| Laszlo Barna | |
| Birth Date: | 1948 |
| Birth Place: | Hungary |
| Occupation: | Television Producer |
| Spouse: | Laura Alper |
Laszlo Barna (born 1948) is a Gemini Award-winning executive producer of television programs and films. Born in Hungary but living and working in Canada, Barna produced prominent television shows such as Da Vinci's Inquest and Blue Murder.[1]
Barna was born in Hungary and immigrated to Canada with his family in the late 1950s as a result of the Hungarian Uprising. His parents were Holocaust survivors who had been imprisoned in Auschwitz concentration camp.[2] Barna and his parents arrived in Canada at Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. As part of a 2006 portrait photography exhibit in which Barna was featured, he stated that his parents "had suffered under both fascism and communism, and they said they were looking for a country where politicians retire rather than being executed"[3]
Barna experimented with stand-up comedy but suffered from stage fright, leading him to embark on a career as a television producer. He told the Toronto Star in 2002, "I like it behind the camera. It's safe there."[2]
By 2002 Barna's company, a partnership with his wife Laura Alper, was the most prolific producer of English-language TV programs in Canada.[2]
Barna has won several industry awards, including multiple Gemini awards for Da Vinci's Inquest as "Best Dramatic Series" (in each year 1999-2002 and again in 2004).[4] He also received the Donald Brittain Award in 2007 for the 2006 TV series Fatherland.[1]