Zoltán Balázs

Zoltán Balázs (born 3 July 1977) is a Hungarian actor, theater director, and scenographer. He won the Jászai Mari Award and many other prizes for his role as an actor, director and theatrical innovator.

Zoltán Balázs is the founder and artistic director of Maladype, Hungarian theater company that has been in operation since its establishment 20 years back. He has been honored with the Hevesi Award by the Hungarian Theatre Institute for his contributions in presenting Hungarian theater on the international stage.

Early life and education
Zoltán Balazs was born in 1977 in Cluj, Romania. In 1989 he moved to Hungary. Between 1989-1991 he was a member of the Budapest Children Dance Theatre. He attended Horváth Mihály High School’s drama class of 1991-1995 in Szentes. From 1995 to 1998 Balázs was a student of the National Academy of Theater. He studied Acting (1998-2002) and Directing (2000-2003) in Budapest at the University of Theatre and Film Arts. Meanwhile he participated in several masterclasses with well-known directors and choreographers, like Anatoli Vasiliev, Josef Nadj and Min Tanaka in Avignon, and studied from Robert Wilson in Paris. Then he completed the directing course of The Union of European Theatres in Stuttgart.

Career
In 2001 he founded the avant-garde Maladype Theatre in Budapest, which became internationally known. As a director, Balázs had been a frequent guest of various festivals and theaters around the world. He directed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Germany, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and the United States of America. Between 2003-2008 he was a defining actor and director of the company of Bárka Theatre, Hungary. Zoltán Balázs directed classical and contemporary works, adapted novels and epics, dramas, comedies, operas, operettas, musicals, dance plays, puppet shows, performances, non-verbal and physical theater, as well as rock concerts. He taught acting at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest, University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest, and the University of Arts Târgu Mures. He regularly holds master classes and workshops based on his theater methodical concept entitled Gold-Bug- and FIVE GATES Method for students of Hungarian and foreign art universities and theater communities.

Awards

 * 2003 - Critics Award: Best Alternative Performance (School for Fools)
 * 2005 - ARARAT Award (for the role of Hamlet)
 * 2005 - Knight's Cross of the Hungarian State
 * 2014 - Best Performance (King Ubu) - FIAT International Theatre Festival, Podgorica, Montenegro
 * 2018 - Hevesi Sándor Award
 * 2020 - Grand Prize (Yvonne) - XIV. International Gombrowicz Festival, Radom, Poland
 * 2022 - Honthy Hanna Award: Artist of the season (Nine)
 * 2023 - Golden Mask Award (Alice in bed) – 63rd MESS International Theatre Festival, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina