Biography
Guest appearance: Saturday 14. March 2026
Jiří Lábus is a Czech actor, comedian, and voice actor, born in Prague. From an early age, he was fascinated by theatre and cinema, regularly attending stage performances and listening to radio plays. After completing his secondary education, he studied acting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (DAMU), graduating in 1973. Already in 1972, he became a permanent member of the renowned Studio Ypsilon theatre ensemble, with which he remains closely associated to this day.
Lábus has appeared in a wide range of film and television productions and became widely popular not only in the Czech Republic but also in Germany thanks to his iconic role as the evil wizard Rumburak in the fantasy TV series Arabela. He later returned to this legendary character in the feature film Rumburak as well as in the sequel series Arabela se vrací.
Among his most memorable screen performances are roles in the children’s sci-fi series Létající Čestmír, the beloved comedy trilogy Slunce, seno, the crime comedy Velká filmová loupež, and the acclaimed drama series Sanitka 2, among many others.
A significant part of his popularity also stems from his long-running collaboration with actor and comedian Oldřich Kaiser. Together, they created several highly successful television and radio shows that have become classics of Czech comedy.
Jiří Lábus is also an accomplished and highly respected voice actor. In the 1980s, he voiced the puppet host Jů in the popular children’s television program Studio Kamarád. He is widely known as the Czech voice of Marge Simpson in The Simpsons, the narrator of the TV series MASH*, and Sid the ground sloth in the Ice Age film franchise. His voice work also extends to video games.
Throughout his career, Lábus has received numerous awards and honors. In 1994, he won the Czech Lion Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Uncle Jakob in Vladimír Michálek’s film America. He received the Thalia Award in 1996 for his performance in The Head of Medusa. In 2013, he was awarded another Czech Lion for his supporting role in Klauni, and in 2012, he received the Golden Shoe Award at the Zlín Film Festival for his outstanding contribution to children’s and youth cinema.