Vladimir Kulich

Vladimír Kulich (born 14 July 1956) is a Czech-Canadian actor.

In January 1990, he decided to try his luck in Hollywood and drove from Vancouver to Los Angeles, California with the intention of giving himself one month to get his foot in the proverbial door.

Relying on his rafting business to keep him grounded, Kulich knew he would need to return to Canada in the spring to get the operation up and running if the move didn't work out.

The month had nearly drawn to a close when Kulich finally received a call indicating that he had been accepted by an agent.

Still constrained by practicality, Kulich decided to give himself an additional month to find work.

His agent directed him to an audition for the television miniseries The Big One: The Great Los Angeles Earthquake.

The experience left Kulich feeling somewhat daunted due to the perceived lack of interest his efforts had been shown, and he elected to return to Vancouver a few days earlier than originally planned.

In 1995 he appeared as Olafsson in the X-Files episode "Død Kalm."

While living in Montreal, Quebec, Canada as a young adult, he was a professional ice hockey player.

He has often volunteered in celebrity charity games including skating with the Los Angeles Kings Alumni Association.

Kulich was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia to a family that was already involved in the acting industry.

His uncle operated a theater company in the city, which allowed the young Kulich to experience what the stage was like.

Kulich visited the theatre often, and when he was approximately five years of age, his uncle allowed him to run errands, which mostly involved fetching pitchers of beer between intermissions.

Kulich became interested in acting and believed that an acting career would be his future.

He began by performing in various small parts in the State Theatre of Czechoslovakia.

His first paying job as an actor was in a low-budget Czech film as a crying boy who had lost his balloon.

However, his acting career was soon set back by his parents' divorce and the subsequent relocation of Kulich and his mother to Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Kulich was twelve years old when he and his mother settled in Quebec.

He and his mother eventually took up residence in a tenement located in the poorest segment of their otherwise financially comfortable neighborhood.

However, Kulich was disheartened to discover that no theaters or other acting opportunities existed in the immediate area.

He therefore turned to hockey as a pastime.

As his mother struggled to find work, Kulich became more engaged in the sport.

As Kulich became more dedicated to ice skating, he temporarily gave up acting.

In his ice skating, he was offered additional encouragement from John Ferguson, Sr., who was a notable Montreal Canadiens' player and frequent audience member of Kulich's games.

Ferguson developed an affinity for the boy, and, upon becoming head coach for the New York Rangers, he offered Kulich the opportunity to try out for the team.

Kulich failed to make the cut, but soon he began playing for one of the team's minor league farming affiliates at Port Huron, Michigan.

Despite the continued possibility of being called up, Kulich opted to retire from professional hockey after a year at 21 years of age.

After voluntarily ending his hockey career, Kulich explored a variety of callings.

He took a job at a summer camp that catered to handicapped children, began reading more, and tried his hand at painting.

Unable to find a definite focus, Kulich eventually moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, where he started a whitewater river rafting business located near Chilliwack, B.C. Kulich would serve as owner, operator, and occasional guide for the rugged outings over the course of the next ten years.

In time, it was this venture that helped to reopen another important door.

In Vancouver, the acting industry was gaining momentum.

Some had even dubbed the city "Hollywood North" because of the burgeoning number of television and film projects in development there.

One weekend, a couple of producers from the program 21 Jump Street scheduled a whitewater rafting trip with Kulich's company and were impressed by the unique look of the Czech-Canadian.

They offered to give him a small role on an episode of their show, which Kulich accepted.

The part was nothing of note.

Kulich appeared as a doorman, speaking only a single word of welcome to those with whom he shared the scene.

Still, it was enough to reintroduce Kulich to the world of acting and put him on the road to even greater recognition.

Before long, Kulich began to land guest-starring roles on other television programs such as MacGyver and Wiseguy.

He is known for his roles as Buliwyf in the film The 13th Warrior, Tiberius in the film Ironclad, Erik in the television series Vikings, as well as the voice of Ulfric Stormcloak in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and as The Beast in the television series Angel.