Actor role? I'm open to anything. I wouldn't change anything about my hosting of the Czech Lion, says Karel Kovář aka Kovy.
One of the most well-known local YouTubers, who has nearly 800,000 followers on Instagram and over one million subscribers on his YouTube channel. He attended the Czech Lion Awards, which he hosted last year, with his boyfriend and shared with us which film recently caught his attention.
His most viewed video has an incredible 13 million views. Altogether, his channel has garnered almost 300 million views since its inception.
The 29-year-old creator focuses on educational content in his work and often comments on politics, which sets him apart from most other YouTubers. Since 2021, he has been filming videos in his own studio near the Powder Tower.
In 2016, Forbes magazine named him the 17th most influential Czech on social media. In 2017, he published a book titled Ovšem, in which he publicly expressed that he is homosexual. He and his partner, stylist Miroslav Romaniv, got engaged in 2023. The same year, he also appeared in the renowned Forbes magazine 30 Under 30 list.
He considers the interview with the President of the European Commission, Jean Claude Juncker, as the top moment of his YouTuber career. They discussed pressing topics of the time, such as the migration crisis, the EU's relationship with Turkey, and its communication with young people.
In 2021, Forbes mentioned him again. This time, they ranked him as the seventh highest-earning Czech YouTuber with an estimated annual income of 6 million CZK.
Awards, Collaboration, Documentary
He has received several awards for his presence in the online space. He won the Czech Blog Awards (known as Czech Social Awards since 2018, editor's note) five consecutive times from 2016 to 2020. In the same survey in 2022, he surpassed the likes of popular singer Ben Cristovao. He has been repeatedly nominated for a state honor but has yet to receive one.
In that year, he served as a host in the talk show In the Center on Seznam Television. In the same year, he prepared a five-part series of educational videos called Kovy's Media Ring for the charity organization People in Need and also became the UN Youth Forum delegate for the Czech Republic. Another pivotal moment in his career was participating in the television competition Stardance: When Stars Dance, where he progressed to the semifinals.
In 2019, he also managed to publish his second book, titled iFairy Tale, and as the name itself suggests, it is a fairy-tale story for children. The book tells the story of a kingdom that connects to the internet.
In 2010, the podcast Linka, which he records together with blogger Tereza Salte, placed 2nd in the Author Podcast category in the Podcast of the Year competition.
In 2020, another interesting career milestone followed. After the book, he also got his own documentary titled Kovy Solves History, which was broadcast by Czech Television. In it, Kovy addressed the teaching of modern history in schools. In the documentary, he conducted interviews with students, teachers, experts, and the Minister of Education Robert Plaga.
He arrived at the event in his typical outfit – a jacket with a turtleneck underneath. When asked if he would give us an interview, he responded very kindly. Unfortunately, he arrived just before the start of the ceremony, so there wasn't time for more questions.
Good evening once again, how are you and what are you most looking forward to today?
I'm looking forward to enjoying it peacefully this year, unlike last year, because I don't have any work obligations here.
That's what I wanted to ask you. You had the opportunity to host it, so how do you remember it after a year?
As a great challenge for which I was very grateful, and it's something I will carry with me for a long time.
Looking back, is there anything about your performance that you would change?
Definitely not, I did my best. We prepared it, and I think we were happy with it. There was no faux pas, which was the main goal, so I think we were all satisfied.
Do you have a favorite today?
I have many favorites, but I'm always afraid to say it out loud at the beginning because I feel like I might jinx the nominees, so I'd rather keep it to myself and look forward to the results.
And if you were to name any recent achievement in Czech cinematography that has caught your attention recently, what would it be?
There are many. Waves resonated with me a lot, of course. Heaven Above, Valley Below, that was a Czech-Slovak project, more from independent film, that was beautiful as well.
And if you were offered, for example, a role in acting, would you take it?
That would probably depend on what it was about, but I am open to everything.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Source: own inquiry, Wikipedia
