Tania Popa

Biography

Tania Popa (born January 19, 1973, in Căușeni, Moldova) is a Romanian film and theatre actress who graduated from the I.L. Caragiale National University of Theatre and Film Arts in Bucharest in 1994, studying under professor Grigore Gonţa. She has been a permanent ensemble member of the National Theatre "I.L. Caragiale" in Bucharest since her 1994 debut as Ondine in Jean Giraudoux's Ondine, and has since performed in a wide range of productions including A Letter (Caragiale, 2003), Heart of a Dog (after Bulgakov, 2005), Orchestra Titanic (2018), and the one-woman show The Girl from the Rainbow (2012, for which she won Best Actress at both the International Studio Theatre Festival in Pitești and the National Comedy Festival in Galați). She also directed Figuranta by Andreas Petrescu at the National Theatre in 2019. She won the UCIN Award for Best Actress in 1996 and received the Order of Cultural Merit (2nd class) in 2004. Her most notable film credits include the Night Receptionist in 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007, directed by Cristian Mungiu, Palme d'Or winner), Mihaela in Occident (2002, also directed by Mungiu), Camelia in Tales from the Golden Age (2009), a Female Parishioner in Beyond the Hills (2012, also directed by Mungiu), Luminița Angheliu in Child's Pose (2013, directed by Calin Peter Netzer), Aurelia in I Am An Old Communist Hag (2013), Mama Ana in Ana, My Love (2017, also directed by Netzer), Doina in America, Here We Come (2014), Nela in Matei, Child Miner (2013), and Valentina Benkova in The Marksman (2005, with Wesley Snipes). On television she appeared as Elena Calinescu in Tanti Florica (2012) and Carmen in Atletico Textila (2024–2025, 14 episodes), and competed on Your Face Sounds Familiar (Season 8, 2015).