Zoltán Barabás is a Canadian and EU (Hungarian) citizen, born in
Sweden. His father, originally from Hungary (by way of Australia), is a
Mechanical Design Engineer. His Swedish mother trained as a nurse.
Zoltán has one 'leftover' brother, an artist and poet living in
Calgary, Canada. Two younger brothers have since passed away. Zoltán's
Hungarian roots include a long line of artists and actors.
At the age of seven (in 1972), his family immigrated to Canada. After a
three-month visit to Hungary, an 11 day North Atlantic crossing, and
traveling across Canada in a car and trailer, his family settled in
Vancouver. By 1975, Zoltán's family moved to Calgary, where he spent
the next decade, going to school, playing competitive sports (soccer
and baseball) and attending Sea Cadets.
Giving up his original dream to be an Architect, Zoltán joined the
Canadian Navy in 1985 as an officer. He spent the next decade working
full-time, accumulating a lot of time at sea as a Navigator, Executive
Officer, and finally as a Commanding Officer of small patrol boats.
While serving in Vancouver in the mid 1990s, Zoltán left full-time
service to pursue a new career as an actor, playwright and filmmaker.
He began by making corporate videos. In a short two years, he also
wrote, produced and directed two plays, produced a third, and associate
produced two independent feature films.
In 1995, Zoltán moved to his ancestral homeland of Hungary. He spent
six years in Budapest, learning to become an actor and filmmaker. He
debuted as an actor with Robin Williams in Jakob der Lügner (1999). He also worked with
Ben Kingsley, Julian Sands, Asia Argento, Armin Mueller-Stahl and Shawn Wayans & Marlon Wayans. Zoltán served
as an Executive Producer on (the Hungarian version of "The Tonight
Show") Esti showder Fábry Sándorral (1998). He also wrote, produced and directed a music festival
docu-drama, Thend (1999).
Zoltán returned to Vancouver in 2002, to continue his development as a
filmmaker. He co-produced the award winning film, The Entrance (2006), and wrote,
produced and directed a short film, "Shattered."
