Bruno O'Ya

Born February 12, 1933 · Tallinn, Harju County, Estonia

Bruno O'Ya (born Bruno Oja; February 12, 1933 – October 9, 2002) was an Estonian-Polish actor. In 1974 he starred in the Academy Award-nominated film The Deluge under Jerzy Hoffman. He also appeared in the 1978 film Centaurs. He released a folk album with 12 songs in 1973. Born on February 12, 1933, in Tallinn, O'Ya was born to Verner and Hilda Oja; his brother was Kenno Oja. He was married four times, and has a daughter, Dominika. O'Ya studied piano with the Estonian composer Eugen Kapp. He was part of a pop music group in Tartu in 1951 and the Riga Teacher's House dance orchestra from 1956–1964. From the late the 1960s, he mainly lived and worked in Wrocław, Poland, but did not renounce his Soviet citizenship, as that was how he was able to visit Estonia. In 1967, he changed his Estonian surname to a foreign one, henceforth writing the surname with a y and adding an apostrophe after the first letter in order to simplify foreign contact. After Estonia regained its independence, O'Ya returned to Estonia, where he supervised a youth theater. On the initiative of Foreign Minister Trivim Velliste, O'Ya became the cultural attaché and honorary consul of the Republic of Estonia in Poland. In 1998 he suffered a stroke.