FAMOUS CZECHS

Vaclav Havel
(*1936)
The writer and playwright was associated with the theater Divadlo Na Zabradli. He is the author of world-renowned absurdist dramas including Zahradni slavnost (The Garden Party, 1963), Vyrozumeni (The Memorandum, 1965) and Ztizena moznost soustredeni (The Increased Difficulty of Concentration, 1968). These contain themes concerned with the abuse of language, the parody of clichés, bureaucracy, stereotypes and conformism gradually leading to the corruption of the human soul. He was one of the first spokespersons for Charter 77, a leading figure in the political changes during November 1989, and the first president of the Czech Republic. His last term as president ended in February 2003. Since then, he hasn’t carried out any political function.

Madeleine Albright
(*1937)
She is a politician who was born in Prague, the daughter of a Czechoslovak diplomat, Josef Korbel. After the communist coup d'état in 1948, her family went into exile in the United States. She is a graduate of the University of Columbia and during the Reagan and Bush administrations she was a professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. During the Clinton administration she was U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and was appointed Secretary of State, becoming at that time the highest-ranking woman in the history of the United States.

Milos Forman
(*1932)
A director and screenwriter. He recorded his first Oscar success with the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest based on the book by Ken Kesey starring Jack Nicholson in the lead role. He won a second Oscar for the film Amadeus, of which shot a large part in Prague.

Milan Kundera
(*1929)
Milan Kundera is the world’s most successful and most translated author of Czech origin, a writer, poet, playwright and translator who began with poetry and wrote philosophical stories and novels including Laughable Loves, The Joke, The Farewell Waltz and The Book of Laughter and Forgetting.

Jiri Menzel
(*1938)
A film and theater director, actor and graduate of FAMU. An exponent of the Czech New Wave and one of the most important Czech filmmakers. Most of his directorial projects are adaptations of literary works. He has most frequently adapted the books of Bohumil Hrabal and Vladislav Vancura for film. The Oscar-winning Ostre sledovane vlaky (Closely Watched Trains) is an adaptation of a Bohumil Hrabal novel.

Jan Saudek
(*1935)
This photographer and painter has mainly specialized in studio photography with a typical and unique style. The most frequent objects of his photographs are women, primarily the female body, and motifs of relationships between the sexes. In the early years of his career, he also worked with themes of childhood and the relationships between adults and children. Since 1977, he has tinted his photographs. He is known worldwide and has received many awards; he has also become a Knight of the Honorary Legion.

Eva Urbanova
(*1961)
A leading Czech opera singer and soprano. Since 1990, she has worked at the National Theater Opera. She performs at leading theaters all over the world: at the Connecticut Garden Opera and Orchestra, in Milan’s La Scala, at New York City’s Metropolitan Opera, at London's Royal Albert Hall, at Carnegie Hall in New York City, etc.

Karel Gott
(*1939)
Karel Gott is the most popular singer of Czech popular music. He began performing publicly in the years 1958–60, when he took part in amateur competitions and won his first engagement at the Vltava Cafe. Over the course of his 40-year career, Gott has given countless concert performances in every European country, the United States, Canada, China, Australia and Japan. He has released 100 regular albums and more than 100 compilation albums.

Blanka Matragi
(*1953)
This fashion designer left Czechoslovakia for Lebanon in 1980, where she still lives. In 1982, she opened her own salon in Beirut called Blanka Haute Couture. For more than 20 years, she has designed dresses for queens, princesses, diplomatic women and celebrities, mainly in Europe and in countries around the Persian Gulf. She specializes in evening, wedding and engagement dresses. She has received the European Art Award, the Salvator Dalí International Award and the Frantisek Kupka National Award, bestowed by Czech graphic artists. She also designs glass and bijouterie.

Ivan Lendl
(*1960)
One of the best tennis players in history, the first Junior World Champion (1979) and the best ATP-ranked player for 270 weeks. He also won 94 tournaments, including eight Grand Slams. Lendl won the Davis Cup with Czechoslovakia in 1980. He has been voted Czech Tennis Player of the 20th Century, and has since 2001 been in the Tennis Hall of Fame.

Martina Navratilova
(*1956)
Martina Navratilova has long been considered as the best known Czech woman on the planet. Twenty Wimbledon titles have made her once and for all a legend in the world of tennis. She was World’s Best Player in 1978-79 and in 1982-86. She won the Grand Slam as the third woman in history (1984). In the years 1983 and 1984 she was also proclaimed World’s Best Sportswoman.

Dana Zatopkova
(*1922)
A javelin thrower and the wife of Emil Zatopek. The peak of her career came at the Olympic games in Helsinki where she threw 50.47 metres. She also came first at the European Championships in Bern and achieved the same again four years later in Stockholm. A physically well-equipped athlete, she participated in two more Olympics, in 1956 in Melbourne, where she came fourth, and in Rome in 1960, where she won her last Olympic medal, a silver. Dana Zatopkova was awarded the Olympic Order in 1988 for her contribution to athletics and the Olympic spirit.

Jan Zelezny
(*1966)
This javelin thrower is the holder of six world records and four Olympic medals, three of which are gold, and he was the greatest athlete in Europe in 1996 and 2000, even ranking as the greatest athlete in the world in 2000. He was elected by his colleagues to the International Olympic Committee at the Olympic Games in Athens. In 2007 the Czech Republic’s Fair Play Club and the Czech Olympic Committee awarded Zelezny with the Fair Play Award for his exceptional career. Currently he is promoting Prague’s candidacy to host the Olympic Games in 2016.

Jaromir Jagr
(*1972)
This hockey player is considered one of the world's best players. He twice won the Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh (1991-92) and won Olympic gold in Nagano. He is also a five-time holder of the Art Ross Trophy for the most productive NHL player, three-time holder of the Lester B. Pearson Award, holder of the Hart Trophy and many other awards.

Dominik Hasek
(*1965)
This hockey goalkeeper played for Pardubice and Jihlava, then moved to the United States, where he played first for the Chicago Black Hawks and then the Buffalo Sabres, the Detroit Red Wings, the Ottawa Senators and again for Detroit, where he is currently playing. Dominik Hasek announced the end of his career after having won his second Stanley Cup with Detroit Red Wings in 2008.

Pavel Nedved
(*1972)
This elite soccer player (midfielder) spent four years with Sparta Praha, with whom he won championship titles (1992-95) and shared a victory in the domestic cup (1996). He had spent five seasons with Lazio Roma (winning the Copa Italia in 1997-98. In 1999 he help Lazio win its last Champions Cup. He was transferred in 2002 for $40 million to Juventus Turin. He played for the national team in Euro 2004 in Portugal and in 2003 he was proclaimed Sportsman of the Year in the Czech Republic and Best European Footballer (the Golden Ball award).