Nik Xhelilaj
Nik Xhelilaj | |
|---|---|
| Born | Kreshnik Xhelilaj 5 March 1983 Tirana, Albania |
| Other names | Nik Xhelilaj |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 2005–present |
Kreshnik Xhelilaj (born 5 March 1983),[1] known professionally as Nik Xhelilaj, is an Albanian actor.
He began his international career with the movie The Sorrow of Mrs. Schneider, directed by Piro Milkani and Eno Milkani and was the leading actor in three critically acclaimed Albanian films, of which two entered in the List of Albanian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2008 and 2009. Nik has collected several "Best Actor" Awards in various international film festivals.[2]
Biography
Nik Xhelilaj was born in Tirana, on 5 March 1985[3] in a family originally from south Albania, Labëria region, his father was born in Vlorë and his mother was born in Tepelenë.[4] Both of his parents are high military officers by profession.[4] Thus, at the age of 14, also thanks to his father's interest, he went to Istanbul to follow the military high-school. But his new path did not last more than 7 months and he decided to give up on the pursuit of the military career and to come back to Albania.[4] Eventually he engaged with other young artists into the "Sirea Film" projects, with movie directors Leonard Bombaj and Alfred Trebicka, who advised him to compete and sign up for the Fine Arts Academy. Firstly Nik was a candidate for the Faculty of Law, where he did not win.[4]
Then, in 2004, at the age of 21, he entered the Fine Arts Academy for acting. In 2005, after just having finished his freshman year, Nik was chosen by the experienced movie director Pirro Milkani to play the leading role of Lekë Seriani in the film The Sorrow of Mrs. Schneider (Template:Lang-sq), which had strong autobiographical elements. The plot itself dealt in general with the life of director Milkani in the 1960s, during his studies in then-Czechoslovakia.[5] Even though he didn't know the Czech language at all, the young actor memorized and learned to pronounce his Czech lines for the entire film. Nik appeared nude in shower scene in this film. Also it was here that he became widely known with his stage name or nickname Nik, since the producers of the film found it hard to pronounce the Albanian name Kreshnik and thus suggested a shorter version of it.[4] The movie was released in 2008 and was the Albanian submission of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for that year, but failed to be nominated.
Dancing with the Stars
Xhelilaj was part of the first season of the reality show Dancing with the Stars (Albania), that was held between 18 February and 7 May 2010. The couple of the actor and the professional dancer Olta Ahmetaj was the fifth to be eliminated from the competition (out of 12 couples) and thus resigning from the first prize of €50,000.[6]
Filmography
| Title | Type | Year | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| One use Only | short length film | 2005 | |
| The Sorrow of Mrs. Schneider | film | 2008 | Lekë Seriani |
| Alive! | film | 2009 | Koli |
| The Albanian | film | 2010 | Arben |
| Lost City | Turkish TV series | 2012 | Kadir |
| Real Playing Game | film | 2013 | Young Boris |
| Every love is a goodbye | Turkish TV series | 2014 | Yusuf |
| Seven Lucky Gods | film | 2014 | Mehmet |
| Winnetou | German TV film | 2016 | Winnetou |
| Zer | Turkish film | 2017 | Jan |
| Payitaht: Abdülhamid | Turkish TV series | 2017 | Marco |
| Direniş Karatay | Turkish film | 2018 | Börke |
| Nefes Nefese | Turkish TV series | 2018 | Boran |
| The Great Seljuks: Guardians of Justice | Turkish TV series | 2020 | Yorgos |
| We Children from Bahnhof Zoo | German TV series | 2021 | Dijan |
| Rise of Empires: Ottoman | Netflix docu-drama series | 2022 | Mahmud Pasha |
Theatre
- Këmbanat e Muzgut (Template:Lang-en) - National Theatre, 2007
Directors: Alfred Bualioti, Andon Qesari
Leading role: Lieutenant Llukan[7] - A Streetcar Named Desire (play) by Tennessee Williams - Academy of Arts of Albania, 2007
Director: Timo Flloko
Leading role: Stanley Kovalsky[7] - Tango (drama) by Slavomir Mrozek - Theater "Aleksandër Moisiu", Durrës, 2008
Director: Driada Dervishi
Leading role: Arthur[7]
References
- ^ Nik Xhelilaj on E-talenta
- ^ Gazeta Albania - Filmi "Shqiptari" pushton Festivalin e Gjenevës (in Albanian) | 9 November 2010
- ^ Nik Xhelilaj Fan Page
- ^ a b c d e PANORAMAPLUS - Kreshnik apo Nik Xhelilaj? (in Albanian) | 6 October 2009
- ^ "Perfundon nje film, nis nje karriere (in Albanian)". Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
- ^ Nik Xhelilaj nga "Dancing with the Stars", 30 March 2010
- ^ a b c Nik Xhelilaj biography, Career timeline Archived 3 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
External links
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
