to lecture'). Becoming a docent is often referred to as habilitation or doctor of science and is an academic qualifi ...

'' (TV series; 2023) In the early days of his directing career, Strach also worked as a

dubbing Dubbing (also known as re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and the video production process where supplementary recordings (known as doubles) are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production audio to cr ...

director, primarily for animated films. He directed Czech dubbing for films such as ''

Finding Nemo ''Finding Nemo'' is a 2003 American animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by Andrew Stanton, co-directed by Lee Unkrich, and produced by Graham Walters, from ...

'' (2003) and ''

The Incredibles ''The Incredibles'' is a 2004 American animated superhero film written and directed by Brad Bird. Produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures, the film stars the voices of Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Spencer ...

'' (2004). In 2025, he first got into theatre directing when he accepted an offer to direct the musical version of ''Lotrando a Zubejda''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strach, Jiri 1973 births Living people Czech film directors Czech male film actors Czech male television actors Male actors from Prague Czech Roman Catholics Czech Dominicans