Index – Culture – Kátya Tompos has died

Tamás Puskás, director of the Central Theater, announced the news to Index.

She was an excellent actress, the audience loved her very much, and the Central Theater considers her its own dead

said director Tamás Puskás, shaken. Kátya Tompos has been continuously present in the life of the theater since the premiere of My Fair Lady in 2016, just as the theater has been in the life of the actress.

Kátya Tompos died after a long illness. It is impossible to grasp these words and to write in the surreal past tense about someone who was so young, talented and radiant. Kátya Tompos was known throughout the country; it doesn’t matter if someone saw him in a movie, in the theater, or if he was captured as a singer.

He was unable to function otherwise. His talent burned with a huge flame, scorching every stage. Now the fire that we thought was unquenchable has gone out.

He bore his illness in silence, he did not comment on it in the press. In recent years, the news has been about his successes when the Now is now for her performance in the film, she was awarded the best film actress of the year award at the annual New York Film Awards. It only became suspicious that something was wrong when the theaters reopened after the pandemic, concerts could be held, but instead of seeing him more and more, he appeared on stage less and less. In the past period, the performances in which Kátya appeared were left behind and replaced by theaters.

After her illness became public, a country rallied for Kátya Tompos, who was also reported to be suffering from a rare form of cancer. A charity gala was organized for the actress on May 25, 2024, the entire proceeds of which will go to her medical treatment fund. According to the latest news, the money has been raised…

Actor and singer

Kátya Tompos was born in 1983 to a Russian mother and a Hungarian father. Music found him at an early age; when he was in kindergarten, he mostly spoke Russian, so he first connected with Hungarian children through singing. Music was his first means of self-expression, but prose also became an increasingly important tool over the years, for example he participated in many poetry contests. Music and theater were both important to him, so he couldn’t have ended up in a better place after Margit Földessy’s studio than the music department of the University of the Performing Arts, where he was able to combine both of his passions.

Although he told Endre Kadarkai in the Arckép program that at first he had no self-confidence at all and for years it was difficult for him to stand on stage, he felt that perhaps he had been accepted to the university too early, even in the early years of his career it was clear that God was also leading him to this career meant for him. He was never just an actor or just a singer, he was always a great performer.

He graduated from the operetta and musical department of the SZFE in 2005, where his classmates included Sándor Nagy, Anna Peller, János Szemenyei and Artur Szőcs. Perhaps the most valuable pirated recording on YouTube is the video where Kátya Szőcs sings accompanied by Artur of the Spinoza Theater But alas! in his presentation.

In the play that strengthens tolerance, songs were sung in the languages ​​of the Gypsies of several nations. No matter how poor the image and sound quality is in this video clip, the emotion flows with overwhelming force. Kátya Tompos not only had extraordinary vocal abilities. He sang thoughts and emotions, filled beauty with content.

The second part of Something America brought him real fame. After the comedy directed by Gábor Herendi, he appeared in the works Poligamy, Köntürfalak, Coming Out, among others. His latest film is the above-mentioned Most van now, which was also awarded in New York, where he played a fleeing bride alongside Tamás Mohai.

Humor, soul, love

It is also clear from her films that Kátya was a versatile actress, but her theater roles show her talent even more on a wide spectrum. She could play anything from the naive little girl to the woman of doom. When it was needed, a cold inaccessibility radiated from his blue eyes, and when it was needed, his presence was more caressing than a summer breeze at forty degrees. The aloof elegance, the sarcastic humor, the broken soul and the burning love suited him well.

After Színművészeti, he was a member of the József Attila Theater between 2005-2007, the Bárka Theater between 2007-2008, and the National Theater from 2008, but in 2018 he chose the more unpredictable but independent way of life and became a freelancer. In 2021, Joy magazine conducted an interview with Katya, the conversation was watched by Színház Online, in which we can read about the background of her decision:

This was a step that I should have taken much earlier, but I didn’t dare for a long time, because safety, being in a company, belonging somewhere were more important. I also had a great realization that you cannot serve an attitude, only talent and truth. My ability and truth can unfold in other things than what was expected of me at the National Theatre. It was more a kind of relief and standing on my own feet, which I owed myself for a very long time.

His first solo album, Across Europe, was released in 2013. The disc contains not only Hungarian songs, but also Bulgarian, Russian, English and French songs. The jazzy, pop-style songs really fly through Europe. Together with his fellow musician, Róbert Hrutka, they released their second album entitled Moon Flight in 2017, and they achieved quite a success together when they were asked to sing the anthem of the 2019 Színházak Ejszakaja. The song “Viszlek haza” can also be interpreted as a kind of ars poetica for the actress.

Kátya Tompos, winner of the Jászai Mari award, Junior Príma award and Golden Medal award-winning actress, has finally fallen asleep, and we are left with nothing but the memory and magic she left behind.

(Cover image: Kátya Tompos on August 31, 2014. Photo: Balázs Mohai / MTI)