BIOGRAPHY
At 16, the young Czech actor Jiri Madl was poised to become a professional ice hockey player, but an elbow injury prevented him from pursuing this dream. Faced with a serious change in his plans and armed only with his experience in high school plays and drama classes, he auditioned for — and ultimately won the leading role — in Karel Janák’s comedy Snowboarders. Awarded the Czech Lion for the most successful film of 2004, Madl was simultaneously the youngest person ever named to the Personalities of the Czech Republic list by the Czech “MF DNES Magazine.
Following the success of Snowboarders he took on three more comic roles: Taming Crocodiles (2006), Rafters (2006) and, with his “cinematic father” Karel Janák, Rock Con Artists (2006), a black comedy about young musicians in Prague. Feeling the need to move away from comedies, he was cast in Tomáš Vorel’s The Can (2007), a film about students and the graffiti community.
His first English-language performance came in the 2008 Bathory, directed by legendary Slovak director and European Film Academy member Juraj Jakubisko. Shortly after, he starred in Night Owls (2008), directed by Oscar Nominee and Berlin International Film Festival award-winner Michaela Pavlatova. His role in this film made him the youngest recipient ever of the Crystal Globe for Best Actor at the 2008 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
He has been working continuously since. These projects include the 2011 International television co-production Borgia, directed by The Downfall’s Oscar-winning Oliver Hirschbiegl. A dream came true when Jiri was cast in Bohdan Slama’s Four Suns (2012), Juraj Nvota’s Konfident (2012), and Miloslav Šmídmajer’s comic revisit to the 1980s I’ll Wake Up Yesterday. I’ll Wake Up Yesterday was very successfully released in May 2012, and Madl immediately went into a new film: Lousy Bastards, a roman á clef written and directed by Roman Kasparovsky, and produced by Filip Cermák and Karla Stojáková.
Madl has been passionate about learning foreign languages, having studied at several institutions including learning English at the British Council, Italian at the Instituto Italiano di Cultura, and German at the Goethe Institute in Berlin. Now 24, Jiri splits his time between Berlin and Prague and has just completed a screenwriting class at the New York Film Academy.
FILM
THE CONFIDANT (2012)
Role: Adam
Director: Juraj Nvota
Producers: Lubomir Slivka, Katarina Vanzurova
I WAKE UP YESTERDAY (2012)
Role: Petr
Director: Milos Smídmajer
FOUR SUNS (2011)
Role: Jerry
Director: Bohdan Sláma
Producers: Petr Oukropec, Pavel Strnad
THE MAGICAL DUVET (2011)
Role: Pan Karel
Director: F.A. Brabec
Producer: Igor Konyukov
HOPE (Short) (2009)
Role: Martin
Director: Jan Kobler
Producer: Ctibor Pouba
CATCH THE BILLIONAIRE (2009)
Director: Tomás Vorel
Producer: Tomás Vorel
IT IS HELL WITH THE PRINCESS (2009)
Role: Prince Jeroným
Director: Milos Smídmajer
Executive Producer: Jiri Holan
DETI NOCI (2008)
Role: Ubr
Director: Michaela Pavlátová
Producers: Katerina Cerná, Petr Oukropec
Award: Karlovy Vary International Film Festival – Best Actor Award Winner
BATHORY (2008)
Role: Neophyte Cyril
Director: Juraj Jakubisko
Producers: Mike Downey, Deana Horváthová, Thom Mount
TAKOVÁ NORMÁLNÍ RODINKA (2008)
Role: Zdenek Rezný
Director: Patrik Hartl
Producers: Rudolf Biermann, Tomás Hoffman
GYMPL (2007)
Role: Michal Kolman
Director: Tomás Vorel
Producer: Tomás Vorel
BORN INTO SH*T (2006)
Director: Marcel Bystron
Producer: Marcel Bystron
RO(C)K PODVRATÁKU (2006)
Role: Márty
Director: Karen Janák
Producer(s): Marek Stencl
RAFTÁCI (2006)
Role: Filip
Director: Karel Janák
Producer: Adam Dvorák
JAK SE KROTÍ KROKODÝLI (2006)
Role: Vasek Rychman
Director: Marie Polednáková
Producer: Milos Smídmajer
HYPNÓZA (2005)
Role: Peta
Director: Jaroslav Pozzi
VSICHNI MUSI ZEMRIT (2005)
Role: Boy
Director: Miroslav Sobota
SNOWBOARDÁCI (2004)
Role: Jáchym
Director: Karel Janák
Producer: Pavel Melounek
TELEVISION
BORGIA (France) (Three Episodes) (2011)
Role: Francesco Remolino d’Ilerda (Three Episodes)
Directors: Oliver Hirschbiegel, Dearbhla Walsh
Executive Producers: Steven Bawol, Takis Candilis, Ferdinand Dohna, Tom Fontana,
Barry Levinson, Jan Mojto, Anne Thomopoulos, Klaus Zimmerman
PRIVATE TRAPS (2011)
Directors: Tereza Kopacova, Jan Prusinovský, Jirí Vercák, Dan Wlodarczyk
Producer: Tereza Kopacova
ZNAMENÍ KONE (Twelve Episodes) (2011)
Role: Lukás Hora
Director: Milan Cieslar
LÁSKA ROHATÁ (2009)
Director: Hynek Bocan
3 + 1 S MIROSLAVEM DONUTILEM (2008)
Role: Jan Hladis (One Episode)
Director: Dusan Klein
SKOLA YE MLEJNE (2007)
Director: Karel Janák
REDAKCE (2005)
Role: Ondra (One Episode)
Director: Tomás Krejcí
Producer: Filip Bobinsk