Bruno O'Ya

Bruno OYa born Bruno Oja February 12 1933 October 9 2002 was an EstonianPolish actor In 1974 he starred in the Academy Awardnominated 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 OYa was born to Verner and Hilda Oja his brother was Kenno Oja He was married four times and has a daughter Dominika OYa studied piano with the Estonian composer Eugen Kapp He was part of a pop music group in Tartu in 1951 and the Riga Teachers House dance orchestra from 19561964 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 OYa returned to Estonia where he supervised a youth theater On the initiative of Foreign Minister Trivim Velliste OYa became the cultural attaché and honorary consul of the Republic of Estonia in Poland In 1998 he suffered a stroke