Dagmar Bruckmayerová


Dagmar Bruckmayerová is a Slovak actress and voice actress. She was born in Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia. She is of partially Hungarian origin on her father's side.

Youth

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

Education

She first started studying acting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava in 1987 and graduated from the faculty of theatre in 1991. Some of her more well-known classmates include Roman Pomajbo, Peter Mankovecký, Roman Matisko, Zuzana Mauréry and Henrieta Mičkovicová.
During her academic years the young actress performed in various theatric plays. She starred in the prestigious institute of the Slovak National Theatre, in the Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav Theatre, in the theatre Malá scéna and in Theatre Korzo ´90. In 1988, she played the small role of Xenia, the daughter of Godunov, in a play inspired by Russian history – Dmitry Samozvanets by the classic Slovak author Ján Palárik. She got a bigger role in the historical drama Herodes and Herodias, written by P. O. Hviezdoslav and directed by Miloš Pietor. She played the role of Salome, in alteration with Silvia Petőová. "The convincing Dagmar Bajnoková performed in the premiere, achieving all that could be expected from a debuting student of acting."
The two most important moments in the actress´s early career, were roles in the plays Mein Kampf and The Bald Soprano. In Main Kampf, directed by Roman Polák, she performed naked 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.”
One positive review of her career as an actress says: “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.”

Work

After graduating from the Academy, Dagmar started working at the Korzo ´90 Theatre, but after the director Juraj Vaculík was removed from the post of artist in chief, she left the theatre alongside her coworker Rastislav Rogel so the three of them could do their "own" theatre. She then worked in the theatre Studio S, where she performed in a single comedy, alongside such well known personalities in the world of theatre as Július Satinský and Milan Lasica, Jacques and his master.
The actress also showed her talent in front of cameras by acting as an antagonist in various fairytales for young children, until she was approached by the director Ivan Petrovický with the role of a beautiful princess in the fable Princess in a hedgehog´s hide. "I was fairly surprised when I heard I was going to play a princess…I just couldn't imagine myself as a melancholic beauty. When I was first applying to VŠMU, my brothers made fun of me saying: Are you sure they will accept you? They only accept good looking girls you know…” In the end the fairytale was well received in part due to how well the actress played her role. One of colleagues was Ján Kroner in the role of the groomer Ján. Another point of interest is the fact that the actress performed her role of the young princess not too long after giving birth to her daughter Tereza. Dagmar was forced to step down from public life due to familial responsibilities, which meant her deeper voice could only be heard in dubbed television programs and movies in cinemas. "I don't pick the characters, but I love doing voice overs for the ones which have an emotionally rich life. They bear their burden and have something they want to say. The psychology behind such characters is completely different. Trying to get into the role and feel just as the actress on screen does is very important to me and sometimes doing voice overs for these characters even brings me to tears."
The actress also edits dialogues for voice over studios and theatres.
The actress overcame issues related to marriage and divorce with the coming turn of the millennium, which also marked her return into productive work. She worked for several years in the Ján Palárik Theatre in Trnava and performed in various television series. Her most famous role from this era is that of Nina Hodáková, a morally corrupt entrepreneur from the television series Clan. "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 characteristic plays, such as Poet and Woman, Mother Died Twice, Couples at stake, Roses from the heart and The Builders. On the stage of Theatre West Dagmar portrayed unique and interesting characters in the comedies No baby and It's never easy. The latter was directed by Ľubomír Roman, who also played one of the characters. In the musical farce Scam the 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 Mosquitoes’ Tango and Visible World the actress played a similar role of a lonely woman. In the former Dagmar portrays Tereza, who tries to win over the Ukrainian Bohdan with various remarks during plumbing works. In the second movie she plays Veronika, who is determined to get her man by any means necessary, with little regard to the annoying stalking of the main hero Oliver. Of course, neither of these cases work out, in Visible World Verokina even admits that: “I enjoy my job so much, that feels like there isn’t much time for anything else… Sometimes I think that happiness doesn’t even exist anymore”
The skilled actress portrays mostly comedic roles, but also has the ability to very precisely act out dramatic scenes and isn’t afraid to take on any musical challenge.
Dagmar Bruckmayerová lives in a family house in Veľký Grob, near Bratislava. When she has the time, she likes to visit her married daughter in the United States, where she also has her grandchildren Rosie and Keifer.

Published works

Movies

Television series

Doctor´s office in the pink garden / Ordinácia v ružovej záhrade
City of shadows / Mesto tieňov
In the name of law / V mene zákona
Convicted / Odsúdené
Affairs / Aféry
Dr. Ludsky
Clan / Klan
Defenders / Ochrancovia
Secret lives / Tajné životy

Theatre plays