Károly Eperjes

Károly Eperjes — Biography

One of the most honoured actors of the Hungarian stage and screen, Hegykő-born Károly Eperjes has appeared in more than fifty films since 1982 and spent many years on stage as a member of the National Theatre in Budapest. A Kossuth Prize winner, he has also written screenplays, directed films and been active in politics.

Trained at the University of Theatre and Film Arts, Eperjes had his first big screen period in the 1980s. He played Lieutenant Schorm in Colonel Redl (1985) and went on with Miss Arizona (1988) and Hanussen. He worked with István Szabó on Hanussen and on the later The Door, whose cast included Helen Mirren. In the late 1990s he played Abib in Sawdust Tales (1997).

His honours show the weight of his career: the Jászai Mari Prize in 1986, the Kossuth Prize in 1999, honorary citizenship of Budapest in 2011 and the Officer's Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit in 2017. The Prima Primissima Prize, the Hungarian Film Academy's lifetime achievement award and the Erzsébet Prize and the Súgó Csiga Awards are added to these, and he was nominated for a European Film Award for Best Actor.