Mariana Mihuț

b. 1942, Kishinev

Mariana Mihuț has been named by the press ‘a true diamond of Romanian theatre and film.’ From 1964, she studied under Professors Pop Marțian and Octavian Cotescu at the Ion Caragiale Institute of Theatrical and Cinematic Art in Bucharest, in the same class as actors Ion Caramitru, Valeria Seciu, Ovidiu Iuliu Moldovan, Rodica Mandache, Virgil Ogășanu.

Mariana Mihuț went on to work at the Giulești Theatre (now the Odeon), and in 1972 she moved to the Bulandra, where she has remained to the present. At the Bulandra, Mariana Mihuț has worked with some of Romania’s leading directors, including Liviu Ciulei, Lucian Pintilie, Andrei Șerban, Cătălina Buzoianu, Silviu Purcărete.

In 1965, while still a student, director Liviu Ciulei cast Mariana Mihuț in the rôle of Marta in the film The Forest of the Hanged. Her film début was a resounding success, but her most famous rôles have been in theatre productions of Beaumarchais’ The Wedding of Figaro (directed by Dinu Cernescu), Gogol’s The Government Inspector (directed by Lucian Pintilie), Tudor Mușatescu’s A Midwinter Night’s Dream (directed by Geta Vlad), Twelfth Night (directed by Liviu Ciulei), Goldoni’s The Comic Theatre (directed by Silviu Purcărete), and Brecht’s Mother Courage (directed by Cătălina Buzoianu).

In addition to her stage career, Mariana Mihuț has appeared in countless radio theatre and television productions.

Mariana Mihuț holds the record for the number of times she has been awarded the UNITER Prize for Best Actress, having first won the prize in 1991 for the part of Queen Guinevere in Tancred Drost’s Merlin (directed by Cătălina Buzoianu). The following year she won the award for her part in the television production The Bear, and in 1996, for the rôle of Halie in Sam Shepard’s The Buried Child (directed by Cătălina Buzoianu). In 1997 she was awarded the UNITER Prize for Excellence. In 2004, her performance as Inna Rasadina in Aleksandr Galin’s Sorry (directed by Yiry Kordonskiy) won her the Award for Best Lead Actress. She won the same prize in 2009 for her performance as King Lear in LEAR(A) (directed by Andrei Șerban). In 2017, she was presented with the UNITER Award for Lifetime Achievement.

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Mariana Mihuț reads poetry by: