A teenager from Bacău oscillates between two great passions: horse riding and acting. At the age of 17, Daniel Bâliș won numerous awards at horse competitions, and as an actor he was nominated for the Gopo Award, in the “Young Hope” category.
He played the role of Nicu in the movie Warboy Photo: Daniel Bâliș
Daniel Bâliș is a student, in the 11th grade, at Bacău Sports Program High School. He started horse riding four years ago, inheriting this passion from his father. Together with Everta, a 16-year-old Purebred Arabian mare, they have successfully represented Romania countless times. The two participated in various national and international endurance and obstacle jumping competitions where they returned home with numerous prizes.
In 2023, Daniel won first place at the endurance race, 80 km, held in Pantelimon, at the international endurance race, 120 km, from Buftea. He also took third place with the Romanian national team at the Balkan Endurance Championship held in Ruse, Bulgaria. Daniel was also awarded the “Trophy for the Youngest Romanian Rider”, who completed the 120 km endurance test.
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Daniel together with the mare Everta Photo Daniel Bâliș jpeg
“Results started to appear after a year or two of hard and very tiring training“, says Daniel, who is registered at the Decebal Equestrian Sports Club from Bacău.
Career in two directions
His love for horses and passion for riding gave him a chance in acting as well. He happened to audition, at the age of 13, for the role of the main actor in the film “Warboy”, directed by Marian Crișan. The producers of the film needed a young man who knew how to ride and who was therefore not afraid of horses.
“I was able to act in this film thanks to a simple post on Facebook, where they were looking for a kid who could ride, not act. My father saw the post and advised me to go to the casting and that's how I ended up acting in the film. It was a wonderful experience” said the young man.
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Sequences from the movie Warboy Photo Daniel Bâliș (1) jpeg
It grew with the film
Daniel went through many auditions before getting the part. “We looked for child actors, 12-14 year old boys, at riding clubs in the country. That was our strategy to look for a boy who knew how to ride and was used to horses from the beginning. More than 30 boys came from all over the country. He was 13 years old when he gave his first test. Daniel grew up with the movie. He did very well since the trials, having a native talent.“, director Marian Crișan says for “Adevărul”.
The film project was delayed due to the COVID pandemic, with filming starting in 2022.
And Daniel debuted, at 16, in acting, with a lot of emotions. In the film “Warboy” he played the role of “Nicu”, the teenager through whose eyes we see the end of the Second World War, precisely in the fall of 1944. The boy tries to save the two horses of the family by setting off with them in an initiatory journey, crossing the wild landscape of the Apuseni Mountains.
“I learned as I went, playing with the other actors who were much more experienced than me. They were the ones who helped me get rid of my emotions and behave naturally“, says the young bachelor.
The role played brought the young actor a lot of appreciation from the audience. Recently, Daniel Bâliș was nominated for the Gopo Award for “Young Hope”.
