Lilla Polyák (born 16 March 1976) is a Hungarian actress and singer.
Personal life Her 2021 song titled Stay (Maradj) was inspired by the loss of her father, Dr. Zoltán Polyák (1952–1987). Her mother is Márta Botos (Mrs. Zoltán Polyák). She has a younger brother, Zoltán.
She was still a pupil of Géza Gárdonyi Elementary School in Győr when she started participating in poem and prose recital competitions. She started her secondary education in Miklós Révai High School in Győr. This is where she became interested in music and singing, and decided to become a professional singer and musical actress. To realize her dream, in 1993 at the age of 17 she moved to Budapest, and graduated from Madách Imre High School (Madách Imre Gimnázium) in 1994.
Her first husband was Zsolt Homonnay, with whom they had two children, Zsombor (2004) and Bulcsú (2007). They divorced in 2016. She married her second husband, András Máté Gömöri, in 2018.
In 2016 the Hungarian Tourism Agency appointed her the #helloHungary ambassador for the city of Sopron and the Lake Fertő region. at the TV2 Magyarország YouTube-channel - 2016-12-06.
Theatre career Having graduated from high school, she spent a year with the National Theatre of Győr, where she primarily played in musicals while preparing for her entrance exams.
Despite her musical inclination, she was admitted to the prose department of the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest in 1995. During her apprenticeship in Comedy Theatre of Budapest, she already took on main roles, such as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. She graduated from university in 1999. As she was fluent in German, Theater an der Wien, a Vienna-based theatre of Vereinigte Bühnen, signed her in the same year. She returned to Hungary at the end of 2001. She has played roles both in musicals and plays in Budapest as well as in the countryside. She has taken on the role of Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar twice, and has toured with the musical The Beauty and the Beast in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. She has starred in acclaimed musicals such as Romeo and Juliet, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Spamalot, Mary Poppins, the stage adaptation of Federico Fellini’s 8½ titled Nine, and Jekyll & Hyde.
She received a Gundel Award in the musical-operetta category in 2007. On 24 October 2022, the day that celebrates the Hungarian operetta, the Budapest Operetta Theater presented her with the Best Actress of the Season award.
In addition to her theatre roles, she has appeared on the television screen. She competed in the Hungarian musical talent show Sztárban Sztár (A Star within a Star), and has hosted a TV show herself. She starred in two seasons of the Hungarian comedy show series Mintaapák (Great Fathers/Sres. Papis). She has also done commercial work.
Between 2017 and 2020 she was the head musical teacher of the musical training offered by the Pesti Magyar Academy of Drama at the Magyar Theatre, the successor of the Nemzeti Stúdió (Academy of the National Theatre). (Jekyll & Hyde vizsgaelőadás )
She has also narrated several audiobooks.
Singing career As a singer she sang in numerous animated films, and has collaborated on multiple musical albums. In 2008 she won the pop music game show Csináljuk a fesztivált! (Let's party!) broadcast by the Magyar Televízió for performing Barbra Streisand’s hit a Woman in Love.
In 1993 she was still in high school when she became the singer of an emerging band from Győr, which even performed at a rock festival. She soon moved to Budapest, and applied to the private school of singer and singing teacher Mária Toldy. In her third year at the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest she sang in a show. It was then that she began performing in various musical productions with her first husband, Zsolt Homonnay. They released two albums together. Two of Us (Ketten, 2009) and Two Hearts (Két szív, 2010) were both certified gold records.
During her time in Vienna at the turn of the millennium, she toured with an ABBA Tribute Show with a German theatre company. Later, in the spring of 2010 she and Kata Janza debuted a show featuring ABBA songs and musical pieces which they have been performing country-wide ever since.
In 2011 her song titled Here and Now (Itt és most) was 70 th in the Radio Top 100, which was compiled based on listening numbers. She has performed twice in the Hungarian selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. In 2013 the song I Gotta Fly (composers: Máté Bella, Vajk Szente, and Attila Galambos; Hungarian version: Valami más), in 2014 her song Rise Again (composers: Gergő Rácz, Viktor Rakonczai, and Zsolt Homonnay; Hungarian version: Karcolás) got her to the first semi-finals of the selection show A Dal. on the A DAL Eurovíziós Dalfesztivál / Eurovision Hungary YouTube-Channel - 21 February 2014
In 2014 her first solo greatest hits album Most és Mindörökké was released by Sony Music Entertainment Hungary.
In 2019 she judged the song contest Kötéltánc held by the Capital Circus of Budapest.
Awards Gundel Art Award (2007) The Musical Acting Award of the Season (2022)
Theatrical roles
Authors Title Role Theatre Year Vajk Szente, Attila Galambos, Levente JuhászKőszívűMrs. BaradlayJózsef Katona Theatre of Kecskemét2022Kőszívű – A Baradlay-legendaMrs. BaradlayErkel Theatre2022Robert Louis Stevenson, Frank Wildhorn, Leslie BricusseJekyll & HydeLucy HarrisBudapest Operetta Theater2022Choderlos de Laclos, Csaba Kiss, Adrián Kovács, Péter Sziámi MüllerLes Liaisons DangereusesMarquise de Merteuil Budapest Operetta Theater2022Michael Kunze, Sylvester LevayElisabethElisabethJózsef Katona Theatre of Kecskemét2021Arthur Kopit, Maury YestonNineClaudia NardiBudapest Operetta Theater2021Patricia Resnick, Dolly Parton, Vajk Szente, Attila Galambos9 to 5 (musical)VioletAttila József Theatre2020Gregg Opelka, Attila GalambosC'est la vieFatiguéePinceszínház2019Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein, Ferenc Molnár's LiliomCarousel - LiliomMrs. MullinBudapest Operetta Theater2019Richard Rodgers és Oscar Hammerstein, Molnár FerencCarousel - LiliomNettie FowlerBudapest Operetta Theater2019A date in pariswith Lilla Polyák and Zsolt HomonnayselfBudapest Operetta Theater2019 Levente Szörényi, János BródyIstván, a királySaroltBudapest Operetta Theater2018Mihály Kalpintér, Bálin VargaThe Houdini MusicalBessMoM Sport2016 Szilveszter Lévay, Michael KunzeMarie AntoinetteMarie AntoinetteBudapest Operetta Theater2016 Menken-Ashman-Rice A Szépség és a Szörnyeteg Teamama Budapest Operetta Theater 2014 Gyárfás-Szabó-Szente Tanulmány a nőkről Balogh Éva Madách Theatre 2014 Eszter Horgas Hét boszorka concert performance one of the omniscient witches Centrál Theater(premiere: Margaret Island Open-Air Stage) 2013(2012) Disney-Cameron-Mackintosh Mary Poppins Mary Poppins Madách Theatre 2012 Vizy-Tóth Én, József Attila Flóra Kozmutza Madách Theatre 2012 Galambos-Szente-Bolba Csoportterápia Natasa Madách Theatre 2011 Webber-Rice Jesus Christ Superstar Mary Magdalene Madách Theatre 2010 Lévay-Kunze Rebecca-A Manderley-ház asszonya Mrs. Danvers Budapest Operetta Theater 2010 Idle-Du Prez Spamalot, avagy a Gyalog Galopp The Lady of the Lake Madách Theatre 2009 Musicalmesék Tündér Lilla Budapest Operetta Theater 2009 Gérard Presgurvic, Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet Juliet's nanny Budapest Operetta Theater 2008 Webber-Rice Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Narrator Madách Theatre 2008 Wildhorn-Murphy Rudolf – Az utolsó csók Stefánia Budapest Operetta Theater 2006 Menken-Ashman-Rice The Beauty and the Beast Madame de la Grande Bouche Budapest Operetta Theater 2005 Webber-Elton-Bródy Volt egyszer egy csapat Christine Madách Theatre 2005 Gérard Presgurvic, Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet Lady Capulet Budapest Operetta Theater 2004 LaChiusa Helló! Igen?! A színésznő Budapest Operetta Theater 2004 Lévay-Kunze Mozart! Waldstätten bárónő Budapest Operetta Theater 2003 Larson Robbanás előtt (Tick, tick... boom) Susan National Theatre of Pécs 2003 Lévay-Kunze Elisabeth Sissi Budapest Operetta Theater 2002 Böhm-Korcsmáros-Horváth Somewhere in Europe Éva National Theatre of Pécs 2002 Kocsák-Miklós Anna Karenina Anna Karenina Madách Theatre 2002 Isherwood-Kander-Ebb Kabaré Sally Bowles Csokonai Theatre, Debrecen 2002 Werner Sobotka Moby Dick Musical Sommer Amstetten 2001 Lévay-Kunze Mozart! Waldstätten bárónő Theater an der Wien 2000 Webber-Arlen-Rice-Harburg The Wizard of Oz Dorothy Comedy Theatre of Budapest 1998 Presser-Sztevanovity-Horváth A padlás Kölyök National Theatre of Győr 1995
Filmography Film Title Role Genre Type YearIgazából apaEmmaComedyFeature film2010Made in HungariaMaxim, Red KnightBiography, Comedy, MusicFeature film2009Közel a szerelemhezDramaFeature film1999
Television Title Role Genre/type Channel YearMintaapákKláraTV SeriesTV22019–2021KarádysokkDorottyaTV SeriesDuna (TV channel)2011
Movie Soundtrack Enchanted (Most és mindörökké - Ever Ever After, 2007) Home on the Range (Tenyérnyi kis égbolt - Little Patch of Heaven, 2004) Brother Bear (2003/2004) The Emperor's New Groove (2000)
Discography With credits on several musical and concert CDs too.
Album Most és Mindörökké (2014)POLYÁK LILLA - Most és Mindörökké , mgrecords.hu Két szív (with Homonnay Zsolt, 2010)Két szív - Album by Lilla Polyák és Zsolt Homonnay, Spotify.com Ketten (with Homonnay Zsolt, 2009)
Single Maradj (2021) Ever Ever After (2015) Ecset és vászon (2015) Egyetlen szó (Feat. Gergő Rácz, 2014) Rise Again (2014) White Christmas (2013) Legyen ünnep (2013) Tél, amit ígértél (2013) Karcolás (2013) Valami más|Valami más / I Gotta Fly (2013)Polyák Lilla Valami más / I Gotta Fly, deezer.com
Audiobook Pamela Lyndon Travers Mary Poppins a Cseresznyefa utcában (E-Audiobook: 2022)E-hangoskönyv - Mary Poppins a Cseresznyefa utcában Pamela Lyndon Travers - Polyák Lilla, libri.hu A csudálatos Mary Poppins (2019,A csudálatos Mary Poppins - Hangoskönyv - MP3 - Polyák Lilla előadásában, libri.hu E-Audiobook: 2021E-hangoskönyv - A csudálatos Mary Poppins, Polyák Lilla, libri.hu Mary Poppins a Parkban (2018,Mary Poppins a Parkban - Hangoskönyv - MP3 Pamela Lyndon Travers - Polyák Lilla, libri.hu E-Audiobook: 2021Mary Poppins a parkban [eHangoskönyv, lira.hu) A csudálatos Mary kinyitja az ajtót (2017,A csudálatos Mary kinyitja az ajtót - Hangoskönyv Pamela Lyndon Travers - Polyák Lilla, libri.hu E-Audiobook: 2022E-hangoskönyv - A csudálatos Mary kinyitja az ajtót Pamela Lyndon Travers - Polyák Lilla, libri.hu) A csudálatos Mary visszatér (2016,A csudálatos Mary visszatér - Hangoskönyv - MP3 Pamela Lyndon Travers - Polyák Lilla, libri.hu E-Audiobook: 2021E-hangoskönyv - A csudálatos Mary visszatér Polyák Lilla, libri.hu Szilvia K. László Marci és az évszakok (2016)K. László Szilvia: Marci és az évszakok - hangoskönyv Takács Nikolas és Polyák Lilla előadásában, kossuth.hu
References
External links