Rene Bitorajac

Rene Bitorajac
Born (1972-03-02) 2 March 1972 (age 54)
Zagreb, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia
Occupations
  • Actor
  • director
  • screenwriter
  • TV host
Years active1981–present
SpouseAna Bitorajac

Rene Bitorajac (pronounced [reněː bitorǎːjat͡s]; born 2 March 1972) is a Croatian actor, director, screenwriter, and TV host. He earned acclaim for his dramatic and comedic roles in film and television. His notable film roles include the Academy Award-winning No Man's Land (2001), Metastases (2009) and Vegetarian Cannibal (2012). He won three Golden Arenas for Best Actor at the Pula Film Festival, as well as the Vladimir Nazor Award for Film Art.

On television, he notably starred in sitcoms Bitange i princeze (2005–2010) and Naša mala klinika (2004–2007), as well as hosted talent shows such as Supertalent (2009–2018) and Tvoje lice zvuči poznato (2014–2018).

Career

He has appeared in several Croatian and Bosnian films since the 1980s. Most notably, he starred in the 2001 Academy Award-winning Bosnian film No Man's Land. He is also known for starring in popular Croatian television sitcoms Bitange i princeze (2005–2010) and Naša mala klinika (2004–2007).

Bitorajac won Golden Arena Awards for Best Actor for his portrayals of sociopathic football hooligan Krpa in the 2009 film Metastases, and Dr. Babić in the 2012 film Cannibal Vegetarian. His role in the latter earned him the Vladimir Nazor Award and the Paris Mediteraneo Gran Prix, among other accolades.

Bitorajac also worked prominently in Croatian-language versions of animated features. He provided voice acting for Syndrome in The Incredibles, Buck in Home on the Range (both 2004), Ham in Space Chimps (2008), Gru in the Despicable Me franchise (2010–present), and Red in The Angry Birds Movie (2016) complete with its 2019 sequel.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Director Notes
1981 Visitors from the Arkana Galaxy Targo Dušan Vukotić
1984 The Secret of an Old Attic Adam Vladimir Tadej
1985 Anticasanova Vladimir Tadej
1990 A Summer to Remember Gustav's friend Bruno Gamulin [Wikidata]
Death of a Schoolboy  [de] Peter Patzak
1993 A Time for...  [hr] Oja Kodar
1994 Each Time We Part Away The Educator (Joško) Lukas Nola
1995 See You Kruno Ivan Salaj
Letač Joe i Marija smjela Friend Saša Podgorelec Short film
1996 How the War Started on My Island The Albanian Soldier Vinko Brešan
1997 Russian Meat The Inspector Lukas Nola
1998 The Three Men of Melita Žganjer The Assistant Director Snježana Tribuson
When the Dead Start Singing Croatian Police Officer #1 Krsto Papić
Blues for Sara  [sl] Ismet Boris Jurjaševič [sl]
1999 Vendors of Good Fortune Bobo Kumerle Goran Kulenović Short film
Garcia Dejan Šorak
Madonna The Carpenter Neven Hitrec [Wikidata]
2000 Celestial Body The Commander Lukas Nola
2001 No Man's Land Nino Danis Tanović
Cats & Dogs Butch Lawrence Guterman Croatian dub
2002 The Powerpuff Girls Movie Mojo Jojo Craig McCracken Croatian dub
24 Hours Maki Goran Kulenović and Kristijan Milić
2003 Witnesses The Albanian Vinko Brešan
Cheese and Jam Momo Branko Đurić
2004 Long Dark Night The Speaker Antun Vrdoljak
Home on the Range Buck Will Finn and John Sanford [Wikidata] Croatian dub
The Incredibles Buddy Pine / Syndrome Brad Bird Croatian dub
2006 Over the Hedge RJ Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick Croatian dub
Barnyard Pig Steve Oedekerk Croatian dub
2008 Obituary for Escobar  [sr] Mileta Milorad Milinković
Space Chimps Ham III Kirk DeMicco Croatian dub
Igor Igor Tony Leondis Croatian dub
2009 Comrade Black in WWII  [sr] Hrvoje Budak Rade Marković [sr]
Metastases Krpa Branko Schmidt
2010 Despicable Me Gru Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin Croatian dub
2011 Gnomeo & Juliet Fawn Kelly Asbury Croatian dub
2012 Vegetarian Cannibal Dr. Danko Babić Branko Schmidt
2013 Despicable Me 2 Gru Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin Croatian dub
2014 President Nixon's Present Stipe Mrčela Igor Šeregi [hr] Short film
2015 Minions Gru Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda Croatian dub
2016 The Angry Birds Movie Red Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly Croatian dub
ZG80 Krpa Igor Šeregi
2017 Despicable Me 3 Gru Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda Croatian dub
The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature Surly Cal Brunker Croatian dub
2019 The Last Serb in Croatia  [sr] DJ Mrkva Predrag Ličina [Wikidata]
General  [hr] The Instructor Antun Vrdoljak
The Angry Birds Movie 2 Red Thurop Van Orman Croatian dub
2021 Fuji Himself Luka Hrgović and Dino Julius Documentary short film
Once We Were Good for You  [hr] Dinko Branko Schmidt
2022 Minions: The Rise of Gru Gru Kyle Balda Croatian dub
2024 IF Blue John Krasinski Croatian dub
Despicable Me 4 Gru Chris Renaud Croatian dub
2026 The Wedding  [hr] Miljenko Lončarić Igor Šeregi
The Golden Cut 42: Children of Kozara Maks Luburić Lordan Zafranović
2028 The Wedding 2 [hr] † Miljenko Lončarić Igor Šeregi Pre-production

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1988 The Dirty Dozen Marko Episode: "Code Name – Romulus"
2004–2007 Naša mala klinika Dr. Veljko Kunić Croatian version; 110 episodes
2005 Duga mračna noć The Speaker Season 1, episode 3
2005–2010 Bitange i princeze Robert "Robi" Kumerle 103 episodes (actor)
2 episodes (screenwriter)
2006–2007 Ples sa zvijezdama Himself (contestant) Season 1; runner-up
2007 Premijer  [sr] Prime Minister of Croatia 2 episodes
2007–2011 Naša mala klinika  [sr] Dr. Veljko Zec Serbian version; 78 episodes
2008 Odmori se, zaslužio si  [hr] Robocop Episode: "Bečka secesija"
2009 Zakon! Captain Dragan Episode: "Zavnoh!"
Najveći hrvatski misteriji Himself Season 1, episode 3
2009–2018 Supertalent Himself (host) Talent show; seasons 1–6
2011–2012 Jadranske igre  [hr] Himself (host) Game show
2012–2013 Volim Hrvatsku Himself (team captain) Game show; seasons 1–2
2013 Drug Crni u NOB-u  [sr] Hrvoje Budak 3 episodes
2014–2018 Tvoje lice zvuči poznato Himself (host) Reality competition show; seasons 1–5
2018 Ne diraj mi mamu  [sr] Budimir Ćorović 10 episodes
2019 General  [hr] The Instructor 2 episodes
Ludi bar Himself (host) Game show
2021–2022 Ma lažeš! Himself (host) Game show; seasons 1–2
The Last Socialist Artefact  [hr] Oleg Mini-series; 6 episodes
2022–2025 Metropolitanci  [hr] Petar Galić 26 episodes

References

  1. ↑ "No Man's Land (2001)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
  2. ↑ "Festival igranog filma u Puli - Žiri za Metastaze, kritika za kenjca, publika za anđele" (in Croatian). Pula Film Festival. Archived from the original on 18 May 2010. Retrieved 15 May 2010.
  3. ↑ "Disney International Dubbings Croatian Ljubomir Krekes/Leon Luchev". Archived from the original on 2019-03-28. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  4. ↑ "Majstori Sinhronizacije: Ko se krije iza Duška Dugouška, Šilje, Popaja, Sunđera Boba? (Foto) (Video)". www.telegraf.rs. 30 June 2013.