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Karel Roden
Roden at the 43rdKVIFF in July 2008
Born	(1962-05-18)18 May 1962 (age 62) České Budějovice,Czechoslovakia
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1982–present
Partner	Ivana Chýlková (1985–1994)

Karel Roden (born 18 May 1962) is a Czech actor, popularly known for his roles inHellboy andThe Bourne Supremacy, and his voice work inGrand Theft Auto IV.

Roden followed his father and grandfather into acting. Roden first graduated from the Comprehensive Art Secondary School for Ceramics before being admitted to theAcademy of Performing Arts in Prague.

Roden's feature film career began almost simultaneous with his theatre work in 1984 as Honza, a medical student in the 2nd part of a trilogy entitled "How the poets are losing their illusions" (Jak básníci přicházejí o iluze), a lighthearted, comic look at life through the lives of young university students. Roden's Honza also appeared in the final installation of the trilogy, "How poets are enjoying their lives" (Jak básníkům chutná život).

Other comic turns include Roden's Captain Tuma inWho's That Soldier?, a humoristic look at life as a soldier in the socialist Czech army, the character Dragan in the action-thrillerDead Fish withGary Oldman andTerence Stamp. In the comedy crime-thrillerShut Up and Shoot Me, Roden plays the hen-pecked husband hired to assassinate a grieving widow.^[1]

During the 1990s, he spent some time inLondon, which improved his English and gave him necessary exposure and access to the international scene. Hence, since being outside ofCzechoslovakia he has become known mostly for hischaracter actor roles which began in 2001 when Roden secured his first major role in the American psychological thriller,15 Minutes, where he played the criminal Emil Slovak partnered withOleg Taktarov opposite NYPD cop Flemming played byRobert De Niro. This was followed by a similar role, as the lawyer Carter Kounen, in the service of a vampire clan, in the movieBlade II in 2002.^{[citation needed]}

This was followed by what became a series of typecast roles, including the action movieBulletproof Monk, where he plays the Nazi megalomaniac Strucker. This was no doubt due to his heavy accent and distinct features, which bring him close to the stereotyped Hollywood villain, although his voice was dubbed over by another actor inBlade II. This greatly understates, however, the plethora of characters he has portrayed throughout his career, particularly in Czechoslovakia.^{[citation needed]}

His movie roles to date include15 Minutes (2001),Blade II (2002),Bulletproof Monk (2003),The Bourne Supremacy (2004), asGrigori Rasputin inHellboy (2004),Running Scared (2006),Largo Winch (2008),RocknRolla (2008), andOrphan (2009). He also played the Russian movie critic Emil Dachevsky in the filmMr. Bean's Holiday (2007). He played NobleThurzo inBathory (2008), co-production movie filmed bySlovak directorJuraj Jakubisko,A Lonely Place to Die (2011) and a role as the Czech mobster Karel Benes in the TV seriesMcMafia (2019).

For his main character inGuard No. 47, Karel Roden received theCzech Lion Award for Best Actor in Leading Role.^[2] 8 years later, he received the same award for the portrayal ofJan Masaryk inA Prominent Patient. He also receivedAlfréd Radok Award in 1998 for performing Bruno inLe Cocu Magnifique byFernand Crommelynck. Other notable role wasDon Juan inGrabbe'sDon Juan and Faust (Divadlo v Dlouhé). He also appeared in two plays with his brother Marian. He was also a member of the prestigiousPrague National Theatre. At the moment he can be found at Theatre Studio DVA in several performances.^[3]

Roden has also voiced Mikhail Faustin and Wade "The Fixer" Johnson in the video gameGrand Theft Auto IV.

• Biography, including list of roles (in Czech)
• Karel Roden atIMDb
• Karel Roden – Juraj Thurzo

• 1962 births
• Living people
• Czech male film actors
• Czech male stage actors
• Czech expatriates in the United Kingdom
• Czech expatriates in the United States
• Actors from České Budějovice
• Czech male video game actors
• Academy of Performing Arts in Prague alumni
• Sun in a Net Awards winners
• 20th-century Czech male actors
• 21st-century Czech male actors
• Czech Lion Awards winners

• CS1 Czech-language sources (cs)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• BLP articles lacking sources from March 2013
• All BLP articles lacking sources
• Use dmy dates from April 2021
• Articles with hCards
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from April 2018