Croatian actor Goran Visnjic, who became famous with his role in the hit series "ER " says that he was able to succeed in Hollywood because he refused to play villains, after he finally left the series in 2008. Croatian actors and most actors from Eastern Europe are often hired to play Russian characters, most of which are villains or the bad guy. In this industry you can easily end up being labeled or type casted as Croatian actor playing Russian characters (see Fandango). Then you’re done! You career will last for a very short time. Maybe you'll appear in one major Hollywood blockbuster and earn a lot of money, be famous for 15 minutes, but then what? Maybe it's a stupid decision, but I think that it has helped my career, and has brought me to films like "Extant", where I had the opportunity to work with Steven Spielberg - said Visnjic in a recent interview. The actor is really outspoken about his career, which he has built for years in America.
The Croatian actor once again attracted the world’s attention with his role in the TV series "Extant". In the series he plays a scientist, a robotics engineer who creates a humanoid, or a human robot. But his masterpiece gets overshadowed by the return of his wife played by Halle Berry, who comes home pregnant with an alien child, after a 13 months solo mission in outer space.
Even if I’m in for only one season in the series, the mere possibility of meeting and working with Steven Spielberg, as well as starring alongside and becoming close friends with Halle Berry, means a lot to me, because I’m a Croatian kid, coming from a country with country less than 4.5 million people, laughs Visnjic. To him it is more important to experience and learn something from filming, enjoy each day of the set and exchange ideas with his colleagues, rather than appearing in a blockbuster and making some fast money. Even today, he is assured that refusing those roles is what helped his career thrive.
