The actress of the Budapest Maladype Theatre was born and raised at the easternmost edge of old Hungary, in the land of the Csángós, in Gyimesközéplok, a village with a predominantly Hungarian-speaking population. She graduated from the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Târgu Mureș in 2004, and after spending six years at the Csiky Gergely State Hungarian Theatre in Timișoara, she moved to Budapest at the invitation of Zoltán Balázs, joining the Maladype Theatre. The writer of these lines got to know her during the making of the feature film The Witches' Circle, which was filmed in her native village in 2010.

- In the film The Witches' Circle, you played a restless, freedom-loving so-called "wild girl." How fitting was this role for you?

- I don’t even know what I was happier about. Whether it was the fact that I could play a leading role in a feature film, that I could experience the mysterious world of filmmaking alongside theater, or that I could do all of this in a place that is part of my essence. I knew everything about the world at home—the life, customs, behavior patterns, hierarchical system, social problems, and beliefs. The initial excitement quickly dissolved because I was surrounded by very good people, professional actors who radiated security and trust. I felt that everything I had learned as a child—whether I wanted to or not, from milking cows to mowing hay—I could now use here.

- If you throw a stone in Gyimes, there’s a good chance you’ll hit at least four or five people with the surname Tankó. What do you know about your ancestors, your family history?

- So far, I’ve managed to figure out that my great-grandparents were already born here in Gyimesközéplok. To find out exactly where they came from, a more serious research is needed, which I haven’t had time for yet. They worked in agriculture and animal husbandry and engaged in barter trade with Romanian-speaking farmers a few kilometers southeast. They exchanged the potatoes they grew and the cheese and curd made from milk for products that couldn’t be grown in the Gyimes valley—such as grapes, corn, tomatoes, peppers, or eggplant. As for my last name, the street where my parents live was called Tankó stream because everyone who lived there was named Tankó. When the chapel was built at the entrance of the street, it was then named Kápolna Pataka (Chapel Stream). Since the houses were built along the small stream that trickles there, and the road runs along it, that’s why they’re called streams, not streets. Even though there are many Tankós, every family has a distinguishing surname. My mother’s maiden name is Erzsébet Tankó Muszka, my father’s is Imre Tankó Imre, and the distinguishing surname appears officially on my grandfather’s school certificate. I’m very interested in what other secrets lie hidden in our ancient past, and I plan to research and document these while there are still people to ask and places to look.

- What does Gyimesközéplok mean to you?

- For me, my homeland is the origin. It’s where I started, where I can always return to, where I feel at home. I consider myself lucky that the Creator has blessed me with such a beautiful homeland, a place I gladly return to, to recharge, to relax, to rest, where even hard work in the fields can be pleasantly tiring. Of course, I only think this way in the first two weeks; after three months of "haymaking," it’s not so pleasant anymore.

- How often can you visit home?

- I go home whenever I can. I try to be there for the big holidays, of course, depending on my theater commitments. I also try to spend part of the summer at home because, in summer, every helping hand is needed. And before you ask, yes, I do help with the fieldwork, because I couldn’t just sit in the shade of a tree, reading or resting, while my parents and grandmother work on the hillside!

- How does a little girl from Gyimes become an actress?

- The opportunity to pursue acting came last in my life. I applied to the Department of Communication and Hungarian Studies at the Pázmány Péter Catholic University, but due to technical reasons—my graduation and entrance exam dates coinciding—I couldn’t attend the entrance exam. By the time this became clear, I had very little time to look into the local universities, and before I knew it, the application deadline had passed. The next month was spent searching through the only daily newspaper that could be subscribed to in Gyimes, trying to figure out what to do with my life. On the last page of one issue, I saw an ad for the Târgu Mureș University of Theatre and Film Arts. At that moment, I knew this was what I wanted. It wasn’t an easy journey, but I was fortunate to meet many good people along the way who took care of me, guided me, and taught me. I loved learning, trying new things, and venturing into the unknown. Acting was the biggest unknown for me, since my first theatrical experience came after I passed the entrance exam—when I performed in the dress rehearsal of Ferenc Molnár's Liliom at the National Theatre of Târgu Mureș.

- A cliché but obligatory question: do you have a dream role?

- Actually, no. What I would like is to take out my monodrama Curva Pericolosa, which we performed last quarter, and do it once more. Sometimes I also think about playing the “other” female role. For example, right now I’m living as Valois Elizabeth in our Don Carlos performance, but I would love to play Princess Eboli in the same play someday!

- Why Maladype, and why Zoltán Balázs, who is from Cluj-Napoca?

- When I met Zoltán Balázs, I didn’t know he was from Cluj-Napoca. What I knew was that he did theater in a different way. In a way that, despite being unknown to me, I really liked. It was "love" at first sight, and it has lasted to this day. He showed me enormous trust when he let me play Penelope in the Return of Ulysses performance that he directed in Timișoara. He said that he was impressed by the way I rehearsed. Then he told me that, regardless of the success of the performance or my portrayal of the role, he would be happy to work with me at Maladype. I didn’t think twice, I packed my things, and came to Budapest. I’m grateful to be here, to have met and worked with artists like Mari Törőcsik and Sándor Zsótér. I even made it to India, where Félix Lajkó "played us the music." But more than anything, it’s the fellow creators with whom I get to experience all of this together that matter most!

Veér Károly, Regio Regia, 2014

Translation by Zsuzsanna Juraszek