site.btaJune 14, 2026: 80th Birth Anniversary of Late Actress Violeta Gindeva

Sunday marks the 80th anniversary of the birth of outstanding Bulgarian actress Violeta Gindeva. She performed more than 120 roles in theatre and cinema and received numerous Bulgarian and international awards before passing away in Sofia on April 21, 2019.

She was born in Sliven (Southeastern Bulgaria) on June 14, 1946. She became interested in theatre when still a child. Together with other children, she organised theatre and puppet performances in her hometown, making the sets and puppets themselves. As a schoolgirl, she joined a drama club and never parted ways with theatre thereafter. In 1968, Gindeva graduated in acting from the Krastyo Sarafov National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts, studying under Prof. Zhelcho Mandadzhiev and Grisha Ostrovski. After graduating, she was assigned to the Sava Ognyanov Drama Theatre in Ruse (on the Danube).

She was noticed during her very first theatre season and, in 1969, was invited to join the company of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre. From 1971 to 1974, Gindeva was member of the cast of the Sofia Theatre. She then returned to the Ivan Vazov National Theatre, where she remained for nearly 20 years (1974-1993). From 1996 to 1998, she played at the Salza i Smyah Theatre and later at the Valentin Stoychev Theatre 199, the Sofia Café Theatre and other venues.

"The acting profession is difficult. Applause is only a brief reward," the actress said in an interview with the Trud daily in 2015.

OFF STAGE

In 1993, Violeta Gindeva was dismissed from the Ivan Vazov National Theatre. In 1994, she joined the team of Express Radio and became a culture reporter. Her first interview was with theatre and film director Vili Tsankov. Ironically, Gindeva's first role into television theatre had come years earlier, in Tsankov's staging of Ivan Radoev's The World Is Small.

Gindeva contributed to the Express, Dar, Domashen Zhurnal, Zemya, Narodna Armiya, Zhenski Svyat and other newspapers. In 1994, she founded the Kadar Café Theatre, where she was director and artistic director for five years.

From 2000 to 2004, Violeta Gindeva was a guest lecturer in stage speech and acting at the International Department of Film Arts of Varna Free University (on the Black Sea).

Between 2003 and 2007, the actress served as deputy mayor of Pazardzhik Municipality. In the autumn of 2004, she organized the Europe Is Here Film Festival, selecting some of the most acclaimed titles in European cinema.

In 2005, Violeta Gindeva earned the academic rank of Associate Professor. From the spring of 2005, she taught stage speech at the Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv (South Central Bulgaria). She also taught at the Lyuben Groys Theatre College in Sofia.

BACK TO THE THEATRE AND RECOGNITION

After a 22-year absence from the stage, Gindeva rejoined the team of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre in 2015. Her first role upon returning was in Moon Over Buffalo by Kenneth Ludwig, directed by Rositsa Obreshkova.

The last film in which she appeared was Good Night, Lily, which premiered in 2021. It was named Best Bulgarian Film at the 18th In the Palace Festival.

In 1969, Gindeva received a Best Actress Prize for her role as Katerina in the film The Iconostasis, an adaptation of Dimitar Talev's novel, at the Eighth Bulgarian Film Festival in Varna. Her role in the film The Black Angels won her a collective first prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in Czechoslovakia (1970), as well as a collective special prize at the Bulgarian Film Festival in Varna (1970). By Presidential Decree No. 277 of June 29, 2006, she was awarded the Order of Saints Cyril and Methodius with collar in recognition of her outstanding contributions to culture and on the occasion of her 60th birthday.

On September 14, 2023, by Decision No. 907 of the Sofia Municipal Council, a street in the Dragalevtsi quarter was renamed in her honour - Violeta Gindeva Street.