Who Is Milan Vasić

Milan Vasić (born in Kosovska Kamenica on 31 January 1979) is a Serbian stage, film and television actor. He is best known for playing the young hip-hopper U-Džejl in the comedy “Pevaj, brate” (“Sing, Brother”), Janaćko Janjić in the series “Bela lađa” (“The White Ship”), and the Banat farmer Sava Lađarski in the film “Konji vrani” (“Black Horses”) and the series “Jesen stiže, Dunjo moja” (“Autumn Is Coming, My Quince”). He is a member of the National Theatre of Priština (Narodno pozorište Priština), which is based in Gračanica.

Besides acting, Vasić also sings, mainly ethno and folk songs. Audiences value his naturalness, his flair for comedy and his strong attachment to his homeland. He describes himself as a modest village boy from Kosovska Kamenica, and that bond with his roots underpins his public image.

This text follows his path from childhood in Kosovo and Metohija, through his schooling at a displaced academy, to theatre stages, television screens and cinemas across Serbia.

Early Life and Childhood

Milan Vasić was born on 31 January 1979 in Kosovska Kamenica. Some sources say he was born in the nearby village of Ropotovo, while most name Kosovska Kamenica itself as his birthplace. He grew up with his father Ljubomir, his mother Olivera and his sisters Tamara and Milena, to whom he is very close.

He finished primary and secondary school in his hometown. As he has often noted, he grew up in a patriarchal family that cherishes the customs of Kosovo and Metohija. The family lived in Kosovska Kamenica until the conflict broke out in the late 1990s. It then moved to the village of Veliko Ropotovo, where it had previously owned a weekend house, and for a time during the war it also lived in Vranje. Despite the hardship, Vasić has described his childhood as beautiful, healthy and happy.

As a boy he played sports. He played football in Kosovska Kamenica and trained handball in secondary school. For five years he danced and sang in a local cultural and artistic society. It was in that folklore ensemble that his stage talent first showed, and he inherited his love of folk music from his parents.

Education

The road to acting academy was not simple. Many noticed his potential and urged him to apply for acting, but he also heard that entrance exams required money. Aware that his parents could not afford it, he considered taking the entrance exam at the Faculty of Law and continuing his father’s work. However, at the urging of his primary school teacher he applied for acting and was admitted to the Faculty of Arts of the University of Priština.

He studied in the class of Professor Svetozar Rapajić. A year and a half after he began, war broke out in Kosovo and Metohija, and acting students were called to continue their education in Belgrade. In the capital he first lived with a cousin and later in a student dormitory.

The Priština academy was then relocated to Varvarin near Kruševac, where Vasić completed his third year. He finished his studies in Vranje. He says the experience was valuable, because it let him get to know different parts of Serbia, their customs, people and mentality, which later helped him inhabit his characters.

Early Career

He was brought to the National Theatre of Priština by its then manager, Radosav Stojanović. Vasić thus became a member of an ensemble that, after the war and its expulsion from its home building, continued to work under very specific conditions. His first major stage engagements were tied to that company, and it has remained his professional home to this day.

Biographical sources also record that in 2005 the daily newspaper “Politika” presented Vasić as a figure in acting who had marked that year. This shows that he drew the attention of critics and the public even before his first major television roles.

He first appeared on screen in 2007, in the lead role in “Konji vrani”, directed by Ljubiša Samardžić. Samardžić remained one of his important collaborators. Vasić later published an emotional message about him, saying that it was Samardžić who opened the door to the world of film for him.

The National Theatre of Priština – A Stage in Exile

To understand Vasić’s career, it helps to know the history of the company he works for. The National Theatre of Priština was founded in 1945 in Prizren as the Regional National Theatre. It staged its first play, “Glava šećera” (“The Sugar Loaf”) by Milovan Glišić, on 7 October of that year. A few years later it moved to Priština, and in 1999 it was driven out of its building. Today it operates from Gračanica and performs in Serb communities in Kosovo and Metohija.

Vasić has repeatedly stressed how much that stage means to him. When Ivan Tasovac was minister of culture, he saw a performance in Gračanica, and an aide offered the actor his choice of any theatre in Belgrade. Vasić declined, because at 35 he did not want to prove himself all over again, and he did not want to trade the atmosphere in his own theatre. He has also said he would like to stay in Priština until retirement.

Dramatic Repertoire

In Borislav Mihailović Mihiz’s drama “Banović Strahinja” he played Vojin Jugović. The title role was played by Nebojša Đorđević, and the cast also included Zoran Karajić, Dušan Simić and Igor Damnjanović. Nebojša Bradić wrote the adaptation.

In the comedy “Ženidba” (“The Marriage”) by Nikolai Gogol, directed by Milan Karadžić, he acted alongside Jelena Orlović, Milena Jakšić, Anika Grujić, Igor Damnjanović and Bojan Stojčetović. The director brought together actors from Gračanica and Novi Sad in that production.

In “Ministarstvo izbavljenja” (“The Ministry of Deliverance”) by the Irish playwright Conall Morrison, he played the lead, with Milena Jakšić, Bojan Stojčetović, Ivana Kovačević and Igor Damnjanović. It was directed by Luiza Safi. The play follows two married couples who try to rid their home of an “evil spirit” through exorcism.

In October 2017, the Catalan director Mauricio Fare staged “Danton’s Death” by Georg Büchner in Gračanica. The main roles were played by Igor Damnjanović, Milan Vasić, Aleksandar Mihailović and Anika Grujić.

Comedies, Musicals and Recent Productions

On the “Raša Plaović” stage of the National Theatre in Belgrade he appeared in Molière’s “The Bourgeois Gentleman”, directed by Dario Mihailović. He played Cléonte, while Igor Damnjanović and Anika Grujić played Monsieur and Madame Jourdain. Milena Jakšić played Lucile, and Branko Babović played Dorante.

At the Slavija Theatre he appeared in the chamber musical “Cimeri” (“Roommates”), based on a text by Matthew Carlson, alongside Saša Joksimović, and in the same house in the play “Kuća bez prozora” (“The House Without Windows”). He also took part in the musical “Hotel Kosovo”, with which the Priština theatre, after fifteen years of exile, opened its stage at the House of Culture in Gračanica. The ensemble also included Aleksandar Mihailović, Zinaida Dedakin, Filip Radojević, Branko Babović, Bora Nenić and Bojan Stojčetović.

Among the more recent titles are “SumLjivo lice” (“Suspicious Face”), directed by Milan Nešković, “Ivkova slava u Prizrenu” (“Ivko’s Feast in Prizren”) and “Predstava Hamleta u selu Mrduša Donja” (“The Performance of Hamlet in the Village of Mrduša Donja”), which the ensemble also performed in Štrpce. By the actor’s own account, the ensemble often plays in places where very few people live, and on one occasion a performance was given for just one woman.

Rise to Fame

Vasić gained wider popularity at the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, when he established himself on the stage and on television at the same time. Two roles defined his public image: the hip-hopper U-Džejl in a comedy and the farmer Janaćko in a political satire.

“Pevaj, brate”

The comedy “Pevaj, brate”, directed by Slavenko Saletović from a text by Stevan Koprivica, premiered on 11 November 2009 at the Trade Union Hall in Belgrade. Vasić plays Uroš Džemić U-Džejl, a young hip-hopper who dreams of becoming a star. His partner is Milan Kalinić as the metalhead Goran Ćirković Fajta, who opened a music studio in order to survive. The third member of the trio is Andrija Milošević as the pop-folk singer Marijan Dević Devil.

Comic situations arise when the three musicians collide in the same place. The play was performed more than 200 times in a short period and released on DVD. The sequel, “Pevaj, brate 2”, premiered on 16 October 2013, and the trio also made a series of the same name, which aired on Prva TV.

“Bela lađa” and Other Series

From 2010 to 2012, Vasić played Janaćko Janjić in the series “Bela lađa”, a distant relative of Srećko Šojić. Janaćko is a naive farmer who comes to the capital to sell his produce. When the leader of the Party of Common Sense is arrested, Janaćko takes over one of the leading roles, becomes a member of parliament and helps form a government on a ship.

Before that, television audiences had come to love him as Sava Lađarski in the series “Jesen stiže, Dunjo moja”, which RTS aired from October 2009 to February 2010. Thanks to these roles, many now consider him one of the favourite actors of his generation in Serbia, although he is often labelled a comedian.

Film and Television Roles

Vasić’s filmography includes feature films, series and telenovelas. According to available sources, the most important roles are:

• “Konji vrani” (2007) – Sava Lađarski, a Banat farmer whose wife died in childbirth, in the film by Ljubiša Samardžić; he starred alongside Kalina Kovačević, Predrag Ejdus, Milena Vasić Ražnatović and Andrija Milošević;
• “Ono naše što nekad bejaše” (2007) – the clerk-in-training Ljubivoj, in a series by Siniša Pavić based on stories by Stevan Sremac, with Danijela Štajnfeld as Ikica;
• “Bledi mesec” (2008) – Sava Lađarski again, in the final instalment of the trilogy;
• “Ranjeni orao” (2008–2009) – a minor role in Zdravko Šotra’s adaptation of the novel by Mir-Jam;
• “Greh njene majke” (2009–2010) – Mitko Borić;
• “Miris kiše na Balkanu” (2010) – Danijel Papo, in Ljubiša Samardžić’s series based on the novel by Gordana Kuić;
• “Bela lađa” (2010–2012) – Janaćko Janjić;
• “Pevaj, brate” (2011–2013) – U-Džejl;
• “Zona Zamfirova 2: Vrati se, Zone” (2017) – Mane, directed by Jug Radivojević;
• “Komšije” (2018) – Momčilo Mitić, the fake count Bokalović;
• “Junaci našeg doba” (2019–2021) – Đorđe Torbica Vrućko;
• “Tri muškarca i tetka” (2021) – Joviša;
• “Ko živ, ko mrtav” (2023) – Miškić.

According to IMDb, he also appeared in the film “Heroji Halijarda” (“Heroes of Halyard”, 2023) and the miniseries “Vazdušni most” (“Air Bridge”, 2024), as Captain Raković. A special place belongs to the film “Nesporazum” (“Misunderstanding”) by Nenad Todorović, whose shooting began in Kosovo and Metohija in the spring of 2012, with actors of the National Theatre of Priština. The leads were played by Milena Jakšić and Vladimir Jocović, and the story follows a love triangle between a Serb, an Albanian woman and a KFOR spokeswoman. Sources differ on the year of release, and 2020 is the one most often cited.

Singing and Charity Work

Vasić is known as a good singer. He prefers ethno songs, and in a tavern he happily takes the microphone. His cover recordings on social media have drawn millions of views. He recorded his first official song in 2020. It is the duet “Ja sam momče sa Kosova” (“I Am a Lad From Kosovo”) with the trumpeter Dejan Petrović, released by PGP RTS with the support of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija. The idea arose by chance, when he sang the song on the quiz show “Ja volim Srbiju”. According to him, the tennis player Novak Đoković also congratulated him on the song.

In 2022 he presented the song and video “Poleteo soko sivi”, with which, as he put it, he wanted to send a message about the beauty of Kosovo and Metohija. He regularly visits monasteries and Serb villages in Kosovo and Metohija, where he performs and takes part in charity campaigns. The municipality of Štrpce presented him with a certificate of appreciation for promoting the municipality and for his humanitarian work.

The 2026 Performance at a Monastery Near Prizren

In late July 2026, Vasić performed at the feast-day celebration of the Monastery of the Holy Archangels near Prizren. According to his statement to RTS, reported by N1, police officers in Kosovo and Metohija called him in for an informational conversation before the show and handed him a set of rules of conduct, and he adjusted his repertoire so that the event would pass without incident. He stressed that he is not engaged in politics but in preserving tradition and faith, and that the event passed peacefully.

This is the actor’s own account, and no other sources on the details of the conversation are cited.

Greatest Achievements

• the role of Sava Lađarski in the film “Konji vrani” and the series “Jesen stiže, Dunjo moja”, which introduced him to a wider audience;
• the role of U-Džejl in the comedy “Pevaj, brate”, performed more than 200 times and released on DVD;
• the role of Janaćko Janjić in the series “Bela lađa”;
• a long-standing engagement at the National Theatre of Priština and numerous guest performances in Serb communities;
• the duet “Ja sam momče sa Kosova” and a successful singing career alongside his acting.

Personal Life

Vasić rarely speaks about his private life. In April 2025, at the age of 46, he announced on Instagram that he had married Maja Ilievski. According to media reports, she is a member of the National Ensemble “Kolo”. His best man was his longtime friend and colleague from “Pevaj, brate”, Milan Kalinić. Vasić has also announced a large wedding celebration in Kosovo and Metohija.

In July 2025 he became the father of a son, Despot, whom he had baptised at the Gračanica Monastery. He often takes his family to his native region. According to media reports, he owns a home in Belgrade, but he considers Kosovo and Metohija his true home, where his parents live in Veliko Ropotovo. He regularly helps tend the family estate and often shows it on social media.

Vasić is very close to his sisters Tamara and Milena and to his parents, Ljubomir and Olivera, and says he has always prepared celebrations for his family. He celebrates Saint Nicholas as his family’s patron saint day.

Trivia

• His nickname is Lane.
• Before acting, he played football and handball, and for five years he performed in a folklore ensemble.
• He almost enrolled at the Faculty of Law, but a teacher persuaded him to apply for acting.
• He studied acting in four cities: Priština, Belgrade, Varvarin and Vranje.
• He turned down an offer to choose any theatre in Belgrade and stayed at the National Theatre of Priština.
• He loves horses and occasionally visits a riding club near Belgrade.

Awards and Recognition

At the 12th International Film Festival in Doboj, Milan Vasić was named best young actor. At the 39th “Days of Comedy” festival in Jagodina, the comedy “Pevaj, brate”, in which he acts with Milan Kalinić and Andrija Milošević, won the Miodrag Petrović Čkalja Award for the funniest play. The municipality of Štrpce gave him a certificate of appreciation for promoting the municipality and for his humanitarian work. In 2005, the daily newspaper “Politika” singled him out as an actor who had marked that year.

Legacy and Influence

Milan Vasić belongs to a generation of actors who matured professionally within displaced institutions. His work at the National Theatre of Priština shows that the cultural life of the Serb community in Kosovo and Metohija continues even in difficult conditions. As an actor popular throughout Serbia, he uses his recognisability to draw attention to his homeland, tradition and charity campaigns.

His comic and dramatic roles, from U-Džejl to Janaćko, remain memorable and beloved among audiences of all ages. As a singer, he has also shown that acting skill can be combined with the preservation of folk music.