Paolo Tišljarić was born in Zagreb on 13 December 1991. He earned his BA degree in theatre directing and broadcasting from the Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Art in 2013, and MA degree in the same field in 2017. His Master’s degree final project consisted of the play The Misunderstanding by Albert Camus, radio play Ward No. 6 based on the eponymous novella by Anton Chekhov and thesis entitled Directing approach to Albert Camus’s The Misunderstanding. He has staged Lada Kaštelan’s The Nutcracker based on E.T.A. Hoffmann at the Croatian National Theatre Varaždin, Henrik Ibsen’s Nora, co-produced by the Joza Ivakić City Theatre Vinkovci and the Marin Držić Theatre Dubrovnik, Tena Štivičić’s Fireflies at the Marin Držić Theatre, Lada Kaštelan’s Šenoa and Slava, produced by the Velika Gorica Open University, Lada Kaštelan’s The Nutcracker based on E.T.A. Hoffmann at the Marin Držić Theatre, Ivo Vojnović’s Masquerades Under the Roofs at the Marin Držić Theatre, Nina Horvat’s To the Last Drop of Blood, produced by the Kolarin Theatre Company, Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, produced by the Marin Držić Theatre, Jozo Lovrić’s Mare Fjočica, produced by the Kolarin Theatre Company, Lada Kaštelan’s Tales of Long Ago based on Ivana Brlić Mažuranić, coproduced by the Marin Držić Theatre and the Trešnja City Theatre Zagreb, Marin Držić’s Uncle Maroye Re-Examined, produced by the Midsummer Scene Festival, Lada Kaštelan’s The Nutcracker based on Hoffmann at the Trešnja City Theatre Zagreb, Davor Špišić’s Karaoke Show produced by the Kolarin Theatre Company, Valentina Galijatović’s There’s No Fairy in the World based on Lucić and Boccaccio, produced by the Youth Drama Studio Hvar and the THEARTE Arts Organisation, Lada Kaštelan’s The Snow Queen based on Andersen at the Trešnja City Theatre Zagreb, Valentina Galijatović’s At the Peregrins’ produced by the THEARTE Arts Organisation and the Trešnja City Theatre Zagreb, Marin Držić’s The Tale of Stanac and Marko Bruerević’s Sudden Engagement, produced by the Kolarin Theatre Company, The Emperor’s New Clothes by Ana Tonković Dolenčić, co-directed with Krešimir Dolenčić at the Trešnja City Theatre Zagreb, Brothers Grimm and Princess Louise by Branko Ružić at the Trešnja City Theatre Zagreb, Tariq Ali’s The New Adventures of Don Quixote at the Croatian National Theatre Zagreb, 4 Dry Feet by Ivana Sajko, produced by the THEARTE Arts Organisation and Zagreb Dance Centre, Kronos by Dražen Katunarić, produced by the Dubrovnik Summer Festival and Croatian Writers’ Society, Valentina Galijatović’s Rumpelstiltskin based on Brothers Grimm at the Children’s Theatre Dubrava, Dora Gelo’s The Wardrobe, produced by the Točka na I Arts Organisation in collaboration with KNAP Theatre, At the Pearly Gates by Ivan Vidić, co-produced by the Dubrovnik Summer Festival and Croatian Writers’ Society, Gestures and Grimaces by Špiro Guberina, produced by the Kiklop Theatre in collaboration with the Croatian National Theatre Zagreb, The Son Without Dreams by Srđan Sandić, produced by the TEATRUM Arts Organisation in collaboration with the Mala Scena Theatre, The Waiting Room, coproduced by the TEATRUM Arts Organisation and ITD Theatre and Daddy Lion and His Happy Children at the Children’s Theatre Dubrava. He co-directed the 2018 and 2019 Croatian Theatre Awards with Lea Anastazija Fleger. He participated in organising the tour of Tomaž Pandur’s Medea (Cyprus, Colombia, Slovenia, Macedonia), the Croatian Theatre Awards, numerous events and in over 50 theatre, cultural and art and other productions. In professional theatre, he served as assistant to Tomaž Pandur, Ivica Buljan, Janusz Kica, Ivica Boban, Krešimir Dolenčić, Aleksandar Popovski and others. As a student, he served as assistant in acting courses held by Franka Perković, Velibor Jelčić and Krešimir Dolenčić. He is the founder of the THEARTE Arts Organisation. He is a member of the Croatian Association of Drama Artists and Croatian Freelance Artists Association. He won the Orlando group prize in the 2015/16 season for Othello, directed by Ivica Boban. He has served as the director of the Marin Držić City Theatre in Dubrovnik since November 2018. He is a member of the board of the International Children’s Festival in Šibenik since June 2022. 

Photo (c) Žarko Dragojević, Marin Držić Theatre archive