Szilvia Varga

Silvia Vargová (Hungarian: Varga Szilvia) is a Slovakian-Hungarian actress, today she lives in Budapest. She is a voice actress and moderator.

In 1984, she graduated from the Komárno Technical High School. She was a member of an arts group of the Thália theatre in Košicebetween1985-1987. The theatre at that point served as an extended stage of the Hungarian Regional Theatre, which was founded on the 1st of October 1952, and had its headquarters in Komárno. After the Velvet Revolution (1989), the theatre split into two independent theatres: Thália Theatre of Košice, and Jókai Theatre of Komárno.

The actress's first minor role on stage, was that of the young Marcius from Shakespeare's Coriolanus. Her next, and first major role, was in the fairy tale The Golden Key, on the Adventures of Buratino, written by the Russian author Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy, where she starred as Buratino – a young wooden boy with a big nose(5). Children loved her artistic performance, and critics praised her sensitive portrayal of the character. Her next role, into which she was cast as an already a young woman, made her also popular with an older and more mature audience. She starred as Judith, a charming steward from Germany, in Boing- Boing, a comedy written by the French playwright Marc Camoletti. Right before she was accepted into the Academy of Performing Arts, she shined in Mrs.Bodnár/Bodnárné, a drama written by the Hungarian author László Németh, where she portrayed a young bride named Cica.

On the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, she studied acting between 1987 – 1991, during these years she also finished a semester studying acting on the Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest (now University of Theatre and Film arts)(4). She studied alongside people such as: Zuzana Mauréry, Zuzana Vačková, Dagmar Bajnoková (now Bruckmayerová), Henrieta Mičkovicová, Ingrid Slobodová (now Hanzelová). During her studies she also occasionally starred in various plays in the Slovak National Theater (Woe from Wit directed by Miloš Pietor, where she starred as the Countess Khryumina), Theatre Korzo ´90 (now Theatre Astorka Korzo ´90, where she starred in the absurd comedy The Bald Soprano as Mary), but also in Komárno (e.g. Gyuala Háy: Caligula/Caliguló, Sándor Weöres: Lunar Sailor/Holdbéli csónakos, Václav Havel: Unveiling/Verniszázs, and an operetta co-written by László Szilágyi and Béla Zerkovitz: Kissing Woman/Csókos asszony).

After graduating from the Academy of Performing Arts, she briefly worked in Jókai Theatre of Komárno, and from 1991 to 1994 was a member of an arts group in Petőfi Theatre in Veszprém, where she played a role in the tragedy Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. During her four year presence in the Hungarian city, she performed in various dramas, comedies, operettas and even shows. In 1995, as an already married woman, she moved with her husband to the larger Hungarian city of Kecskemét, which is the administrative centre for the Bács-Kiskun County. She moved mostly due to work related reasons. Here she gained prominence in various roles during the crowd favourite in-between scenes, until 1998 when her daughter Réka Anna was born (for further detail, see the roles under text).

The actress also performed during her maternity leave, however not as often as beforehand. She starred in various roles in the Jókai Theatre in Komárno (Love/Szerelem by the prosaist Lajos Barta, The Folly of Youth/Fiatalság bolondság co-written by Mihály Eisenmann and Gyula Z. Halász), and in the Petőfi Theatre in Veszprém (e.g. The night of the Tribades/A tribádok éjszakája written by the Swedish author Per Orlov Enquist). While dealing with her familial responsibilities, she also worked as a voice actress, lending her gentle voice to various famous actresses from all over the world. She successfully dubbed dozens of characters from famous movies and TV series. After spending 5 years with her daughter, she started working in the city of Sopron, located near the Austrian border. In 2003 she became a member of an arts group the Petőfi Theatre of the city (not to be confused with the Petőfi Theatre in Veszprém). Here she also had to adapt to performing in musicals and operettas, due to her immense popularity in these genres (e.g.Casting, Summer of Old Times/Régi nyár).

Between 2007 – 2015 the actress worked as a freelance actor, starring in hits such as Chicago, The Madness of a day, or The Marriage of Figaro, The Csárdás Princess / The Gipsy Princess, Countess Maritza, Finito (Hungarian Zombie)/Finito (Magyar zombi). Since 2016 again performing in the Thália Theatre of Košice, where she has already starred in plays such as the comedy Misanthrope by Molière or the musical play The village outcast/A falu rossza from the Hungarian author Ede Tóth.

The actress Silvia Vargová has also starred in a couple of movies, e.g. Gas Light/Gázaláng (2004), Orpheus in the Underworld/Orfeusz az alvilágban (2005), Samba/Szamba (1996), Chameleon/Kaméleon (2008), Among Friends / Barátok közt (TV Series). She also successfully moderated the show Theopposite sex/Ellenkező nem while working at the Fiks/Fiksz radio station. Despite the plentiful offers from various different media, the actress has remained faithful to the theatre, performing some of her best roles and creations on many various stages all across Hungary and Slovakia.

Note: In the “Role Overview” there may be original names of those plays, which have a drastically different name when translated, or are unknown by a majority of the audience.

Overview of important theatrical roles