Renata Sabljak

Renata Sabljak, born in Zagreb on 2 June 1977, is a Croatian singer and actress, one of the leading voices of musical theatre in Croatia. Her father Nikola comes from Korita near the Plitvice Lakes and her mother Sanda from Prigorje.

She began singing in 1992, at fifteen, on the Turbo Limach Show, and won that season. She went on to sing at Prvi pljesak, the Zadarfest in 1998 and Dora in 1999 and 2000, and on the show "Napokon nedjelja" with Đani Stipaničev. In 1999 Croatia Records released her album Hajde, and the same year she sang "Samo za tebe" with Željen Klašterka.

She studied acting at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb, with a final semester at Ohio University, and solo singing at the Blagoje Bersa music school. Her stage career at the Komedija theatre, her home company, began on 15 February 2002 with the musical Mali dućan strave. There she has played Roxie Hart in Chicago, Aida, Sandy in Briljantin, Sally Bowles in Cabaret and the Lady of the Lake in Spamalot. Aida (2005/06) and Briljantin (2007/08) won her the Croatian Theatre Award for a female role in operetta or musical, as did Belle in Beauty and the Beast at the Trešnja theatre; she also received the Ivo Fici award for young actors at the Festival glumca in 2005 and the Orlando award at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival in 2006 for Ondine.

On screen she appeared in the film and series Holding (2001) and the 2009 family film Baza Djeda Mraza, and in 2015 she competed in the second season of Tvoje lice zvuči poznato. She is a familiar voice in Croatian dubbing too, as Fiona in the Shrek films, Ariel in The Little Mermaid and Belle in Beauty and the Beast.

Renata Sabljak's recordings also include "Balada" with the band Nebo, kajkavian songs such as "Rijeka Mura tiho šumila", Christmas songs and live tributes to Vera Svoboda, gathered here in one playlist.