Dagmar Bruckmayerová

Dagmar Bruckmayerová (née Bajnoková; 20 May 1969) is a Slovak actress. She was born in Bratislava. She is of partially Hungarian origin on her father's side.

Biography Early life and education After graduating from middle school in 1983, Bruckmayerová applied to a gymnasium in Krasňany. At the same time, she started attending the Ludus theatre, which was at that time still an amateur theatre targeted towards younger audiences, with performances of both national and foreign classics. Bruckmayerová got her first major role in 1985 in the play Fairytale by Ján Buzássy. Some of her fellow actors and colleagues would later become well-known actors, including Vladimír Hajdu, Roman Luknár, Andrej Kraus, Michal Gučík, Peter Sklár, Elena Podzámska, Oľga Belešová, and others.

Bruckmayerová first began studying acting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (VŠMU) in 1987 and graduated from the faculty of theatre in 1991. Some of her better-known classmates include Roman Pomajbo, Peter Mankovecký, Roman Matisko, Zuzana Mauréry, and Henrieta Mičkovicová.

The two most important moments in her early career, were roles in the plays Mein Kampf and The Bald Soprano. In Main Kampf, directed by Roman Polák, she performed nude for several minutes:

"…the only thing I was wearing was a hat Mr. Labuda gave me. My parents were in visible despair, they didn’t even want to attend the premiere at first. After the play, my brother told me that it was a damn good thing I at least had the hat."

Another positive review of her performance reads: "The Grete of Dagmar Bajnoková is a sinful, yet innocent child. She lets herself get caressed by Schlomo, while, with the same amount of enthusiasm and ignorance, whispering vulgar insults about the "International Jewery" into Hitler´s ear. However, at the end of the play, she drastically learns that her game ends in tragedy."

Career After graduating from the academy, Bruckmayerová started working at the Korzo '90 theatre (now Astorka Korzo '90), but after director Juraj Vaculík was removed from the post of artist in chief, she left the theatre alongside her coworker Rastislav Rogel. She then worked at Studio S theatre (now Studio L+S), where she performed in the comedy play Jacques and His Master, alongside Július Satinský and Milan Lasica.

At the turn of the millennium, Bruckmayerová overcame martial and divorce-related issues, and this era also marked her return to performing. She worked for several years at the Ján Palárik theatre in Trnava and performed in various television series. Her most famous role from this period is that of Nina Hodáková, a morally corrupt entrepreneur from the television series Klan. Speaking about the role, she said, "I enjoy the ability to be annoying and rude for once. In real life, I constantly pay attention to my language and try not to offend anyone, even with a mere word."

In Trnava, she starred in many plays, including Poet and Woman, Mother Died Twice, Couples at stake, Roses from the Heart, and Handvaerkerne. On the stage of Theatre West, she acted in the comedies Non Bébé (renamed to Scam in the reopened premiere at the Wünstenrot Theatre) and C'est jamais facile. The latter was directed by Ľubomír Roman, who also played one of the characters. A review of Scam read, "...actors Marek Majeský, Andrea Kvašňovská, Marián Labuda Jr., Dagmar Bruckmayerová and Dorota Letenajová were given a big opportunity under director and songwriter Nikita Slovák, to show their talent for comedy, their movement technique, and even their ability to spontaneously start singing on stage, which isn't a skill every actor possesses."

In both the movies Tango s komármi (2009) and Viditeľný svet (2011), the actress played a similar role of a lonely woman. In the former, she portrayed Tereza, who tries to seduce plumber Bohdan (Eugen Libezňuk) with various remarks, while he is working. In the second movie, she plays Veronika, who is determined to get a man by any means necessary, with little regard for the annoying stalking of the protagonist Oliver (Ivan Trojan). Neither of these cases work out: in Viditeľný svet, Verokina even admits that: "I enjoy my job so much, it feels like there isn’t much time for anything else… Sometimes I think that happiness doesn't even exist anymore”.

Selected filmography

Television

Film

Theatre