(Sarajevo, December 22, 1935 - Zagreb, March 4, 2008)


Semka Sokolović-Bertok, one of the greatest Croatian character actresses, decided on an acting career very early. She attended acting school in Sarajevo and then enrolled in the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb, from which she graduated a few years later. After meeting Dr. Branko Gavella in 1957, she became his assistant and a member of the Zagreb Drama Theatre (today Drama Theatre Gavella) and remained there for forty years until her retirement in 1998. With an impressive stage performance she is best remembered as Anka and Marijana Margetićka in Krleža’s Kraljevo and Vučjak, Jeka in Budak’s Klupko, Cicibela in Smoje’s Roko and Cicibela, Perka in Brešan’s Smrt predsjednika kućnog savjeta, Ana in Prica’s Zemlja, Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth, Chekhov’s Ana Petrovna and many others. She made her debut on the big screen in 1956 in Boja Stupica’s film U mreži. Afterwards she acted in Fadil Hadžić’s Službeni položaj (1964), Druga strana medalje (1965), Protest (1967), Divlji anđeli (1969), and her first bigger role in Goran Marković’s Majstori, majstori (1980). She acted in several of his other films such as Variola Vera (1981) and Tajvanska kanasta (1985). She played a smaller but very effective role in Grlić’s U raljama života (1984). She starred in Olujna noć (1987) and Krhotine (1991) by Zrinko Ogresta, Krvopijci (1989) by Dejan Šorak, Ljeto za sjećanje (1990) and Sedmoj kronici (1996) by Bruno Gamulin, Mor (1992) and Ne dao Bog većeg zla (2002) by Snježana Tribuson, Dok nitko ne gleda (1993), Svaki put kad se rastajemo (1994) by Lukas Nola and recently Kod amidže Idriza (2004) by Pjer Žalica and Grbavica (2006) by Jasmila Žbanić. She also appeared in many roles in various TV series such as U registraturi (1974), Velo misto (1981), Putovanje u Vučjak (1986) and those of a more recent vintage Naši i vaši (2001-2002) and Duga mračna noć (2005). Besides having a great acting career she was also an esteemed and successful player of chess, bridge and poker. She won the title of the Croatian chess championship eight times and as a doyenne of chess appeared in the TV series Bitange i princeze (2005). At the 53rd Pula Film festival she was awarded the Fabijan Šovagović lifetime achievement award. She appeared on film for the last time in Stefan Arsenijević’s Ljubav i drugi zločini (2008).