Thomas Brezina

The recorded working language is German. The field of work recorded is creative and professional writing, children's literature and television production. Employment is recorded with Österreichischer Rundfunk. Positions recorded include UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Distinctions recorded are Romy and Golden Order of Merit of the Republic of Austria.

Brezina was born in Vienna. During his school days Brezina began writing and received the “Grand Austrian Youth Prize” for his screenplays for the TV-puppet-show “Tim, Tom and Dominik”. Subsequently, he worked as a puppeteer alongside Arminio Rothstein, better known as Clown Habakkuk in Austria, and played the magician Tintifax among others. Brezina wrote bedtime stories and radio plays and finally began working as an assistant director for shows such as Am Dam Des, a children's program by Austrian national public service broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF). Subsequently, Brezina became a staffer at ORF as editor, director and eventually presenter for children's and youth programs. His breakthrough as a writer occurred in 1990 with the series The Knickerbocker Gang. Three years later the book series Tom Turbo followed – a detective-series about the “world’s smartest bicycle” – which was later adapted for TV as an interactive children's program. Since 2008 Brezina is responsible for the children's program okidoki, broadcast on ORF eins. Brezina has received numerous awards for his work, including the “Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria” and the most important Austrian TV award Romy for the educational program Forscherexpress (“Researcher’s Express”). Brezina lives in Vienna and London. Privately he engages in charities for disadvantaged children and became a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Austria in 1996. For his 50th birthday he took a children's sponsorship for Light for the World and he is currently engaged as a testimonial for Austrian NGO Volkshilfe. He came out as gay and has been married to Ivo Belajic, a Croatian painter, since 2017.

As an author, producer or presenter, Brezina was involved in over 40 TV series and shows for children. His shows, programs and series are mainly featured on Austrian national television broadcaster ORF, but also internationally on TV Educasi, Al Jaazera Children, Arte, DaVinci Learning, Nick, Sat.1 and SuperRTL. For years Brezina wrote the screenplays for the Austrian TV series Helmi, an educational program for kids, which explains dangers and precautions of traffic. He also invented the character of the dog Sokrates, the somewhat clumsy companion of Helmi. Starting as a presenter, Brezina hosted a variety of interactive TV shows and series for the children's program of ORF, including Am Dam Des, Die Rätselburg (Quiz Castle), Drachenschatz (Dragon's Treasure) and Forscherexpress (Researcher's Express). In Austria, one of his most famous TV shows is the detective series Tom Turbo / Tom Turbo Detective Club. The interactive show features Tom, a talking bicycle with 111 tricks and young detectives catching clumsy crooks and solving mysteries together with the audience in front of the TV. The series was shot at memorable locations throughout Austria and is still running since the first episode aired in 1993. In 2008, Brezina and his company Tower10 relaunched the children's program of ORF, rebranded it under the name of okidoki and are responsible for the program since then. As a part of that, Brezina presented and still presents a couple of formats, most notable 7 Wunder (7 Wonders), Trickfabrik (Trick Factory) and Genau so geht’s (That's How It Goes). Brezina created the series Saugut, featuring a talking purple wild boar mascot, which first aired on ORF 1 in September 2008.

Besides writing, TV and movies, Brezina stages a variety of events for children, for example the Wien-Detektiv (Vienna-Detective), an educational book-project by the city of Vienna. During the project, kids received free books and were invited to participate in a citywide detective-game. Together with Gerhard Krammer, Thomas Brezina wrote four musicals for the family-festival Forchtenstein Fantastisch at Castle Forchtenstein in Burgenland, Austria. In them, a small knight named Rups goes on a variety of adventures. The musicals were performed for seven years until now. The tourist destination Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis offers an adventure trail for children designed by Brezina. This trail, called “Mountain of Adventures” includes three hiking routes on which children can solve puzzles with special detective-equipment. Brezina has written audio guides for St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, which describe the history of the cathedral in an adventurous manner suitable for children. In 2017 Brezina designed the Visitors Area for Vienna International Airport, a multimedia experience for kids as well as adults. For the Tiergarten Schönbrunn Brezina designed the App "Zoo Adventures by Thomas Brezina". The app leads the user on various tours like "Thomas Brezina's favorite animals" through the zoo and is available for iOS and Android smartphones.

Thomas Brezina is recorded as having received Romy and Golden Order of Merit of the Republic of Austria.