Goran Visnjic certainly didn't start his career like most in Hollywood's acting community. In fact, his community consisted of a small Croatian town off the Adriatic Sea where he whiled away his childhood with two brothers.
      From early on, Goran found himself leaning towards the performing arts, and the youngest son of a bus driver father and salesclerk mother, was reciting poetry and landing lead roles in school plays by the time he was nine. At twenty he joined the prestigious Academy Of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb, but not before becoming a veteran of two military forces. Visnjic, a trained paratrooper, finished his required military service in the Yugoslav Army at age eighteen, then enlisted, along with one of his brothers, in the Croatian Army when war erupted in the Balkans. Fortunately, all of his family members came out of the frightening turmoil unscathed.
      Once the war was over, he dedicated himself to his first love...acting. At twenty-one he was cast as Laertes in a traveling production of "Hamlet", with the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, beginning a six year cross-country stint that would expose him to audiences throughout his country. It would also go on to earn him three national Best Actor awards, including the Orlando (the Croatian equivalent of a Tony).
      In 1997, director Michael Winterbottom cast him as a translator-driver for a British news team in the highly acclaimed drama "Welcome To Sarajevo". American audiences had their first taste of the six foot four Croatian and they wanted more.
      Voted as one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful in 2000, Goran moved into the role of Nicole Kidman's abusive boyfriend in "Practical Magic", but it was only after landing the role in the hospital drama "ER" that his popularity grew along with his fanbase.
      In 1999 Goran married sculptor Ivana, also from Croatia. On his off time he likes fencing, swimming, diving, and four-wheeling in the hills near his L.A. home.
Photo © George Holtz [Photo of Goran and Ivana © Frank Tapper/Corbis.com]

Bio by K. Kamarauskas © 2002 - [Please let us know of any errors]