The Londoner from Budapest (video, 2025)
Sender / Vagabond (as Sylvia Darnyk)
Producer: Krisztián Lukács
Butterfly Parade (colored Hungarian feature film, 2024)
Edina
Director: Dániel Zátonyi
Producer: Richárd Rattner
Above the Clouds (video, 2023)
Syl (as Sylvia Darnyk)
Producer: Krisztián Lukács
The Cost of Deception (colored Hungarian feature film, 2021)
Zsuzsa
Director: Keith English
Strangers (colored Hungarian anthology film, 2019)
Office worker
Director: Éva Török
Lucky Dickens (colored Hungarian short film, 2016)
Waitress
Director: Dávid Balla
Screened in the short film competition category of the Hungarian Film Week (Cinema City MOM Park cinema, 2016)
Green Light (colored Hungarian short film, 2015)
Video game mother
Director: Dániel Molnár
Carp (colored Hungarian short film, 2015)
Edit
Director: Gergő Mózes
Indifference (Black and White Hungarian short film, 2015)
Dating woman
Director: András Salamon
Night Traveler (colored Hungarian short film, 2015)
Dr. Mariann Éva Semlaky
Director: Gábor Becskei
Selected for the Hungarian pre-selection of the student film section at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival
Screened at the BuSho (Budapest Short) International Short Film Festival (Puskin Cinema, 2015)
Screened at the Szolnok International Scientific Film Festival (Tisza Cinema, 2015)
Screened at the Átrium Film-Theatre (2015)
Screened in the short film competition category of the Hungarian Film Week (Cinema City MOM Park cinema, 2016)
Dawn (colored Hungarian short film, 2014)
Mother
Director: Tamás Fekete
Shot with SZFE students, screened in the cinema hall of the University of Theatre and Film Arts
My Father Shows It (colored Hungarian short film, 2014)
Barmaid
Director: Richárd Rattner
Producer: Dávid Géczy
Screened in the short film competition category of the Hungarian Film Week (Cinema City MOM Park cinema, 2014)
How to Be Unhappy? (colored Hungarian short film, 2014)
Ilona
Director: Zsófia Székely
Let Me Live! / Intruders (colored Hungarian anthology film, 2014)
Lover
Director: Gábor Becskei
Giraffe (colored Hungarian short film, 2014)
Woman
Director: Dorottya Ágnes Nagy
Mobile Poem (mobile film, 2013)
Poem Reciter
Director: Iván Kamarás
Toni & Guy Hair Show at Events Hall (video, 2003)
Model
Location: Events Hall, Hajógyári Island, Budapest
Wella Show at Budapest Congress Center (video, 2001)
Robot girl
Director: Tamás Náray
Wella Tour (video, 2000)
Robot girl
Director: Tamás Náray
AH Show at Royal Albert Hall (TV, 2000)
Winter
Director: Tamás Náray
Offline Fashion Theatre (video, 2000)
Dancer
Artistic Director: Gábor Norman
Frank Wedekind: Spring Awakening (TV, 1994)
Marta Bessel
Director: Kristóf Kováts
Federico García Lorca: Mariana Pineda (video, 1993)
Mariana Pineda
Director: Kristóf Kováts
Hans Sachs: The Husband in the Confessional
Margareta, the wife
Premiere: June 23, 2015, Budapest, Eötvös 10 Community and Cultural Center
My partner, the husband: Balázs Bölkény, actor of the Comedy Theatre (Vígszínház)
The Government Inspector (Gogol adaptation)
Mrs. Izabella Kovács, mayoress (Anna Andreyevna adaptation)
Premiere: June 22, 2015, Budapest, Eötvös 10 Community and Cultural Center
Director: Marcell Miklós
Sufferings of a Loving Heart
Sylvia Plath
Premiere: May 22, 2015, Budapest, Józsefváros Gallery and Event Center
Director: Róbert Vörös
Béla Pintér: Scum
Irén
Premiere: June 28, 2014, Budapest, Central Theater
Night of the Theaters: September 20, 2014, Budapest, Central Theater
My partner, Attila: Balázs Bölkény, actor of the Comedy Theatre
GO TO CASTING! Premiere
Ginger (Martin Scorsese: Casino), Róza (Milán Füst: Unhappy Ones), Karády-song
Premiere: June 21, 2013, Budapest, Central Theater
Director: Iván Kamarás, Lia Pokorny, András Salamon
Bertold Brecht: Man Equals Man
Wife, priestess
Premiere: 1999, Budapest, Pataky Cultural Center
Director: László Bodnár
Metamorphoses (movement theater)
Girl
Premiere: 1995, Budapest, Írisz Stage
Director: Kristóf Kováts
Fastnachtspiels with Carmina Burana (Carl Orff) songs
Herbalist woman
Premiere: 1994, Etyek, Etyek Festival
Director: György Vidovszky
Frank Wedekind: Spring Awakening
Marta / Ilse
Premiere: 1993, Bodajk, House of Culture
Mihály Vörösmarty High School: 1993, Budapest, VMG Assembly Hall
National Student Drama Festival: 1993, Csurgó
Director: Kristóf Kováts
Federico García Lorca: Mariana Pineda
Mariana Pineda
Premiere: 1993, Bodajk, House of Culture
Director: Kristóf Kováts
I’ve been shooting a movie all my life. Not with a crew, of course; it was playing in my head. But the camera would always start rolling whenever something important or just beautiful happened, and a scene was captured.
I was trained as an actor until my high school graduation. It started with classical ballet at the age of four, followed by drama clubs, and finally the icing on the cake: the drama department of Mihály Vörösmarty High School. Acting, speech training, theater history – sometimes even instead of math class. Members of the Independent Stage (Független Színpad) founded an acting studio, with József Ruszt presiding over the audition committee, and I became a member of Írisz. The Student Drama Festival of Csurgó, countless performances, actor lives up close, and constant debates with friends: how could an actor want to shoot films rather than be on stage? Because that was what I wanted: close-ups, life caught unawares, project-based work, stories told once and locked in a box. That’s why, when I realized that no such training existed in Hungary back then, I took a detour.
I enrolled in English studies, as my parents had signed me up for English classes before I even knew how to write. I also played in a Brecht play with Iván Fenyő, but that was theater, just play for me. My job at the time became modeling: walking runways, fashion photoshoots, performing at London's Royal Albert Hall, and shooting a few commercials. It proved my obsession: that was where I felt most at home. I didn't mind the long waits, I could handle the repetitions, and I knew that the camera is actually an eye.
I eventually graduated in Communication, specializing in Electronic Media. I transitioned from model to media professional: during my university years, I did TV, radio, and journalism to figure out what I loved. But I disliked interviewing about politics, and while I loved covering art, I secretly wished I were the one being interviewed about my own creations. So, I wrote my first book, a novel about online dating (Webszerelem/Web Love, 2008), which thankfully achieved nationwide distribution, making me an interviewee on TV, radio, and in newspapers. When my son was born, I wrote my second book, a collection of lyrics (20 dalszöveg dalt keres / 20 Lyrics Searching for a Song, 2010).
Then, with my four-month-old baby in my arms and my husband by my side, we flew to America and lived in Los Angeles for a year. Halfway through, I received a contract from the Ulpius-ház Publishing House, and by the time I returned home, a press release was waiting in my inbox announcing that Hungary’s first accredited film acting school would launch in the autumn of 2012. The founder and director of GO TO CASTING! Film Acting School is András Salamon – a film director, screenwriter, producer, and university professor with international casting experience. Alongside prominent figures of the industry, he trained students in film acting over six semesters – including me, as I was accepted into the inaugural class.
Director's instructions: András Salamon
Acting: Lia Pokorny, Iván Kamarás,
Basics of Filmmaking: Zsolt Tóth HSC
Film Actor Impact Analysis: Ágnes Incze
Speech training: Imre Wacha, Vera Szabó
Singing: Bori Keszei
Movement: Péter Lipka (Kontakt Studio)
Film History: Natália Fábics
Drama History, Dramaturgy: Judit Csáki
We were also taught, prepared, or evaluated during exams by film director-screenwriter-producer Pál Sándor; actors Anikó Für, Eszter Ónodi, József Gyabronka, Marcell Miklós, Szabolcs Thuróczy, Eszter Bánfalvi, and Zsófia Szamosi; singer-songwriter-guitarists Péter Gerendás and János Bródy; writers Mihály Kornis and István Tasnádi; casting director Loránd Banner Szűcs (Banner Casting); photographer Miklós Bémer; dramaturg-director Róbert Vörös; and actor-director-theater manager Tamás Jordán.
We also went on a class field trip to the Origo Film Studios as a studio tour.
I had the privilege of assisting my teacher, Iván Kamarás, in four scenes for an American film casting video.
Under the direction of film director Péter Gárdos and director-screenwriter Ádám Rozgonyi, we spent weeks shooting actor-directing exercises at the MTVA studios with directing students from the BKF Art Institute.
Under the guidance of professor András Salamon, we spent weeks shooting actor-directing exercises at the University of Theatre and Film Arts (SZFE) studios with editing students from SZFE.
In our first-year final exam at the Central Theater (Centrál Színház), we introduced ourselves to a professional audience with film monologues, scenes, and songs.
In our second-year final exam at the Central Theater, we performed Béla Pintér’s play 'Szutyok' (Scum), sharing the stage with our teachers Marcell Miklós and Péter Gerendás. This performance was subsequently included in the repertoires of Central Theater for the Night of the Theaters.
In our third-year (final) exam at the Eötvös 10 Community and Cultural Center, we performed an adaptation of Gogol’s The Government Inspector, directed by Marcell Miklós, followed the next evening by Hans Sachs' fastnachtspiels directed by Tamás Jordán.
In graduation and exam films of directing students (from SZFE, BKF – now METU –, and EKF), I shot shared scenes with Iván Kamarás, Juli Nyakó, István Vágó, and Miklós Benedek, and appeared in a film with Kati Andresz, and in an anthology film alongside B. Miklós Székely, Zsolt Nagy, Artúr Kálid, and our teacher Marcell Miklós, including shoots at the Origo Film Studios. I was also cast in a short film directed by András Salamon and edited by Ágnes Incze. Several of these films were selected for film festivals and screened on the big screen in cinemas.
I gave birth to my second child – this time a girl – in Los Angeles, USA. This was when it became absolutely clear how deeply embedded the English language is in me – thanks to my mother. Going through a full day of labor surrounded by a supportive circle of American midwives and doulas, and later consulting with doctors at the hospital, I felt as safe and secure as if I were enveloped by my native tongue.
As long as my maternal instincts held me back, I had to turn down a Norwegian film director, an SZFE directing student, and many others with whom I would have gladly collaborated. But a mother's mind can only focus on other things once she knows her children are safe.
But then, the clapperboard snapped. I shot a shared scene with János Derzsi in an anthology film adapted from short stories by Krisztina Tóth. I was shortlisted as the top choice for a Cate Blanchett film. I turned down a seemingly 'irrefutable' offer – the role of a Priestess in an American-Swedish feature film – but later enjoyed a red-carpet cinema premiere covered by news broadcasts, and shot a film with the legendary László Szacsvay (Actor of the Nation and the Hungarian voice of Rabbit in Winnie the Pooh), playing his resourceful character, Edina. Today, I split my time between London and Budapest, frequently auditioning with a British accent.
And the camera keeps rolling.