Emilia Popescu

Emilia Popescu studied acting in the class of Olga Tudorache and Florin Zamfirescu at the Ion Caragiale Institute of Theatrical and Cinematic Arts in Bucharest, graduating in 1988. Famous for her work in the theatre, playing rôles such as Janet in Sam Bobnik’s Wally’s Café and Hermione in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Emilia Popescu has also appeared in the films The Moromete Family, I Miss You Every Day, The Lilac Blossoms Twice, and Divorce for Reasons of Love.

She made her acting début in 1985, while still a student, playing Ilinca in The Moromete Family, directed by Stere Gulea.

After graduating, she joined the ensemble of the Lucia Sturdza Bulandra Theatre in Bucharest, making her stage début in Lope de Vega’s The Gardener’s Dog, directed by Florian Pittiș. She went on to appear in productions of Willy Russel’s Educating Rita (1989), Otto Joseph Kesselring’s Arsenic and Old Lace (991), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Liviu Ciulei (1991), Frank Wedekind’s Spring Awakening, directed by Liviu Ciulei (1991), Dario Fo’s The Seventh Commandment (1993), The Winter’s Tale, directed by Alexandru Darie (1994), A Series of Murders and Curses, adapted from Euripides and directed by Alexandru Dabija (1994), Chekhov’s Three Sisters (1995), Julius Caesar, directed by Alexandru Darie (1995), Sam Bobrik’s Wally’s Café, directed by Horațiu Mălăele (1997), Eric Emmanuel Schmitt’s The Libertine (1998), and Sławomir Mrożek’s Tango (2001).

Since the 2002-2003 theatrical season, she has been part of the Comedy Theatre ensemble, where she has appeared in productions of Twelfth Night, directed by Gelu Colceag (2003), Pam Gems’s Marlene, directed by Cătălina Buzoianu (2004), Chirița of Bîrzoieni, adapted from Vasile Alecsandri and directed by Iarina Demian (2004), Bulgakov’s Zoyka’s House, directed by Alexandru Tocilescu (2009), Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, directed by Gelu Colceag (2010), and Chekhov’s The Seagull, directed by Claudia Goga (2013).

She has also appeared on the stage of the National Theatre in Camil Petrescu’s The Fairies’ Dance, directed by Claudiu Goga (2007), and at the Metropolis Theatre in Rob de Graaf’s Sex, directed by Claudiu Goga (2013).

She was particularly memorable alongside Florin Piersic in Strangers in the Night, directed by Radu Beligan, and in Sam Bobrick’s Getting Sara Married, directed by Claudiu Goga (2014).

She is currently an actress in the ensembles of the Comedy Theatre and the National Theatre in Bucharest.

Emilia Popescu was nominated as Best Actress in a Supporting Rôle for her performance of Alla Vadimovna in Zoyka’s House at the 2010 Romanian Theatrical Union Gala Awards. In 2002, the President of Romania awarded her and other actors the National Order of Merit in the Rank of Chevalier “for devotion and artistic talent placed in the service of Romanian theatre, on the occasion of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the founding of Bucharest’s National Theatre.”