Andrzej Szczytko


Andrzej Szczytko is a Polish actor and stage director. Szczytko is the recipient of multiple theatre awards and honours, including the 2016 Witkacy Prize - Critics' Circle Award. He was awarded the Decoration of Honor "Meritorious for Polish Culture" in 2012 for his contribution to Polish culture, and in 2017, the Silver Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis.

Career

Graduate of National Film School in Łódź, where he studied alongside Jacek Koman. Szczytko was also trained at DePaul University's Goodman School of Drama. He made his first professional stage appearance in 1977 as a Lentulus in a production of Androcles and the Lion directed by the reformer of Polish mime theatre, Henryk Tomaszewski.
Szczytko has had a prolific career in theatre, particularly repertory theatre, in Poland and Eastern Europe. He was a permanent troupe member of the Cyprian Norwid Theatre in Jelenia Góra, the Aleksander Węgierko Theatre in Białystok, the Contemporary Theatre in Szczecin, the Polish Theatre in Szczecin, the Leon Kruczkowski Theater in Zielona Góra, the Polish Theatre in Poznań, the Music Theatre in Poznań, the New Theatre in Łódź.
From 1991 to 1993 Szczytko was an artistic director of the Polish Institute of Theatre Arts in New York City. Between 1998 and 2000 he worked for Polish Theatre in Poznań as an associate intendant, as well as acting general intendant in 2000. From 2012 to 2017 he served as a guest director in the Kharkiv Ukrainian Drama Theatre, where his productions gained the reputation of political theatre.
He collaborated with some of the most renowned theatre directors, all of whom would have a huge impact on Szczytko's future career. Among them were Krystian Lupa, Alina Obidniak, Wanda Laskowska, Lech Raczak, Jerzy Kreczmar, Roman Kłosowski and Krzysztof Babicki.
He continued to act in theatre for most of his career, and became noted for his portrayal of Bruce Niles in Larry Kramer's play The Normal Heart, but became better known once he started to work with movie directors Zbigniew Kuźmiński, :pl:Andrzej Konic|Andrzej Konic and Adek Drabiński. He later acted, with acclaim, in their movies and miniseries, including :pl:Republika Ostrowska |Republic of Ostrów, :pl:Pogranicze w ogniu|The Burning Border, :pl:Sensacje XX wieku|Sensations of the 20th Century, and :pl:Tajemnica twierdzy szyfrów|Mystery of the Codes Stronghold.

Filmography (selected)