Ștefan Bănică

Ștefan Bănică studied at the Ion Luca Caragiale Lycée in Bucharest (1985) and in the class of Ion Cojar at the Bucharest Institute of Theatrical and Cinematic Arts (1989). From 1990 to 2002 he was an actor at the Lucia Sturdza Bulandra Theatre and since 2002 he has been an actor at the Comedy Theatre. He has stood out for his performances as Melchior in Liviu Ciulei’s production of Wedekind’s Spring Awakening, Mr White in Florian Pittiș’s production of Waterhouse and Hall’s Black and White, George in Gelu Colceag’s production of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afrai of Virginia Woolf, and Trigorin in Claudiu Goga’s production of Chekhov’s The Seagull.

Bănică has appeared in numerous film and television parts. His first rôle was as Guriță in the film serial Heroes are Ageless (1984), directed by Mihai Constantinescu. He went on to appear in Nicolae Corjos’s The Lycée Kids, Spot Test, and Rock-’n’-Roll Lycée Kids, George Busecan’s The Temple of Silence, Sergiu Nicolaescu’s Triangle of Death, Mircea Mureșan’s Ada-Kaleh Harem, John Lasseter’s Cars, Alejandro Chomski’s A Beautiful Life, and Jesus del Cerro’s Ho, Ho, Ho.

Ștefan Bănică is a multifaceted artist: an actor, composer, singer, director, producer, and television presenter whose career stretches for more than thirty years. He has given thousands of concerts, and in Romania he has set records thanks to his Christmas musical spectaculars held at Bucharest’s Palace Hall concert venue for more than fifteen years, which have now become a tradition. He has released fifteen solo albums, which have sold more than half a million copies, and has five gold and two platinum discs. Ștefan Bănică is a true Romanian showbusiness brand.

In 2004, he was decorated with the Order of Cultural Merit to the rank of Chevalier, ‘in recognition of his career as a whole and for his dedication and talent in the service of the theatrical and performing arts.’