Virgil Ogășanu

Virgil Ogășanu studied with Beate Fredanov at the Institute of Theatrical and Cinematic Arts, Bucharest, graduating in 1964. He was assigned to the Piatra Neamț Youth Theatre, where he appeared in Mihail Sebastian’s The Nameless Star and Ecaterina Oproiu’s I’m Not the Eiffel Tower, both of which productions were directed by Liviu Ciulei.

Since 1965, he has been an actor at the Lucia Sturdza Bulandra Theatre. Having appeared at the famous Bucharest venue for almost sixty years, Virgil Ogășanu is the theatre’s longest-serving actor, and has won both public and critical acclaim for his talent and for his dedication to the stage, about which he never misses an opportunity to speak with veneration. Over the years, Virgil Ogășanu has appeared in productions that have gone down in Romanian stage history, including Danton’s Death and Carnival Happenings (1966), The Cherry Orchard (1967), Julius Caesar (1968), Leonce and Lena (1970), The Government Inspector (1972), The Lower Depths and Hedda Gabler (1975), The Cold (1977), The Misanthrope (1989), The Shape of the Table (1991), Notes of an Unknown (2011), and many others. He has also appeared in plays staged at the Nottara Theatre, Bucharest, including Alexandr Galin’s Pleasure Factory Inc. and Eugène Labiche’s The Journey of Mr Perrichon.

He has worked with major directors including Ion Cojar, Lucian Pintilie, Liviu Ciulei, Valeriu Moisescu, and Cătălina Buzoianu, and in the company of peerless actors such as Toma Caragiu, Gina Patrichi, Tamara Buciuceanu Botez, Octavian Cotescu, Ileana Predescu, and Amza Pellea.

He made his film début in 1962, appearing in Two Lads like Fresh Bread. Virgil Ogășanu has also taught Theatre at the Hyperion University. In token of esteem for his remarkable acting career, the President of Romania bestowed on him the Order of Loyal National Service to the rank of Chevalier in 2002. In 2002, he received the UNITER Lifetime Achievement Award.