Who Is Svetlana Bojković

Svetlana Bojković, also known as Ceca Bojković, is a Serbian stage, film and television actress born on 14 December 1947 in Zemun. Audiences remember her above all as Emilija Popadić, the strict and refined Latin teacher from the series Bolji život (A Better Life), yet her career reaches far beyond that single role.

She has worked on stage, on screen and in film since the 1960s. She has performed with the Yugoslav Drama Theatre, the National Theatre in Belgrade and Atelje 212, and on television she has played more than 200 roles in series and TV dramas. For that reason, the media often call her the grande dame of Serbian theatre.

In addition, Svetlana Bojković is regarded as an artist honored with the most important awards in her field. They include the Golden Arena in Pula, the Dobričin prsten, the Žanka Stokić Award, the Pavle Vuisić Award and the Sterija Award for special contributions to the advancement of theatre art and culture.

Early Life and Childhood

Family and Growing Up in Vračar

Svetlana was born in the maternity ward in Zemun. By her own account, her mother Vera crossed the Sava because of a then-famous obstetrician, Dr. Kusovac. As a baby she was taken to Belgrade, to 59 Njegoševa Street, where the family shared an apartment with an elderly lady the little girl called Aunt Nikolija.

Her father Cvetko was a colonel and her mother Vera a homemaker. Sources say both parents had great ambitions for their only child. She therefore grew up in a strict, orderly and hardworking home. According to her own recollection, her mother expected impeccable neatness, and once tore up her messy first homework assignment and made her write it again.

She spent her childhood in Vračar. That part of Belgrade remained her neighborhood later in life, and Danas reports that she grew up there. As a result, she has stayed attached to the city where she was born and to which she always returned.

School and Musical Education

Svetlana attended the “Sveti Sava” primary school. At the same time, she privately studied foreign languages and piano. By her account, the family had no piano at first, so her father, in agreement with her teacher, drew a keyboard on the dining table. She practiced on it until the family bought a real instrument.

She was an excellent student. When the Vuk Diploma was introduced in Belgrade, she was among only six students to receive it. She then enrolled in the Fourteenth Belgrade Gymnasium while also attending a lower music school. After passing her diploma exam in piano, she never again sat down at a piano, as she herself related.

Going to the theatre brought her the greatest joy. She first watched puppet shows, then went to the “Buva” theatre, and later to the large stages. There she met actors whose voices she had known only from radio dramas. According to the sources, her parents long doubted that acting was the right path, so she had to prove to them that she was serious about it.

Education

She took her first serious step toward the stage in 1963, when she joined the Drama Studio of the Vračar Youth Center, better known as DADOV. She began as an assistant director, and during the following two seasons she also performed as an actress. Her first public recognitions came then, along with her first guest appearances in Monte Carlo and Erlangen.

She then enrolled in acting at Belgrade’s Academy for Theatre, Film, Radio and Television, today’s Faculty of Dramatic Arts. She graduated in 1970 in the class of Professor Predrag Bajčetić. Among her classmates was the actor Petar Božović, with whom she later worked again on a television series.

Thanks to this path, by the time she graduated Svetlana already had stage experience and a deep knowledge of music. That combination later showed clearly in her acting, in her diction, her rhythm and her sense of stage tempo.

Early Career

First Years at the Yugoslav Drama Theatre

She became a permanent member of the Yugoslav Drama Theatre ensemble in 1968, while still a student. She stayed with that house until 1984, a total of sixteen years. According to television profiles, it was there that she developed into a character actress.

Among the most important roles from that period are Jovanka in Nušić’s Pučina, Hedda in Hedda Gabler, Masha in Three Sisters and Raisa Pavlovna in The Forest. Three Sisters was directed by Georgy Tovstonogov, the renowned Russian director. Pučina, a cult production, was directed by Dejan Mijač.

She has appeared at Sterijino Pozorje in Novi Sad since 1969. According to the Association of Dramatic Artists of Serbia, she played eight roles there up to 2019. She later recalled that the Sterija Award once eluded her, precisely for Pučina, when she was young and it upset her badly.

For the role of Jovanka she also received the “Ćuran” award at the Comedy Days festival in Jagodina. Thus, already in the first decade of her professional work, it became clear that she was equally at home in drama and in comedy.

Rise to Fame

The Dog Who Loved Trains and the Golden Arena

Her greatest film success came with The Dog Who Loved Trains (Pas koji je voleo vozove) from 1977, a social drama directed by Goran Paskaljević. Svetlana played Mika. For that role she received the Golden Arena for Best Actress at the Pula Film Festival in 1978.

By her own account, she worked little in film, and she first stood before a camera only after she had been an actress for ten years. Some sources, including English-language Wikipedia, say she made her film debut as early as 1967, but the data differ. What is certain is that The Dog Who Loved Trains brought her her first major film award.

The National Theatre and the Films of the 1980s

After her success in Pula, new film and television offers followed. She played Lela in Pozorišna veza (1980), Danica in Neka druga žena (1981) and Rajka in Halo taksi (1983). Each of those roles showed a different side of her talent.

In 1984 she left the Yugoslav Drama Theatre and moved to the National Theatre in Belgrade. She stayed there until 1993, about nine years. She played the title role in Madame Sans-Gêne, Bélise in Molière’s The Learned Ladies, Cassandra in Agamemnon, Poncia in The House of Bernarda Alba and the Duchess of York in Richard III.

For the role of Bélise she won her second “Ćuran” in Jagodina. For that reason, the two awards are often mentioned together in her body of work, as proof that she is equally convincing in classical comedy and in psychological drama.

Bolji život and Emilija Popadić

The most popular television role of Svetlana Bojković is Emilija Popadić in the series Bolji život (A Better Life), written by Siniša Pavić and broadcast from 1987 to 1991. Emilija is a Latin teacher, a woman of high etiquette and flawless bearing, and Svetlana was only 38 at the time, much younger than her character.

She therefore built the character through observation. As a model she took women of the middle class to which her mother Vera also belonged. As she later explained, she “borrowed” some traits from her mother but did not imitate her. The result was a character who immediately became part of the nation’s memory.

Her “Gospode!” (“Good Lord!”), delivered with a precise body stance, is especially remembered. Danas writes that it is hard to imagine anyone else uttering that word with such force and such calm. Among her partners on the series she singled out Pepi Laković and Marko Nikolić.

Although this role overshadowed part of her career, she herself always stressed that she loves her other characters too, especially Žanka Stokić. When journalists asked her for years about a continuation of the series, she answered that there is no better life, in any sense. That sentence is therefore often repeated in the media.

Television Star of the 1990s

During the 1990s Svetlana Bojković was, according to Wikipedia, one of the biggest domestic television stars. After Bolji život came the series Srećni ljudi (1993–1996), in which she played Sister Antonija Miloradović, followed by Porodično blago, in which she portrayed Valerija Gavrilović.

In all of these series she mostly received roles of characters with a high level of etiquette in how they conduct themselves. As a result, the public began to associate her with elegance and dignity. At the same time, she proved that her range was not limited to one type of character.

In that period she also played Žanka Stokić in the TV film Smrt gospođe ministarke (1991), Radmila in the film Policajac sa Petlovog brda (1992) and Vilma in Vukovar poste restante (1994). Her television credits also include the series Mješoviti brak, Priče iz fabrike, Svetozar Marković, Nikola Tesla, Otpisani, Povratak otpisanih, Dimitrije Tucović, Kuda idu divlje svinje and Čedomir Ilić.

It is most often stated that she has played more than 200 roles in TV series and TV dramas in total. For that reason, the Golden Antenna, which she received for her overall contribution to domestic television production, was a logical recognition of such work.

Public Engagement and the 1990s

Besides her roles, in the 1990s she also stood out as a public figure. From 1992 to 1996 she was president of the Association of Dramatic Artists of Serbia (then known as SDUS). According to Danas, she openly clashed with the then minister of culture over the poor state of the theatre.

According to her later recollection, she also appealed to the then president Slobodan Milošević to seek the minister’s dismissal. She took RTS to court over unpaid fees. When asked whether she feared dismissal, she replied that if she were left without a job, she would open a newsstand and it would be the most visited one in the city.

In 1993 she left the National Theatre and became a distinguished freelance artist. Since then she has performed mostly at Atelje 212. By her own account, this decision gave her greater freedom in choosing roles and projects.

During the NATO bombing in 1999 she sent an open letter to the British actress and politician Glenda Jackson, then a minister in the government of Tony Blair. The letter was titled “A Shakespearean Tragedy on the Streets of Serbia.” According to her account, it reached the addressee through the British playwright Ronald Harwood and the then manager of Atelje 212, Cvetković. She says she never received a reply.

Greatest Achievements

Stage Roles at Atelje 212

Atelje 212 became her main stage in recent decades. There she played Siri von Essen in The Night of the Tribades, directed by Zoran Ratković, Elizabeth of England in Mary Stuart, a play based on Friedrich Schiller and directed by Ljubomir Muci Draškić, and the title role in Filumena Marturano, directed by Branko Pleša.

In addition, she played Kleopatra Mamajeva in Kola mudrosti dvoja ludosti, Vera in Audijencija i Vernisaž, Milica Pavlović in Lagum, Anna Pavlovna in Divlji med and Ruth Steiner in Sabrane priče. Some of those productions were later shown in an RTS “TV Theatre” series dedicated to her.

Svetlana also performed on other stages. At Grad Teatar Budva she played Alma in Jegorov put, at Moderna Garaža Milunka Savić in Legija časti, at the Belgrade Drama Theatre Mrs. X in X+Y=0, and at the small theatre “Puž” the Witch Vračević in Ivica i Marica.

Film and Television in the 21st Century

After 2000 she continued working in film and television. She played Jevda in Zona Zamfirova (2002), Latinka in Šejtanov ratnik (2006), Ana Palanački in Santa Maria della Salute (2016) and the title role in Gospođa mama (2021).

In recent years she has also accepted comedies. She played Rozalija “Rosa” Popović in the series Mamini sinovi, Živka in Tri muškarca i tetka and Baba Anka in U klinču. She also appeared in the series Slučaj porodice Bošković. In her words, it is not easy to make people laugh, nor to make them cry. The hardest thing is to provoke laughter that leaves bitterness behind.

On Tri muškarca i tetka she was reunited with her longtime colleague Jelisaveta Seka Sablić and her classmate Petar Božović.

Life in Helsinki

In 2012, after marrying the diplomat Slavko Kruljević, she moved to Helsinki. Her husband was then Serbia’s ambassador to Finland and Estonia. According to media reports, she temporarily interrupted her active acting career at that time.

She spent between four and five years in Helsinki, as the sources differ. After returning to Belgrade, she admitted that she had missed social life most of all. She soon went back to work in her profession. She performed again at Atelje 212, on television and in film, and in 2017 she received the “Pavle Vuisić” award.

Private Life

Svetlana Bojković has been married three times. Her first husband was the actor Miloš Žutić, whom, according to media reports, she married while still a student. From that marriage comes her daughter Katarina Žutić, also an actress, who performs at Atelje 212. The marriage later ended in divorce.

Her second husband was the director Ljubomir Muci Draškić, with whom she shared both private and professional life from 1985 until his death in 2004. Danas states that he was the great love of her life. Draškić also directed Mary Stuart, one of her best-known roles at Atelje 212.

Her third husband is the diplomat Slavko Kruljević. The year of the wedding differs between sources: IMDb gives 2010, and Wikipedia 2011. After their period in Helsinki, the couple returned to Belgrade.

At Atelje 212 she also found her best friend, the actor Petar Kralj, to whom she was matron of honor when he married for the second time. At Christmas, as she once said, she likes to be with her daughter. She respects customs and tradition, which is also visible in the way she talks about her family.

Interesting Facts

• She was a Vuk Diploma recipient, and in the generation in which the diploma was introduced only six students in Belgrade received it.
• She finished a lower music school and graduated in piano, but after her diploma exam she never again sat down at a piano.
• She was born in Zemun, but she has been attached to Vračar and Belgrade her whole life.
• In April 2011 she wore a dress created by Valentina Obradović at the “Fashion Selection” show, which was inspired by French actresses. The dress was dedicated to the character and work of Catherine Deneuve.
• She wrote an open letter to Glenda Jackson during the NATO bombing in 1999.
• She decided to donate her acting legacy, including awards, personal items, archival material and selected pieces of furniture, to the association Adligat.
• The exhibition “Svetlana Bojković – The Art of Acting or the Search for Truth,” dedicated to her work, was presented at the Palić European Film Festival. It was organized by the Theatre Museum of Vojvodina and Sterijino Pozorje.

Awards and Recognition

Over more than five decades of work, Svetlana Bojković has won nearly all the significant honors of Serbian theatre, film and television:

• the Golden Arena at the Pula Film Festival (1978) for the role of Mika in The Dog Who Loved Trains;
• two “Ćuran” awards at the Comedy Days festival in Jagodina, for Jovanka in Pučina and Bélise in The Learned Ladies;
• the October Award of the City of Belgrade;
• the “Joakim Vujić” award for contribution to theatre culture;
• the “Žanka Stokić” award (2003), of which she was the first laureate;
• the “Branislav Nušić” award for lifetime achievement in comedy;
• the Dobričin prsten (2005), the lifetime achievement award for theatre acting;
• the “Pavle Vuisić” award (2017) for outstanding contribution to the art of acting in domestic feature film;
• the Sterija Award for special contributions to the advancement of theatre art and culture (2019), presented on 3 June at the closing of the 64th Sterijino Pozorje;
• the Golden Antenna for overall contribution to domestic television production and the FEDIS award for her television body of work.

When she received the Sterija Award, she said it was especially dear to her because it refers to her entire body of work, not just a single role.

Legacy and Influence

The legacy of Svetlana Bojković is measured above all by the breadth of her work. In theatre she has played both classics and contemporary plays, in film she has left roles that are still mentioned today, and on television she has created characters who became part of everyday speech. Emilija Popadić is without doubt one of them.

Her influence is also visible beyond the stage. As president of SDUS, she publicly advocated for the interests of actors and theatres. Later she said she would argue for admitting young people into theatre and for higher salaries and pensions for actors. In her words, an artist should be socially engaged, and acting is for her a search for truth.

Finally, she is an example of an artist who has kept her reputation and quality through the decades. Younger generations of actresses learn from her how to build a character, how to command a stage and how to respect the spoken word. That is why her name still stands alongside concepts such as elegance, discipline and professionalism.