'Voldemort' given honourary Serbian citizenship
"We Serbs are happy to have you as a friend and now we have you as our compatriot"
BELGRADE (AFP) - Award-winning British actor and director Ralph Fiennes, who portrayed Lord Voldemort in the "Harry Potter" series, was given a Serbian passport on Sunday for "promoting" the Balkan country.
The decision to grant honorary citizenship to the 54-year-old English star was reached earlier this month by the government of Prime Minister Ana Brnabic.
"I never thought I would become a Serb and now it seems that I am one," Fiennes said in Serbian during a brief ceremony after President Aleksandar Vucic presented him with the passport and an ID card.
"We Serbs are happy to have you as a friend and now we have you as our compatriot," Vucic told Fiennes.
Fiennes, a two-time Oscar nominee, has featured in some 30 movies including in "Schindler s List", "The English Patient", "Skyfall" and "Spectre."
He is currently in Belgrade shooting a movie about legendary ballet dancer Rudolph Nureyev after filming in Serbia in 2010 his debut movie as director -- "Coriolanus" -- an adaption of Shakespeare s play.
Fiennes is "promoting Serbia... through his artistic work and business activities", Brnabic told the Politika daily earlier this month.
"He became a genuine friend and promoter of our country and thus undoubtedly deserved honorary citizenship," she said.
