Dagmar Havlov\u00e1 Ve\u0161krnov\u00e1 was born in Brno on 22.3.1953. Having completed her studies at a conservatory she entered Jan\u00e1\u010dek Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno from which she graduated in 1975. While she was studying at the Academy the talented actress was noticed by film director Juraj Herz who invited her to a talent contest for the film Holky z\u00a0porcel\u00e1nu. Dagmar, then Ve\u0161krnov\u00e1, won the three rounds of the contest and landed her first film role in what is now a cult film, Holky z\u00a0porcel\u00e1nu, which made her immediately a new Czechoslovak star (1974). For the best acting performance the debuting Dagmar Ve\u0161krnov\u00e1 won the award Little Golden Sun at the International Film Festival in Trutnov. A year later she won the same award at the IFF in Bansk\u00e1 Bystrica for the film Holka na zabit\u00ed. Her film career took off at lighting speed and Dagmar Ve\u0161krnov\u00e1 became one of the most frequently cast film actresses with an extensive and wide range of styles. Film publicist Jaroslav Sedl\u00e1\u010dek said this about her talent: \u201cWe have not had many really good film comediennes in those almost 115 years of Czechoslovak and Czech film. I would put in the extra league of comediennes Nata\u0161a Gollov\u00e1, Ji\u0159ina Bohdalov\u00e1, Iva Jan\u017eurov\u00e1 and Dagmar Ve\u0161krnov\u00e1. And if I were to draw a comparison between Nata\u0161a Gollov\u00e1 and Dagmar Ve\u0161krnov\u00e1, well, Nata\u0161a Gollov\u00e1 played a role whereas Dagmar Ve\u0161krnov\u00e1 became the character. When a spectator doesn\u2019t have a chance to see that an actress is playing, this is really uncommon.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the extensive filmography of Dagmar Havlov\u00e1 Ve\u0161krnov\u00e1 containing more than 50 feature films and over 300 television productions we find many titles dedicated to children. She played a child spectator for the first time at the age of 14 when the National Theatre in Brno held an audition for the role of Verunka in Brou\u010dci by Jan Karafi\u00e1t (1968) and Dagmar Ve\u0161krnov\u00e1 passed the audition.<\/p>\n
The best known titles intended for children in which Dagmar Havlov\u00e1 Ve\u0161krnov\u00e1 include a comedy by V\u011bra Pl\u00edvov\u00e1-\u0160imkov\u00e1 Jak se to\u010d\u00ed Rozmar\u00fdny (1977), which lets the viewer look inside the film trade. Her unforgettable role of Mother in a television miniseries by Jind\u0159ich Pol\u00e1k Chobotnice z\u00a0druh\u00e9ho patra (1986) met with a good viewers\u2019 response and is still regularly repeated. She became children\u2019s great favourite in the role of loving mother in a six-part series Bylo n\u00e1s p\u011bt (1994) and the character of a doctor in the television series Kdy\u017e se slunci neda\u0159\u00ed (1995). She dazzled children and adult viewers in the role of an acrobat on horseback in the series Cirkus Humberto (1988). Dagmar Havlov\u00e1 Ve\u0161krnov\u00e1 acted in a number of fairy-tales for television, such as Hejkal (1978), O vysok\u00e9 v\u011b\u017ei (1978), Je\u017e\u010d\u00ed k\u016f\u017ee (1978), O\u00a0hru\u0161k\u00e1ch u\u0161atk\u00e1ch a jabl\u00ed\u010dku paroh\u00e1tku (1979), Jak se tan\u010d\u00ed brumbambule (1985), O z\u00e1voj\u00edch bez nev\u011bst (1983), Andula a p\u00e1n p\u011btio\u010dko (1983), Princezny nejsou v\u017edy na vd\u00e1v\u00e1n\u00ed (1985), O princezn\u011b na kl\u00ed\u010dek (1987), O princi Be\u010dkovi (1988), My se vlka neboj\u00edme (1988), Sedm sest\u0159i\u010dek (1988), Kr\u00e1lovstv\u00ed strom\u016f (1989), Jak\u00e9 vlasy m\u00e1 zlatovl\u00e1ska (1992), Vodnick\u00e1 \u010dertovina (1995), Kulihr\u00e1\u0161ek a zaklet\u00e1 princezna (1995), \u0160\u0165astn\u00fd smola\u0159 (2012).<\/p>\n
Dagmar Havlov\u00e1 Ve\u0161krnov\u00e1 is also a celebrated stage actress. Although at the beginning of her acting career she appeared in comedy films, in theatre she played from the outset dramatic and tragic characters. Let us name, for example, Tatiana in Pushkin\u2019s Onegin (1974) or Joan in\u00a0Anouilh\u2019s The Lark (1970). She began her professional theatre career in the theatre Husa na prov\u00e1zku. Here she shone in a play by Vladim\u00edr P\u00e1ral Profesion\u00e1ln\u00ed \u017eena (1974), and later she moved to Prague\u2019s Ji\u0159\u00ed Wolker Theatre, where she played a number of major roles, for example Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew (1978) and Checca in Brawling in Chioggia. Since 1979 she has been a member of the theatre company Divadlo na Vinohradech, where she has performed many demanding roles requiring excellent character acting. Her most distinctive performances at that time include the role of Lady Macbeth (1991) and Gazdina roba (1992) considered by critics the production of the decade, for which she was awarded the spectators\u2019 prize Alfr\u00e9d. In the title role in Strindberg\u2019s Queen Christina (1995) she took temporary leave of her spectators, and having collected almost five million crowns during the last seven performances Dagmar Havlov\u00e1 Ve\u0161krnov\u00e1 sent this through her foundation VIZE 97 to people stricken by floods.<\/p>\n
In 1997 Dagmar Havlov\u00e1 Ve\u0161krnov\u00e1 married President V\u00e1clav Havel. She cut short her very successful acting career to acquit herself of the role of the First Lady of the Czech Republic. Until 2003 she met the obligations arising from the position of wife of the head of the state. As there was no institute of Ombudsman then, the First Lady pursued some of this agenda, dealing for instance with citizens\u2019 requests for assistance, in addition to playing the social and representative part of a statesman\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n
In 1998 the Dagmar and V\u00e1clav Havel Foundation VIZE 97 was established by merger between the Olga and V\u00e1clav Havel Foundation and the Foundation VIZE 97, where the founder and chair of the board of trustees has been working diligently to this day.<\/p>\n