Branko Tomovic
- Actor
- Writer
- Director
European actor Branko Tomovic was born in Muenster, Germany, though his
actual origin is from the Carpathians in Serbia. His parents emigrated
in the 70s from the Golubac Fortress area on the Danube and Branko was
raised between Germany and Serbia before he studied acting at the
prestigious Lee Strasberg Theatre
Institute in New York City. Tomovic was first seen on the big screen in
the lead role of the award winning American Film Institute/Sundance
drama Remote Control (2001), for
which he received the OmU-Award at the Potsdam Film Festival. Now
currently settled in London, with his dark, brooding looks he has
appeared in striking roles on British Television. He played the creepy
main suspect Antoni Pricha, the Morgue Man, in Jack the Ripper thriller
Whitechapel (2009), the
pyromaniac Junky-Henchman Marek Lisowski in the final episodes of
A Touch of Frost (1992) and
Polish fighter pilot Miroslaw Feric in WW2 drama
The Untold Battle of Britain (2010).
He has been named "One to watch" by Moviescope Magazine and worked with
internationally respected film directors as
Ken Loach,
Sönke Wortmann and
Paul Greengrass. In 2010, he won the
'Best Actor' Award at the San Francisco Short Film Festival and at The
Accolade Film Awards for his performance as a Serbian soldier who is
tormented by grief and guilt after being a witness of war crimes in the
drama Inbetween (2008). He also
stars opposite Debbie Harry in
Jimi Cauty 's Road movie
Believe the Magic (2012) and
'Steve Stone' 's ghost thriller
Entity (2012) with
Dervla Kirwan and
Charlotte Riley. Entity won two awards
at the London Independent Film Festival 2013 and Best Film at the
British Horror Film Festival where Branko was also nominated for Best
Actor. The British Filmmakers Alliance honoured him as Best
International Actor for his role. He is set to play the title character
of Nikola Tesla in the upcoming bio-pic
Tesla. In 2014, he played Jack Bauer's right hand man, the mysterious and dangerous Belcheck, next to Kiefer Sutherland in 24: Live Another Day. He was also seen opposite Brad Pitt and Logan Lerman in David Ayer's WWII drama Fury.
In 2016 Tomovic made his directorial debut with Red, a short dark thriller set in the underground world of illegal organ trade. Branko stars in the lead role Niklas alongside Dervla Kirwan and Francesca Fowler. The Film has played numerous prestigious festivals, e.g. screening at the San Diego International Film Festival, Tangier International Film Festival, the European Film Award qualifying International Short Film Festival in Drama, and picking up awards and nominations at Kraljevski Filmski Festival, the Maverick Movie Awards and Naperville Independent Film Festival, and other BAFTA and European Film Award qualifying festivals.
His second film as a writer/director, The Smell of Petrol, deals with human trafficking and the current refugee crisis. It world premiered at Oldenburg Film Festival in 2018 and won Best UK Short Film Special Mention at Winchester Film Festival and the Grand Prix Festival Award at Jahorina Film Festival and several selections and nominations at BFI Future Film, BAFTA and European Film Award qualifying festivals.
His feature debut as a writer/director is the European arthouse horror film Vampir in which he also stars in. It had the world premiere at Sitges International Film Festival October 2021 in the New Visions competition, followed by the UK premiere at Raindance Film Festival and Trieste Science+Fiction where it was nominated for a Silver Melies Award as Best European Fantastic Film. Tomovic won the Oscull Award for his special contribution to film art at the Festival of Serbian Fantastic Film and was nominated for the German Cinema New Talent Award (Förderpreis Neues Deutsches Kino) as well as for the Hof Gold Prize (Hofer Goldpreis) at the prestigious 56th Hof International Film Festival in Germany.