Goran Visnjic

Born: 1972
Where: Sibenik, Croatia

A veteran of both the Yugoslav and Croat armies, Goran made his English-speaking big screen breakthrough in Michael Winterbottom's Welcome to Sarajevo in 1997.

Drawing on his own experiences, he delivered a strong supporting turn as Risto, the driver and translator for a British news team covering the war in the former Yugoslavia.

Goran began his acting studies while still a teenager before completing the required military service in the Yugoslavian army and briefly in the Croat forces when the Balkan war broke out.

Leaving the military, the 21-year-old Visnjic joined the Croatian National Theatre and was cast as Laertes in a production of Hamlet after the original actor fell ill.

He found work in local TV productions and landed a Tuborg beer commercial that aired in Europe and small roles in the American TV-movie Alistair MacLean's Night Watch and the feature The Peacemaker followed.

Subsequently, he appeared as Nicole Kidman's abusive boyfriend in Practical Magic before joining the cast of NBC's hit medical drama ER in fall 1999 as paediatrician Dr Luka Kovac.