Biografi
Petr Vanek was born in May 1979 in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic. He graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in 2004 and has since lived and worked there. He has appeared in several international feature films and TV series, including Last Holiday (directed by Wayne Wang) as the eccentric lift boy Felipe; Last Train (directed by Joseph Vilsmaier) as Manny Gerber, a Jewish character; Borgia (created by Tom Fontana) as assassin Miguel de Corrella; and Crossing Lines (created by Edward Allen Bernero) as supervisor Valko. One of his recent feature films is Child 44 (directed by Daniel Espinosa), where he plays Fyodor, an MGB agent, alongside actors such as Tom Hardy, Joel Kinnaman, and Noomi Rapace. In the upcoming short film Nosferatu in Love (directed by Peter Straughan), he portrays Fonso, a gypsy and one of the main roles, acting alongside Mark Strong.
Petr has taken on a wide range of roles in Czech films: in comedy, he appeared in Close to Heaven (directed by Dan Svatek) as illusionist Ernest, Women in Temptation (directed by Jiri Vejdelek) as Tony, and Aussig (directed by Tony Laue) as a driver. In drama, he featured in the award-winning historical war film Tobruk (directed by Vaclav Marhoul) as Jewish private Jan Lieberman, Colette (directed by Milan Cieslar) as Sondercommander Stein, and There Is No Heaven (directed by Katarina Dedicova) as physicist Antonin Kopecky.
Alongside his film work, Petr performs in various Czech theatre companies. His recent stage roles include Carson, the elusive research director in Krakatit, based on the work of renowned Czech novelist Karel Capek; Heydrich in the theatrical production Perak, which blends martial arts, daring stunts, and poetic wordplay centered on the mythical superhero Pérák; a role in Men, a physical theatre piece about six men journeying into the wilderness; and Unicorn, a one-man show where he plays an egotistical, alienated, isolated, anxious, and fearful man, evoking a range of emotions from the audience. The play’s oppressive atmosphere is intermittently broken by comic moments.
Beyond acting, Petr enjoys sports such as snowboarding, longboarding, surfing, swimming, horseback riding, fencing, and yoga. He also plays the accordion.
