Goran Višnjić

Goran Višnjić (Croatian: [ɡǒran ʋîʃɲitɕ] VISH-nyich; born 9 September 1972) is a Croatian-American actor who has appeared in American and British films and television productions. He is best known for his roles as Dr. Luka Kovač in ER and Garcia Flynn in Timeless, both NBC television series. For ER, he and the cast were nominated for two Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Goran Višnjić
Višnjić at Rome Film Festival in 2014
Born	(1972-09-09) 9 September 1972 (age 52) Šibenik, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia
Citizenship	Croatia United States (since 2013)[1]
Education	Academy of Dramatic Art
Alma mater	University of Zagreb
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1988–present
Spouse	Eva Višnjić ​ (m. 1999)​
Children	4
Relatives	Antun Vrdoljak (father-in-law)

Early life

Višnjić was born on 9 September 1972 in Šibenik, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia. He has one sibling, an elder brother, Joško. His father, Željko, was a bus driver, and his mother, Milka, worked in a market.^[2] He appeared in plays throughout his childhood and made his screen debut at the age of 16 in the controversial Yugoslav film, Braća po materi (1988), playing a young Ustaša.^[3]

In 1990, at the age of 18, Višnjić served one-year of obligatory military service in the Yugoslav People's Army as a paratrooper. Only weeks after his military discharge in 1991, as Yugoslavia began to dissolve, he joined the nascent Croatian Ground Army. After leaving the army, he moved to Zagreb to study at the Academy of Dramatic Art.^[4][5]

Career

Višnjić was the youngest actor to be chosen for the title role in Shakespeare's Hamlet at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival. Originally cast as Laertes and understudy to Hamlet, he took over the role when the star dropped out of the production shortly before the first performance.^[6] He portrayed the doomed prince from 1994 to 2000, winning three national awards.^[7] During an episode of ER, he demonstrated his expertise in the part of Hamlet, by reciting an excerpt from the "To be, or not to be" soliloquy in Croatian.^[8]

Prior to ER, he found work in local television productions and landed a Tuborg beer commercial that aired in Europe.^[9] Višnjić also had small speaking roles in films such as The Peacemaker, Practical Magic and Committed. In 1998, he appeared in Madonna's music video "The Power of Good-Bye," and had a cameo in the film Rounders. It was his role as Risto, the Bosnian driver in Welcome to Sarajevo that led then-producer John Wells to offer him a role as a doctor to replace the departing George Clooney in the sixth season of ER in late 1999,^[8] eventually becoming the show's male lead by the start of season 12, having taken over from the departing star Noah Wyle, who left after the finale of season 11. By season 14, however, he was only making a limited number of appearances, before completely leaving the show early in season 15.

While starring on ER, Višnjić worked on other projects. He co-starred in The Deep End; starred in and co-produced Posljednja volja; voiced Soto in Ice Age and starred in Close Your Eyes, alongside Shirley Henderson and Miranda Otto. In 2004, he starred in the television miniseries Spartacus and the film Duga mračna noć. He next appeared with Jennifer Garner in Elektra. In 2005, Višnjić was one of the four finalists for the role of James Bond, eventually losing out to British actor Daniel Craig, with whom he would appear in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.^[10]

In 2009, Višnjić appeared alongside Carla Gugino in a segment of the film New York, I Love You, an anthology set in New York. Višnjić's segment Apocrypha was directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev.^[11] The segment was cut from the theatrical release of the film but was included in the DVD version.^[12] He next starred in Helen, alongside Ashley Judd as Judd's character's husband David, which made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.^[13]

Višnjić appeared in The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler, about a young Polish woman who saved the lives of many Jewish children in wartime Warsaw, filmed in Riga, Latvia. It was produced for Hallmark Hall of Fame and aired on CBS on 19 April 2009.^[14] He completed a role in Mike Mills' independent film, Beginners.^[15] In late 2009, he was cast as Samson in The Deep, shown on BBC One in 2010.^[16]

He appeared as Andrija Hebrang in the television miniseries Tito. He later appeared in the unsold pilot of ABC's Boston's Finest, playing a disgraced cop who works with a female officer to solve crimes while trying to clear his name.^[17] He also appeared in the two-episode season three finale of the television series Leverage, as international crime financier Damien Moreau, his first guest appearance on an English-language television program.

In 2011, he played Dragan Armansky, the head of a security agency, in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and he has signed on to play this role for the entire film trilogy produced and distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment.^[18] He was featured on a four-episode arc of the television series Pan Am; he played a Yugoslavian attaché to the United Nations.

In 2014, Višnjić played John Woods, the husband of Molly Woods, in Extant, produced by Steven Spielberg. Although the series was renewed in late 2014, he left the series early in the second season.^[19][20]

From 2016 to 2018, he played former NSA asset Garcia Flynn in NBC's Timeless.^[21]

In 2019, Višnjić portrayed Ante Gotovina in the Antun Vrdoljak-directed film General. His performance, along with the film itself gained overwhelmingly negative reviews^[22][23][24] with many critics, including Milivoj Jukić and Jurica Pavičić calling his portrayal "the worst performance of his career."^[25][26] The critically and commercially panned film was screened at the Pula Film Festival.^[27]

Višnjić played Nikola Tesla in the twelfth series of Doctor Who, appearing in the fourth episode, "Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror," first broadcast on 19 January 2020.

In early 2020, Višnjić was cast as Count Dracula in the unsold ABC pilot The Brides, which was written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa.^[28]

In 2024, Višnjić returned to the stage starring opposite Zrinka Cvitešić and Goran Grgić in Ivo Vojnović's Ekvinocijo, directed by Krešimir Dolenčić at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival.^[29] He also appeared in the final season of Vikings: Valhalla as Erik the Red.

Recognition

Višnjić was named People's Sexiest Import in 1999 and "One of TV's Sexiest Men" in the June 5–11, 2005 TV Guide. He was ranked #18 in Hollywood in Best Croatian Male Movie Stars of All Time list in November 2005. He was also named as the Best Croatian Actor in 2004 for his role in the movie Duga mračna noć, according to the votes of Večernji list.^[30]

Personal life

His wife, Eva (born Ivana Vrdoljak) is an artist and sculptor, and the daughter of film director Antun Vrdoljak, who controversially headed Croatian Radiotelevision from 1991 to 1995. The couple have two adopted children and one biological child. They resided in Los Angeles, California until 2021, and have three homes in Croatia – Zagreb, Šibenik, and Dubrovnik.^[31][32] Višnjić acknowledged paternity of a daughter, Lana Lourdes Rupić, whom he fathered in 2006 with a Croatian woman, Mirela Rupić.^[33] In 2021, Višnjić and his family moved from Los Angeles to Cornwall, England.^[34]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Braća po materi	Ustaša
1993	Paranoja	—	Short film
1996	Prepoznavanje	Ivan
1997	Puška za uspavljivanje	Devetka
	The Peacemaker	Bazta Sergeant
	Welcome to Sarajevo	Risto Bavić
1998	Rounders	Maurice
	Practical Magic	Jimmy Angelov
2000	Committed	Neil
2001	The Deep End	Alek Spera
	Posljednja volja	Bepo Stambuk	Also co-producer
2002	Ice Age	Soto (voice)
	Close Your Eyes	Michael Strother	Also known as Doctor Sleep
2004	Duga mračna noć	Ivan Kolar	Also producer
2005	Elektra	Mark Miller
2009	Apocrypha	Man	Short film
	Helen	David Leonard
2010	Beginners	Andy
2011	The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo	Dragan Armansky
2012	K-11	Raymond Saxx Jr.
2013	The Counselor	Michael
	95 Decibels	Dr. Corry	Short film
2014	Dark Hearts	Armand
	Asthma	Ragen
	The Journey Home	Muktuk
2017	Never Here	S
	The Tribes of Palos Verdes	Joe
2019	General	Ante Gotovina	Also producer
2020	Fatima	Artur de Oliveira Santos
2021	The Accursed	Nikola
2022	Hellraiser	Roland Voight
2024	Transformers One	Orion Pax / Optimus Prime (voice)	Croatian dub

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Michele va alla guerra	Soldier	Television film
1995	Night Watch	UN Security Officer	Television film
	Vidimo se	Maks	Television film
1997	Olujne tisine 1895-1995	Vladimir Vidrić	Television miniseries
1998	Teško je reći zbogom	Davor	Television film
1999–2008	ER	Dr. Luka Kovač	185 episodes
2003	American Masters	Robert Capa (voice)	Episode: "Robert Capa: In Love and War"
2004	Spartacus	Spartacus	Television miniseries
2006	Naša mala klinika	Man on the telephone	Episode: "Bijeli misevi"
2009	The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler	Stefan Zgrzembski	Television film
2010	Tito	Andrija Hebrang	Television miniseries
	Boston's Finest	Angus Martin	Television pilot
	The Deep	Samson Ungliss	Television miniseries
	Leverage	Damien Moreau	2 episodes
2011–2012	Pan Am	Niko Lonza	4 episodes
2013	Red Widow	Nicholae Schiller	8 episodes
2014	Extant	John Woods	16 episodes
2015	Crossing Lines	Marco Constante	12 episodes
2016–2018	Timeless	Garcia Flynn	27 episodes
2019–2022	This Is Us	Vincent Kelly	2 episodes
2019	Santa Clarita Diet	Dobrivoje Poplovic	4 episodes
	Dollface	Dr. Colin Brooks	4 episodes
2020	Doctor Who	Nikola Tesla	Episode: "Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror"
	The Brides	Count Dracula	Television pilot
	The Boys	Alastair Adana	4 episodes
2024	Vikings: Valhalla	Erik the Red	4 episodes

Music videos

Year	Artist	Title	Notes
1998	Tony Cetinski	"Život"
	Madonna	"The Power of Good-Bye"
2007	Unkle	"Burn My Shadow"

Web series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2012	BlackBoxTV Presents	The Chemist	Episode: "AEZP: Execution Style"

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Venue
1994–2000	Hamlet	Hamlet	Dubrovnik Summer Festival
2024	Ekvinocijo	Niko Marinović	Dubrovnik Summer Festival

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2000	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	ER	Nominated	[35]
2001	Screen Actors Guild Awards			Nominated	[36]
2002	Satellite Awards	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Drama	The Deep End	Nominated	[37]
2004	Paris Film Festival	Best Actor	Close Your Eyes	Won	[38]
	Pula Film Festival	Best Actor	Duga mračna noć	Won	[39]
2005	Vladimir Nazor Awards	Film		Won	[40]
2011	Gotham Awards	Best Ensemble Performance	Beginners	Won	[41]
2024	Croatian Theatre Awards	Best Artistic Achievement by an Actor in a Leading Role – Drama	Ekvinocijo	Won	[42]