Born in Prague on October 5, 1936, into the family of a prominent businessman, Václav Havel completed primary schooling in 1951.His "bourgeois" background limited his educational options, and he worked as a chemical laboratory technician while attending evening classes at a college preparatory school, graduating in 1954.

From 1955 to 1957, Václav Havel studied at the Economics Faculty of the Czech Technical University in Prague.After finishing his compulsory military service, he worked as a stagehand at Prague's ABC Theater.In 1960, he began work as a stagehand and then later as an assistant director and dramaturge at Prague's Theater on the Balustrade, where his first plays were produced, including "The Garden Party” (1963), his first major international success.

From 1962 to 1966, Václav Havel studied dramaturgy at Prague’s Academy of Performing Arts.He was active in the democratization and renewal of culture during the "Prague Spring,” which ended with the Warsaw Pact invasion in August 1968.He opposed the invasion and resulting hard-line Communist policies.

Václav Hável's work was banned in Czechoslovakia in 1969.He moved from Prague to the country and concentrated on writing, also working as a laborer in a brewery.He continued his activities against the Communist regime, including hosting concerts of banned music in his country cottage.In 1975, he wrote an open letter to President Gustav Husák, criticizing the government.

In 1977, Václav Havel co-founded, and became of the first three spokesmen of, the Charter 77 human rights initiative and served on the committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Prosecuted.He wrote one of his most influential essays, "The Power of the Powerless," in 1978.From 1978 to 1979, he was under house arrest.

Incarcerated several times for his beliefs, Václav Havel was imprisoned from 1979 to 1983.After his release in March 1983, he wrote three of his major plays—"Largo Desolato” (1984), "Temptation” (1985), and "Slum Clearance” (1987).As part of his continuing resistance to Communist rule, he was also active in the Czechoslovak samizdat press.In early 1989, he was again jailed.

In November 1989, Václav Havel became a leader of the Civic Forum opposition movement, which helped end Communist rule.On December 29, 1989, he was elected president of Czechoslovakia.The new, freely elected Parliament re-elected him on July 5, 1990, for a two-year term.As president of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, he established new relationships with many world leaders and helped shape Czechoslovakia's new foreign policy.

After parliamentary elections in 1992 foreshadowed the dissolution of the federation, Václav Havel resigned from the federal presidency on July 20.On January 26, 1993, he was elected the first president of the Czech Republic.

Václav Havel's plays have been performed around the world, and his books translated into many languages.Books in English include "Letters to Olga;” "Disturbing the Peace;” "Open Letters:Selected Writings 1965-1990;” "Selected Plays by Václav Havel; Summer Meditations;” and "Towards Civil Society.”

Among Václav Havel’s honors are the Obie Award (USA, 1968, 1970); State Prize for European Literature (Austria, 1968), Prix Plaisir du Théatre (France, 1981); the Erasmus of Rotterdam Prize (Netherlands, 1986); Olaf Palme Prize (Sweden, 1989), Ordre des Arts et Lettres (France, 1989); the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (1989); Grande Croix de la Légion d'Honneur (France, 1990); Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Medal (USA, 1990); Council of Europe Medal (1990); W. Averell Harriman Democracy Award (USA, 1991); Sonning Prize (Denmark, 1991); Internationaler Karlspreis (Aachen, Germany, 1991); honorary membership in the Royal British Legion (1991); Athinai Prize of the Onassis Foundation (Greece, 1993); Theodor Huess Preis (Germany, 1993); Indira Gandhi Prize (India, 1994); Philadelphia Liberty Medal (USA 1994); and Order of the Bath (1996).He has received honorary academic degrees from universities in Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Poland, and the United States.

In 1964, Václav Havel married Olga Splíchalová, also a prominent dissident during the Communist era.She died on January 27, 1996.

In January 1997, during his convalescence from a serious lung operation, Václav Havel married the actress Dagmar Havlova.Václav Havel has one brother, Ivan, a specialist in artificial intelligence.

After leaving office as president of the Czech Republic on Feb. 2, 2003, Václav Havel focused his activities on the respect of human rights worldwide, particularly in Cuba, Belarus, and Burma, as well as on his literary work. As co-founder of the Dagmar and Václav Havel Foundation Vize 97, he supported humanitarian, health, and educational projects.

Havel passed away in December 2011 at the age of 75.