Lavinia Șandru – Wikipedia

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Marcela Lavinia Șandru (born February 6, 1975) is a Romanian politician, journalist and actress. The former president of the National Initiative Party (PIN), she was also vice president of the National Union for the Progress of Romania (UNPR). She was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Mureș County from 2004 to 2008.

Biography[edit]

She was born in Dej and attended the Târgu Mureș Arts University, graduating in 1997. She interned at the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education in 2003, and in 2004 began work on a master’s degree at the University of Bucharest’s Faculty of Political Sciences. From 2001 to 2004 she headed public relations for Aldaco, a film company, and in 2004 was director of Star Media & Film. Her political career began in 2001-2002, when she was director of public relations for the Democratic Party (PD). In 2002, she headed its international relations department, and in 2004, she became president of the Mureș County PD organisation. She also represented the party at the Party of European Socialists (PES) and the Socialist International.[1]

Șandru won a seat in Parliament at the 2004 legislative election. The following February, when Cozmin Gușă resigned his party post due to a disagreement with the leadership, Șandru did likewise, sitting as an independent for the remainder of the term.[2] Later that year, she became vice president of the National Initiative Party founded by Guşă, a position she held until 2008.[3] She resigned from the PIN in October 2008 in order to run as an independent for a Bucharest seat in the Chamber, as she realised the PIN was not going to win enough seats to enter Parliament. Party members did support her candidacy,[4] but she was defeated.[5]

In February 2009, having rejoined the PIN, she was overwhelmingly elected as its president, following Gușă’s resignation from that position.[6] Soon afterwards, she expressed a desire to run in the 2009 European Parliament election on the lists of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), even considering joining the party until after the election.[7] Her possible candidacy as a PIN member on the PSD lists angered a number of senior PSD members as well as the Conservative Party (PC), one of whose allocated spots on the PSD lists Șandru was slated to take.[8] Former Romanian President Ion Iliescu even threatened to resign from the party, and Șandru lost hope of running once a PES directive required member parties’ candidates to belong to the respective parties.[9] In December 2011, the PIN merged into the UNPR, whereupon Șandru became the latter party’s vice president.[10] Following disagreements with party leader Gabriel Oprea, she quit the UNPR a year later.[11] In February 2013, she began hosting a weekly talk show on Realitatea TV.[12] Five years later, she was suspended without explanation.[13]

Șandru once called Iliescu a “communist dinosaur”,[9] and referred to the PSD as a “whore party” after it switched its backing from the PNL to the PD in 2007.[14] Șandru has also been known to criticise President Traian Băsescu, for instance accusing him of abuse of power[15] and calling on him to release his Securitate file.[16]

Personal life and acting[edit]

In 2005,[17] Șandru married Darius Vâlcov, the mayor of Slatina. The couple have a daughter.[18] In 2015, she announced that they had separated for some time; the couple divorced following Vâlcov’s arrest that year.[19][20] In late 2016, she gave birth to a son.[21]

In 2018, she played a role in Alexandru Davila’s Vlaicu-Vodă.[22] At the 2020 Golden Rose Bulgarian Feature Film Festival, she won the best debut prize for her role in Ana. Ana Simion.[23]

In 2017, she voiced a character in Romanian in the animated film Cars 3, also dubbed Gazelle’s voice in the animated movie Zootopia.[24]

  1. ^ (in Romanian) Curriculum vitae at the Romanian Chamber of Deputies site; accessed 1 May 2009
  2. ^ (in Romanian) Florin Rusu, “Guşă demisionează din conducerea PD, însă nu din partid” (“Guşă Resigns from the PD Leadership, but Not from the Party”) Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine, Curierul Național, 9 February 2005; retrieved 1 May 2009
  3. ^ (in Romanian) Andreea Țuligă, “Lavinia Șandru: ‘Tinerii politicieni sunt mediocri'” (“Lavinia Şandru: ‘Young Politicians Are Mediocre'”), Evenimentul Zilei, 15 February 2009; accessed 1 May 2009
  4. ^ (in Romanian) “Lavinia Șandru va candida ca independent în colegiul 22 – Cotroceni” (“Lavinia Șandru Will Run as an Independent in College #22 – Cotroceni”), Mediafax, 21 October 2008; accessed 1 May 2009
  5. ^ (in Romanian) Election results
  6. ^ (in Romanian) “Lavinia Șandru, noul președinte al PIN” (“Lavinia Șandru, New President of the PIN”), Mediafax, 7 February 2009; accessed 1 May 2009
  7. ^ (in Romanian) “Lavinia Șandru: Sunt șanse să candidez pentru PSD la alegerile europarlamentare” (“Lavinia Șandru: There Is a Chance I Will Run on the PSD Ticket at the European Elections”), Realitatea, 25 March 2009; accessed 1 May 2009
  8. ^ (in Romanian) “Lavinia Șandru declanșează războiul în Alianţa PSD-PC” (“Lavinia Șandru Launches a War in the PSD-PC Alliance”), Gândul, 19 March 2009; accessed 1 May 2009
  9. ^ a b (in Romanian) “Lavinia Șandru, eliminată de pe eurolista PSD, Adrian Severin și Rovana Plumb deschid plutonul” (“Lavinia Șandru, Eliminated from the PSD Euro-list; Adrian Severin and Rovana Plumb Head the Team”), Gândul, 27 March 2009; accessed 1 May 2009
  10. ^ (in Romanian) Oana Racheleanu, “UNPR – fuziune prin absorbție a PIN, Lavinia Șandru – vicepreședintele UNPR la nivel național” (“UNPR – Fusion through Absorption of PIN, Lavinia Șandru – Vice President of UNPR at National Level”), Adevărul, 15 December 2011; accessed 6 July 2012
  11. ^ (in Romanian) Ema Ene, “Lavinia Şandru explică de ce şi-a dat demisia din UNPR” (“Lavinia Şandru Explains Why She Resigned from UNPR”), România Liberă, 2 November 2012; accessed 19 October 2014
  12. ^ (in Romanian) Mirela Dorobanţu, “Lavinia Șandru – emisiune la Realitatea TV” (“Lavinia Șandru – Show on Realitatea TV”), Evenimentul Zilei, 21 January 2013; accessed 19 October 2014
  13. ^ (in Romanian) Alexandra Constanda, “Lavinia Şandru a fost suspendată de la Realitatea TV” (“Lavinia Şandru Suspended from Realitatea TV”), Adevărul, 8 February 2018; accessed 17 March 2018
  14. ^ (in Romanian) “Lavinia Șandru: PSD s-a transformat într-un partid curvă” (“Lavinia Șandru: the PSD Has Become a Whore Party”), Mediafax, 20 September 2007; accessed 1 May 2009
  15. ^ (in Romanian) “Apărând-o pe Simona Marinescu, Lavinia Șandru cere anchetarea președintelui Băsescu” (“Defending Simona Marinescu, Lavinia Șandru Calls for President Băsescu’s Questioning”), Adevărul, 8 June 2005; accessed 1 May 2009
  16. ^ (in Romanian) “Lavinia Șandru: Băsescu trebuie să-și publice dosarul” (“Lavinia Șandru: Băsescu Must Publish His File”), Ziua, 28 August 2006; accessed 1 May 2009
  17. ^ (in Romanian) Maria Capelos, “La nuntă, Lavinia Șandru a purtat ‘o ținută foarte prețioasă'” (“For Her Wedding, Lavinia Șandru Wore ‘A Very Precious Outfit'”), România Liberă, 30 May 2005; accessed 1 May 2009
  18. ^ (in Romanian) “Lavinia Șandru și-a botezat fetița” (“Lavinia Șandru Baptizes Her Daughter”), Evenimentul Zilei, 15 April 2007; accessed 1 May 2009
  19. ^ (in Romanian) Mihai Schiau, “Lavinia Şandru divorţează de Darius Vâlcov” (“Lavinia Şandru Divorcing Darius Vâlcov”), Gândul, 21 April 2015; accessed 25 August 2015
  20. ^ (in Romanian) Alexandru Coman, “Ce se întâmplă cu Lavinia Șandru de când a divorțat?” (“What Is Going on with Lavinia Şandru Since She Divorced?”), Evenimentul Zilei, 23 June 2016; accessed 25 April 2017
  21. ^ (in Romanian) “Vedeta Realitatea TV Lavinia Șandru a născut, marţi, un băiețel de nota 10” (“Realitatea TV Star Lavinia Șandru Gives Birth to a Healthy Son Tuesday”), Realitatea, 15 November 2016; accessed 25 April 2017
  22. ^ (in Romanian) “Lavinia Șandru joacă în piesa ‘Vlaicu-Vodă’, de Alexandru Davila” (“Lavinia Șandru Appears in ‘Vlaicu-Vodă’, Play by Alexandru Davila”), Libertatea, 29 May 2018; accessed September 3, 2020
  23. ^ (in Romanian) “Lavinia Șandru, premiul pentru debut la Festivalul de film de la Varna” (“Lavinia Șandru, Debut Prize at Varna Film Festival”), Gândul, 29 August 2020; accessed September 3, 2020
  24. ^ (in Romanian) “20 de ani de magie de la primul film Disney dublat în limba română” (“20 Years of Magic since the First Disney Film Dubbed in Romanian”), Cinemagia, 3 April 2020; accessed August 11, 2020

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