Branko Djuric

Branko "Đuro" Đurić (born May 28, 1962) is a Bosnian actor, comedian, director and musician. Born and raised in Sarajevo, Đurić rose to prominence throughout the former Yugoslavia with the hit comedy series Top Lista Nadrealista during the 1980s. Đuro became something of an epitome for the Bosnian people, primarily due to his accent and slang. He was also one of the founding members of SCH and the frontman of Sarajevo rock band Bombaj Štampa. During the Yugoslav wars he moved to Slovenia. --- Born to a Serb father and Bosniak mother, his father died when young Branko was only one. When he was fourteen his mother got married to painter Branko Popovac so part of his adolescence was spent with a stepfather who encouraged him to pursue his artistic talents. From an early age Đurić knew he wanted to be involved with performing arts. To that end in 1981 he applied at the newly-established Academy of Performing Arts (ASU), a faculty within University of Sarajevo, but got rejected. He then joined a group of Sarajevo youths that was already making Top lista nadrealista, a 15-minute radio segment that aired as part of a weekly programme called Primus on Radio Sarajevo's channel two. In parallel, after the ASU rejection, he started studying journalism at the University of Sarajevo's Faculty of Philosophy. He didn't give up on acting, though, getting a job as an extra at TV Sarajevo. He also re-applied at ASU every year, and after two more rejections in 1982 and 1983, finally got accepted on his fourth try in 1984. Once accepted at ASU, he quit the journalism studies where he completed two years. Shortly before Đurić finally passed his ASU audition, Top lista nadrealista started shooting television sketches conceptualized as fillers in-between folk music numbers. In parallel, Zabranjeno Pušenje, one of the bands from the same new primitives sub-cultural milieu released its debut album and Đurić played a small role in their "Neću da budem Švabo u dotiranom filmu" video. At the video shoot, Đurić met director Ademir Kenović and told him of his continual woes with getting accepted at ASU to which Kenović responded by sending over his friend Vuk Janić to help Đurić prepare and hone material for the upcoming audition. Đurić finally got accepted. --- Currently, Ðurić is married to Slovenian actress Tanja Ribič with whom he played with in Kajmak in marmelada and lives and works in Slovenia, where he leads Theatre 55, a film production company.