Ozren Grabarić

Upon obtaining a diploma from the Academy of Dramatic Art, in 2006 he was hired as a member of the Gavella Drama Theatre ensemble, where he became one of the most successful and versatile performers. His first role in the theatre was in a production of The Master and Margarita.

He performed his first leading role in the Travelling Theatre Troup's production of The Lady in Distress, directed by Relja Bašić. Since then he starred in a series of leading roles in the Mala Scena Theatre in productions such as Proof, Life X 3 and Humble Boy, which was also part of the first English Language Theatre (ELT) project in Croatia. Among other things he performed in the play The Fourth Sister at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Dr. Dolittle in Zagreb Youth Theatre, In the Night, directed by Tomislav Pavković in Kufer Theatre, Hamlet as Guildenstern (with Goran Navojec in as the title prince) and King Lear as Edgar in the Ulysses Theatre, Baal in the Istrian National Theatre, directed by Slovenian theatre director Eduard Miler, Bride of the Wind and Vassa Zheleznova in the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb and the children's play Telephone as a part of the Thearto project directed by Zijah Sokolović.[14]

His breakthrough role came as Nick Bottom in the 2009 Aleksandar Popovski-directed version of A Midsummer Night's Dream in Gavella, for which he won the Ardalion Award and the Croatian Theatre Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. After Bottom, he was cast as the title characters in Tartuffe and Peer Gynt. He has since performed over twenty critically successful roles in the drama theatre, including Bokčilo in Dundo Maroje, Creon in Antigone, the title king in Richard III, Puba Fabriczy in The Glembays, Daniel Daréus in As It Is in Heaven, Andrej in Three Sisters and Odysseus in The Iliad. In 2013, he performed an Innokenty Smoktunovsky-inspired Porfiriy Petrovich in Crime and Punishment, starring alongside Franjo Dijak as Raskolnikov and Živko Anočić as Razumikhin.

In 2015, he performed a multi-lingual version of the Gogol short story Diary of a Madman. The sixty-minute monodrama, featuring English, Croatian and Spanish soliloquies, was performed in North Macedonia, Croatia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Slovenia.[15] Theatre critic Milivoj Jukić praised the chemistry between Grabarić and the play's director, Marijan Nećak, which was reflected in the mature and emotionally intense performance of schizophrenia.[16][17][18] The PUF Theatre Festival in Pula gave Grabarić the Gran Prix Award for "the mistral comparison of the individual schizophrenia and analysis of social position and identity through the classic work of Gogol's short story."[19] He also received the Apollo Prize at the INFANT Novi Sad Theatre Festival.

In 2016, he performed in an adaptation of the Ernst Toller work Hinkemann, directed by Igor Vuk Torbica, in the Zagreb Youth Theatre. His starring role, alongside actor Rakan Rushaidat received immense critical acclaim, with many calling Hinkemann Grabarić's magnum opus.[20][21] Critics who have praised his portrayal include Ana Tasić, Bojan Munjin, Nataša Govedić, Bojana Radović, Milivoj Jukić, Robin Mikulić and Andrija Tunjić.[22]

In October 2019, he played Miroslav Krleža to critical praise[23][24] in the Croatian Music Institute, as part of the monodrama Miroslav Krleža o hrvatskoj književnosti (Miroslav Krleža on Croatian Literature).[25]

Grabarić is also lauded for his numerous film roles.[26] He has starred in Sleep Sweet, My Darling, Koko and the Ghosts, Blurs, Iris, Vegetarian Cannibal and Sve najbolje, the latter of which was screened at the 2016 Pula Film Festival. He reprised his role as Josip Milić from Koko and the Ghosts in the franchise's sequels Zagonetni dječak (Enigmatic Boy) and Ljubav ili smrt (Love or Death).

In 2012, he received acclaim for appearing in a leading role as Matija in the Croatian anthology film Hives. The commercially successful film had its national premiere at the 59th Pula Film Festival[27] (Croatia) and its international premiere at the 60th San Sebastián International Film Festival[28] (Spain).

He has appeared in supporting roles in films including the drama Majka asfalta, the children's film Životinjsko carstvo and the comedy Moj dida je pao s Marsa. For Moj dida je pao s Marsa he provided a voice and motion-capture performance. In July 2019, the film was screened at the Pula Film Festival. He also performed as a leading man in the 2006 short psychological thriller Sin moj! as troubled physician Andrej Bacelj.

He is set to have a starring role in the 2021 film Sixth Bus.[29]

On television, he is known for portraying a fictional version of himself in the widely popular comedy series Moja tri zida.[30] He starred in the show alongside prolific actress Jadranka Đokić.[31] He has also appeared in supporting roles in Stipe u gostima, Zakon!, Bitange i princeze, Crno-bijeli svijet, Naša mala klinika and Ko te šiša.

He has filmed over a hundred radio dramas, narrated audiobooks and provided voice-work for numerous Croatian-language versions of animated motion pictures.[32][33] His distinct nasal yet resonant baritone voice,[34] similar to the one of Relja Bašić,[35] landed him prolific roles within animation. In 2004, he voiced the protagonist Oto in the Croatian animated family series Nora Fora. In Croatian dubbings, he has voiced characters including Marty the Zebra in the Madagascar film series (2005-2012), Eddie in the Ice Age franchise (2006-2016), Barry Benson in Bee Movie (2007), Lalo in Ratatouille (2007), Crane in the Kung Fu Panda films (2008-2016), Randall Boggs in both Monsters, Inc. (dubbing year 2009) and Monsters University (2013), the title character in Megamind (2010), Le Fou in Beauty and the Beast (dubbing year 2010), Gobber in the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy (2010-2019), King Candy in Wreck-It Ralph (2012), Duke Weasleton in Zootopia (2016) and Double Dan in Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018). In 2007, he voiced Michaelangelo in the Croatian version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film.[36]

As a student at the Academy of Dramatic Art, amassing dubbing roles in commercially successful films[37] he also provided voice-work for Wade the Duck in the U.S. Acres series, complete with the Garfield franchise, with Filip Šovagović as the title feline and Franjo Dijak as Jon Arbuckle. [38][39]

He also provided the voice of King Louie in the 2016 Croatian dub of the 1967 classic The Jungle Book.

In 2017, Grabarić won the Croatian Actor Award for Best Performance in a Radio Drama.[40][41]