Karel Roden

Born in the Czech Republic, actor Karel Roden has enjoyed critical success in his native country as well as in Hollywood. Roden began acting in Europe, during the early 1980s, appearing in character roles mainly on television and made the transition to more feature films in the latter half of the 1980s and early 1990s. Roden would receive a Czech Lions Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his work in the 1996 film "Kral Ubu," which earned him worldwide recognition as a formidable character actor. The critical praise Roden enjoyed during the late 1990s made it possible for him to move on to more profitable roles in Hollywood feature films. During the early 2000s, he gained small parts in action films like "15 Minutes," "Blade II," and "Bulletproof Monk"; almost always played the role of some sort of Eastern European villain, thug, or criminal. A larger part would follow these films as Roden acted the part of Rasputin in Guillermo del Toro's wildly imaginative thriller "Hellboy" before assuming the role of a Russian mobster again, this time in the action film "Running Scared" starring Paul Walker in 2006. One of Roden's more notable parts would follow two years later when Guy Ritchie called upon him to play the Russian billionaire, Uri, in his action caper "RocknRolla." Roden based his performance on real life Russian billionaire and owner of London's Chelsea Football Club, Roman Abramovich.