Ivanek was born Željko Šimić-Ivanek in Ljubljana, PR Slovenia, FPR Yugoslavia. In 1960, Željko, his mother and younger brother, Ivan, immigrated to Palo Alto, California, where his father was studying for his PhD in electrical engineering at Stanford University.\n', '

After a two-year stay, in 1962, the family moved back to Yugoslavia for five years and then returned to Palo Alto in 1967. Having performed in numerous community theater plays in the San Francisco Bay Area, he graduated from Ellwood P. Cubberley High School in Palo Alto in 1975. Ivanek graduated from Yale University in 1978 and afterward attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.\n', '

Ivanek has worked extensively on the stage. In 1982, he originated the role of Hally in Athol Fugard\'s play "Master Harold"...and the Boys. He appeared in the U.S. premieres of Cloud Nine (for which he earned the 1981 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play) and The Pillowman. He performs frequently on Broadway and has been nominated for three Tony Awards, for his performances in the original production of Brighton Beach Memoirs, in Two Shakespearean Actors, and in a revival of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, alongside David Schwimmer and Tim Daly.\n', '

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