The name of Vladimir Furdik, who plays the King of the Night in the legendary saga about the struggle for the Iron Throne, remained unknown to the audience for a long time. The excellent physical data and artistic abilities of the blue-eyed Slovak, who for more than twenty years acted as an understudy and stunt director in famous blockbusters, were noticed by the directors of the Game of Thrones and Vladimir gained popularity not only as a stuntman, but also as an actor, becoming the most discussed character in the final parts of the series.

Biography: Early Years, Start of the Career

Vladimir Furdik was born on July 1, 1970 in Bratislava. He is Slovak by nationality. From an early age, the young man was fond of martial arts and left school at the age of 15, going to work in the Bratislava equestrian club, which specialized in raising and training horses for the film industry. While working in the club, Vladimir first encountered the performance of tricks and in a few years he mastered the profession of a stuntman. The young man performed the most difficult tricks on horseback, participated in costumed fights and performances in which he showed mastery of the sword. The young man’s teacher was Gustav Kuselica, the founder and leader of the Borseus stunt team.

In 1990, Vladimir became an understudy for the main character in the Slovak TV movie Tremor, and three years later he received an invitation from a casting assistant to work as a stuntman in the Three Musketeers film, directed by Stephen Herek, who created Critters and 101 Dalmatians “. Participation in the film and collaboration with the famous Charlie Sheen, Gabriel Anwar, Rebecca de Mornay, Kiefer Sutherland and Julie Delpy marked the beginning of Furdik’s film career.

The next work of the stuntman was the participation in the Italian fantasy adventure Lamberto Bava “Dragon Ring”, in which he not only replaced Franco Nero and his fellow countryman Karl Rodin, but also appeared in an episodic role.

Furdo. The Best Work of the Stuntman

Courage, hard work and professional skills, as well as natural artistic abilities, were the best protection for the Slovak stuntman, and in the period from 1997 to 2007, Vladimir had a chance to work with the best masters of the dream factory. An important factor was Furdik’s appearance, which is called rubber in the professional slang of filmmakers, that is, capable of taking on the features of any actor, and with skillful application of makeup, it is completely indistinguishable from Hollywood stars. On the screen, Furdik easily transformed into the characters of Channing Tatum in The Eagle, Tom Hiddleston in Horses of War, and the viewer did not even notice such a skillful “substitution”. The surname of the Slovak was transformed into a beautiful, biting and memorable stage name Furdo, for ten years he took part in more than fifty projects, including such world-famous films as “Soldier of the Apocalypse”, “Heart of the Dragon”, “Mademoiselle Musketeer”, Eragon, War and Peace and Prometheus.

In 2007, Furdo starred in Stardust based on the novel by the British romantic storyteller Neil Gaiman, in which Charlie Cox, Robert De Niro, Nathaniel Parker and Sir Ian McKellen shone.

In the next few years, Furdo worked in the films The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince of Persia, Exodus: Kings and Gods, but despite the fact that both Hollywood bosses and European masters collaborated with the Slovak stuntman, for a wide audience his name remained unknown.

Night King in the Game of Thrones

In 2007, HBO entered into an exclusive contract with George Martin to film the entire series of fantasy novels A Song of Ice and Fire. The writer himself took part in the creation of the script, the preparatory process and the selection of actors took almost four years, but the premiere series of Game of Thrones that appeared in 2011 immediately took rating positions and won the love of the audience. The project starred both world-famous movie stars, for whom participation in the saga was another acting success, and very young actors, for whom the series opened the way to the top of the Hollywood Olympus. Kit Harrington, Sean Bean, Peter Dinklage, Max von Sydow, Natalie Dormer, Aidan Gillen and others masterfully brought to life the characters created by George Martin on the screen, and even before the end of the first season, the series gained cult status.

The silent and mysterious King of the Night, the leader of the White Walkers, appeared before the audience in the fourth season of the struggle for the Iron Throne and immediately attracted attention with a piercing look and a bright image, from which the cold of eternity blew so much.

Both the readers of the fantastic saga and the viewers of the series were interested in the question of the nature of the origin of the Night King and the character hiding behind the gloomy image of a monster dressed in a black cloak with icy blue eyes. Being the personification of Evil, the mystical leader of the army of the dead is not inherently evil, and according to the idea of ​​George Martin, the audience themselves must understand who he is. The chance to unravel the mystery of who exactly reincarnates as the King of the Night, the audience will receive only by the end of the final eighth season.

Richard Break, who played the King of the Night until the end of the fifth season, managed to create the image of the Bringer of Death and Blizzard; in the sixth season, the directors offered the role of the blue-eyed monster to the Slovak stuntman. Previously, Furdo played one of the dead, dubbed the role of Arthur Dane, British actor Luke Roberts, and starred in crowd scenes, and also took part in stunts and fights.

Personal Life: Wife and Children

Vladimir, who has been working with the main stars of the film industry for many years, is not a public person. Little is known about the actor’s personal life, he is extremely reluctant to answer questions about his personal life, but does not hide the fact that for many years he has been happily married to his compatriot Denise, the owner of a small hotel. It is known that Deniz Furdikova is a year older than her husband, the couple is raising daughters Sarah and Carla, who have not yet decided on their life path and are in high school.

Vladimir admits that he does not like to watch feature films, but in his free time he enjoys watching historical films and documentaries.

Vladimir Furdik Now

Since the sixth season, the role of the King of the Night has been played by a Slovak actor and stuntman. In his interview from 2018, excerpts from which are given in the online edition of SorozatWiki, Vladimir said that it takes from 5 to 7 hours to make up, and he became friends with Kit Harrington back in those parts of the saga when he portrayed a dead man from the army of the King of the Night . The actor also expressed his admiration for the work of the film crew of the series, and when asked why he, who had neither acting education nor experience in performing independent roles, was offered to embody the image of such a significant character, with his inherent modesty, he answered that he did not know, however suggested that the directors liked his work in the previous parts.

It is known that the Slovak is also involved in the work on the Netflix project The Witcher, in which he participates both as a director of stunts and battle scenes, and as an actor. European stars Henry Cavill, Jodie May, Lars Mikkelsen, Anya Chalotra and others are filmed in the multi-part film based on the famous fantasy by Andrzej Sapkowski. Perhaps the audience will only have to discover new facets of Furdo’s talent and see him in new interesting images.

Title photo source: gameofthrones.fandom.com