Иван Бърнев

Dobrich-born in 1973 and trained in Stefan Danailov's class at the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts in Sofia, from which he graduated in 1996, Ivan Barnev began at the Youth Theatre and took an Askeer for Rising Star in Dinner for Fools, later a best-actor Askeer for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Abroad he became known as the young Jan Dítě in Jiří Menzel's I Served the King of England; his later films include The Lesson, Directions, The Father, Vasil, Blaga's Lessons and Triumph, and Vasil brought him a shared best-actor award with Karra Elejalde at the Valladolid International Film Festival in 2022. His first part at the Youth Theatre was Pinocchio, in a production directed by Andrey Avramov, and the Askeer for rising talent came in 2002. Billy Bibbit, in Alexander Morfov's staging, brought him an Icarus as well as the Askeer in 2011.