Biography
Doc. Jana Janěková, née Válková (* June 5, 1955, Zlín), is a Czech actress, director, photographer, and theater pedagogue, and sister of conductor Roman Válka.
She comes from an artistic family; her father was a musician, choirmaster, and educator, and her younger brother Roman is a well-known musician. In 1976, she studied music and drama at the Prague Conservatory.
During her studies, she performed as a guest at the E. F. Burian and J. Wolker Theaters. Her first professional engagement was at the East Bohemian Theater in Pardubice, where she worked from 1976 to 1978, followed by a brief period in Hradec Králové. Between 1979 and 1981, she acted at the Oldřich Stibor Theater in Olomouc, and from 1980 to 1985 at the Bezruč Theater in Ostrava. She held a long-term position at the State Theater in Brno (now the National Theater Brno), working as an actress and director from 1987 to 2005.
Her early appearances in film and television were infrequent and mostly minor or episodic roles. Later, she frequently performed in productions by the Ostrava and Brno studios, where she played key roles in many Czechoslovak television productions. In 1995, she landed her first major role in the first Czech TV sitcom, TV Nova's Nováci, and subsequently starred in other TV series. Her only significant film role to date was as psychologist Hana in a film by Czech director Věra Chytilová.
She also collaborates with radio, occasionally works as a voice actress, and since 1991 has been teaching at JAMU in Brno, where she leads a separate studio focused on musical acting. Additionally, she is active in artistic photography.
