Alina Șerban

Alina Șerban (born October 29, 1987) is a Romanian actress, the winner of the Best Actress Award at the German Actors Guild Awards in 2020 for her leading role in Gipsy Queen, a nominee for Best Actress at the German Film Award in 2020, a representative for Romania at The Cannes International Film Festival in 2018 for her leading role in Alone at My Wedding, and the first Roma woman theatre and film director of Romania.

The first in her family to graduate high-school, she attended the Tisch School of the Arts in New York, graduated from the I. L. Caragiale National University of Theatre and Film and has a master’s degree from Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

Șerban is known for writing and performing plays with social justice messages, against sexism, racism, homophobia and various other forms of discrimination.

Biography
Alina Șerban was born in 1987 in a Romanian Roma family in Bucharest, Romania. She was 8 years old when her parents lost their home and were forced to move to her father’s extended family. A few years later her mother went to prison and Alina spent her teenage years in a children's home from where she went directly to the university. She used her diaries from those years to write the early versions of I Declare at My Own Risk, Slumdog Roma and Two weeks, maximum one month, maybe six years – which she performed at the International Romani Art Festival in 2009 and 2010.

In 2011 Serban received a scholarship and moved to London for a master’s program at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. The following year she received the "Best Romanian Student in the UK”, prize, but she could not afford the expenses associated with the trip from London to Edinburgh so she could not pick up the prize in person.

In March 2014 the actress was invited to the Street Child World Cup to give a speech in front of 2000 people at Royal Albert Hall. In 2016 Alina Şerban published the first Collection of Roma Fairy Tales in Romania, as told by her aunt – Tanti Veta.

She played the lead role and contributed as a script consultant for three European film projects focusing on experiences of Roma women: Written/Unwritten, Alone at My Wedding and Gipsy Queen.

For her first leading role in cinema, Serban stars in Marta Bergman’s feature film Alone at My Wedding, which premiered at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2018 and earned her several Best Actress awards.

She also stars as a boxer in Huseyin Tabak’s Gipsy Queen, a German-Austrian production. For her performance in ‘Gipsy Queen’ she won the Best Actress Award at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2019, the "Best Actress" award at The German Actors Guild Awards and was nominated for the German Film Academy Award - LOLA.

In 2020, Alina Serban made her debut as a filmmaker with Bilet de iertare/Letter of Forgiveness - the first film about the Roma slavery written and directed from a Roma perspective. The short film was awarded a Special Mention for Best Romanian Short Film at Transilvania International Film Festival and Best Narrative Director at Female Voices Rock, USA.

Studies

 * 2006-2009 National University of Theater and Film in Bucharest (Bachelor's)
 * 2009 Tisch School of the Arts at New York University (Open Arts program)
 * 2011-2012 Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London (MA Theatre Lab program)

Theatre
Alina Serban became known on the alternative theater scene of Bucharest after the performance I Declare at My Own Risk, a one-woman-show she had also written. The play, inspired by the autobiographical story of the actress, was performed in many European countries, including Romania, Hungary, France and Italy.

In 2013 Alina Serban performed I Declare at My Own Risk in Great Britain, at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art – RADA Festival, followed by another performance at Tara Arts in 2014.

While Living in London, in 2015, Alina Serban wrote Home, a play that tells a story of different immigrants looking for a better life in the UK. The play won “Stories of London” Rich Mix's competition.

By the end of 2015, Serban performed in Roma-Sapiens in Berlin and was invited to present and perform I Declare at My Own Risk at the Stockholm Literature Festival.

In 2016 Alina Serban writes, directs and performs in The Great Shame, a theater play that talks about 500 years of Roma slavery in the Romanian countries and in which she includes little known stories of slavery from historical documents.

Her theater work continues with The Best Child in the World (2022), an autobiographical one-woman show which she wrote and directed, and which is the first play by a Roma woman director to enter the permanent repertoire of the National Theater of Bucharest.

In 2023, Serban performs The Best Child in the World at the Bohemian National Hall in New York, as a part of the Rehearsal for Trust theater festival honoring Vaclav Havel and in Chicago at the RoCo.

Awards and Recognition
2024


 * Ordained by the President of Romania Klaus Iohannis with The Order of Cultural Merit, in the rank of Knight, for artistic performances, becoming the first Roma woman who received this distinction
 * Selected as one of the 44 leaders in the Young European Leaders program, led by Friends of Europe

2023


 * Venice Film Festival, Queer Lion Award for Housekeeping for beginners, which also represents Macedonia’s choice for the Oscars
 * Selected Alumni at Berlinale Talents, Berlin
 * Untold Stories - Winner of Best Project Manager Award at ‘The Administration of the Romanian National Cultural Fund Gala
 * Winner of “Best Producer of a Romanian short film Award” at Independent Producers Indie Film Festival (Romania, Bucharest)

2022


 * Winner of “Best Short Film” for Letter of Forgiveness at Ake Dikhea International Festival of Romani Film, Berlin

2021


 * Winner “Best Short Film” at Torino Short Film Market, for directing I matter

2020-2021


 * 4 times Winner of Best Actress Award for the leading role in Gipsy Queen including Best Actress Award at the German Actors Guild Awards
 * Best Actress Award at Nuremberg Film Festival

2020


 * Alone at my wedding nominated to Best First Feature (Magritte du premier film) and Best Film ("Meilleur film"), Belgium

2019


 * Official recognition by the Romanian Government for excellence in her artistic work and promoting the Roma culture
 * Special Mention at Transilvania International Film Festival and Best Narrative Director Award at Female Voices Rock, USA for Letter of Forgiveness
 * Tajsa Roma Cultural Heritage Prize for “Alina Șerban’s artistic work and for her engagement in the activism for Roma rights” by The European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC)
 * Winner of Best Actress at PÖFF Black Nights Film Festival for the leading role in Gipsy Queen

2018


 * Recipient of Soros Art Fellowship
 * Angela Award for Performance at Subtitle European Film Festival, Winner Jury Prize
 * Best Actress at International Women Film Festival of Salé for role in Alone at my wedding
 * Winner RIFF Jury Award Best Actress at Rome Independent Film Festival - for the leading role in Alone at my wedding