Photography: private archive
Photography: private archive

Nataša Barbara Gračner is a theatre and film actress, theatre director, Professor of stage acting and Head of the department of Stage Acting at the Academy of theatre, radio, film and television, University of Ljubljana.

She is a leading lady of the ensemble SNT Drama Ljubljana, but she has worked in almost every theatre in the country and appeared in more than two hundred, mostly principal, theatre, film, television and radio roles.

She attended major festivals across Europe, the Americas and Asia and received more than twenty acting awards.

As a theatre director she directed 7 performances. The solo comedy Defending the Cave-man by B. Thorsson, is the most performed theatre piece in Slovenia, staged more than 780 times.

Among the most significant awards is also the winning performance of the 53rd Belgrade International Theatre Festival. In 2019, she played at Bitef Festival the lead role of Emi in the play Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Fassbinder), which received the Grand Prix for the Best Performance, the Audience Award for the Best Performance and Politika magazine award.