Irina Petrescu

Birthday: 1941-06-19
Deathday: 2013-03-19
Birthplace: Bucureşti, Romania
Gender: Female
Owned By: Unowned

Irina Petrescu (1941–2013) was a celebrated Romanian stage and screen actress, also active in radio and television.

She was discovered while still a university student by director Savel Stiopul, whose screen tests eventually reached Liviu Ciulei and led to her film debut in *The Danube Waves* (*Valurile Dunării*, 1960). Although she had initially enrolled in the Faculty of Letters, she went on to graduate from the “I.L. Caragiale” Institute of Theatre and Film Arts in Bucharest in 1963 (class of Ion Șahighian and David Esrig).

Petrescu quickly became one of the most refined and distinctive presences in Romanian cinema of the 1960s, admired for her elegance, intelligence, and emotional precision. She starred in films such as *I Don’t Want to Get Married*, *A Sentimental Story*, *Steps to the Moon*, and *The Stranger*, and gained further acclaim in Lucian Pintilie’s *Sunday at Six* (1966), opposite Dan Nuțu. The two reunited in *The Mornings of a Sensible Boy* (1967). In 1969, she won the Best Actress award at the 6th Moscow International Film Festival for her performance in *The Mischievous Adolescent*.

Though she appeared in 29 films between 1959 and 2010—including *Through the Ashes of the Empire*, *The Making of the World*, *The Impossible Love*, *Hotel de Lux*, and *Miss Christina*—theater remained her greatest passion. She spent her entire career at Bucharest’s Bulandra Theatre, working with major directors such as Liviu Ciulei, Alexandru Tocilescu, Cătălina Buzoianu, Silviu Purcărete, and many others, in productions ranging from Shakespeare and Molière to Sartre, Camus, Pirandello, and Beckett.

Reserved in public life and rarely giving interviews, Irina Petrescu was regarded as one of the most distinguished actresses of her generation—an artist whose poise and depth left a lasting mark on Romanian theater and cinema.

Credits

	Year	Title	Character
	2010-12-15	The Human Resources Manager	Grandmother
	1992-04-01	Luxury Hotel
	1992-01-01	Miss Christina	Mrs. Moscu
	1989-10-16	Those Who Pay with Their Lives	Irena
	1989-05-18	The Moment of Truth
	1988-04-28	Fourth Fence, by the Wharf
	1984-10-26	A Light on the 10th Floor	inginera Maria Dinu
	1984-03-12	The Impossible Love	Sorana
	1983-07-04	Alone on Watch	Ioana
	1981-03-23	The Carpathian Castle	Dora D'Istria
	1978-01-16	Operation 'The Bus'	Dominique Franga
	1976-01-01	Three Days and Three Nights	Hermina
	1975-02-23	Beyond the Bridge	Sister Aegidia
	1973-09-24	Seven Days	Lena
	1973-01-01	Stejar, extremă urgență	Corina
	1971-01-01	The Making of the World	Eva Filipache
	1969-08-21	A Woman for a Season	Ana
	1967-06-18	Chief of the Souls Sector	Magdalena
	1967-01-16	The Mornings of a Sensible Youth	Mariana
	1966-01-20	Story of My Foolishness	Jacqueline
	1965-07-01	The White Moor
	1965-03-16	Sunday at Six	Anca
	1964-10-08	The Stranger	Sonia
	1962-05-28	Sentimental Story	Neli
	1961-02-01	I Don't Want to Get Married	Rodica Barbu
	1960-05-24	The Waves of the Danube	Ana