Rakan Rushaidat

In theatre, Rushaidat is widely recognised for his work in the Kerempuh Satirical Theatre, the Zagreb Youth Theatre and the Exit Theatre. For his theatre activity, he has achieved numerous accolades and is widely known for his impeccable diction and work ethic.[6][7]

His notable Exit Theatre plays include the critically lauded monodrama Ja, tata and Kauboji. The former, featuring text by Bjarni Haukur Thorsson and directing by Boris Kovačević, won Rushaidat a Mladen Crnobrnja Gumbek Award at the Golden Laugh Festival, a Fabijan Šovagović Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role and a Kata Novaljka Award for Best Actor in a Play.[8] With Damir Klemenić, Saša Anočić, Matija Antolić, Hrvoje Barišić, Krunoslav Klabučar, Radovan Ruždjak, Ivana Rushaidat, Živko Anočić and Rushaidat in leading roles, Kauboji became a cult classic and became widely considered the magnum opus of the Exit Theatre for its distinct and emotionally complex structure, unorthodox approach to narration and likeable characters.[9][10] On January 8 2020, they performed their 500th performance.[11]

Ozren Grabarić and Rushaidat created "a cultural milestone"[12] with their acting performances in the rendition of Hinkemann, a rendition of the Ernst Toller classic. Directed by Igor Vuk Torbica in the Zagreb Youth Theatre, the play and their portrayal received universal critical acclaim[13][14] including particular praise from Bojan Munjin, Nataša Govedić, Bojana Radović, Milivoj Jukić and Robin Mikulić.[15]

In May 2011, Ivana Roščić, Iva Visković, Filip Križan and Rushaidat starred together in the sixty-minute Teatar ITD play Mrzim istinu!, directed by Oliver Frljić.[16][17] Performed over two hundred times,[18] the play was famed for its direction, story, character development and acting performances (with many critics singling out Rushaidat and Križan as targets for positive critical attention).[19][20][21]

He was a member of the performing ensemble in the Trešnja Theatre from 2006 to 2013. Since 2013, he has been employed at the drama ensemble in the Kerempuh Satirical Theatre. For his role in the 2016 play Jazavac u Kerempuhu' he was awarded an Apollo Prize at the Novi Sad Culture Festival. For his prolific theatre activity, he has won four Croatian Theatre Awards, making him the third most awarded actor at the Croatian Actor-Theatre Awards (the Croatian equivalent of the Tony Awards[22]), behind only Krešimir Mikić (who won five, respectively) and Doris Šarić-Kukuljica (who won six, respectively).[23][24][25]

Rushaidat has also prominently performed in the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, the Croatian National Theatre in Split, the Croatian National Theatre in Osijek, the Gavella Drama Theatre, the Žar ptica Theatre, the Croatian National Theatre in Rijeka, the ITD Theatre, the Croatian National Theatre in Varaždin, the Knapp Theatre, the Kufer Theatre and the Kunst Theatre.

Rushaidat has appeared in over thirty feature-length films, starring in fifteen including the box office and critical successes of The One Who Will Stay Unnoticed, The Blacks, The Little Gypsy Witch and A Stranger. Prolific in both drama and comedy, his perhaps most memorable characters are the Serbian drug addict Dejo in the 2009 Branko Schmidt adaptation of the 2007 play Metastases, the eccentric Hassan Al Sadat in 2012's Vegetarian Cannibal and Miodrag P. Osmanović in the film adaptation of Saša Anočić's Cowboys (Kauboji).[26][27][28]

He reprised his role from the 2004 dark comedy Sex, Drink and Bloodshed in the 2018 feature Mali, set with the same characters fourteen years later.[29]

Screened at the Sarajevo Film Festival, he starred in the 2018 Bobo Jelčić film Sam samcat, alongside Jadranka Đokić.[30] He has also appeared in over ten award-winning short films, including Blaž, Orah, Ma sve će biti u redu, Spas, Izgubljeni snovi, Nikoga nisam volio tako and Nije kraj.[31][32][33]

His work as a writer includes co-writing the screenplay for the 2018 comedy-drama film Comic Sans, alongside director Nevio Marasović and Janko Popović Volarić.[34] Starring Volarić, Zlatko Burić and Nataša Janjić, the film went on to earn accolades at the Pula Film Festival, earning a nomination for the Golden Arena for Best Screenplay and winning Marasović the Golden Arena for Best Director and Volarić the Golden Arena for Best Actor.[35]

Rushaidat also prominently performed voice acting in Croatian-language versions of animated feature films. This includes voicing adult Simba in The Lion King franchise,[36][37] Flotsam and Jetsam in The Little Mermaid, Raphael in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the title character in Bolt, Fillmore in Cars 2 and the title character in Turbo.[38][39] Rushaidat is also one of the actors who provided his voice to the Croatian-language Spider-Man on several occasions, the others being Franjo Dijak, Mitja Smiljanić, Sven Šestak, Frano Mašković and Siniša Ružić.[40][41]