Josef Jiří Kolár (9 December 1812 – 31 January 1896) was a Czech theatrical actor, director, translator, and writer.

He was born Josef Kolář (later also spelled Kollar or Kolar) in Prague as the last of three sons to a family of a clothes trader who had twelve children altogether.

[1] His parents gave him good education which he broadened at schools so that he could read Homer in Greek before university.

[2] He started studying philosophy (influenced by Augustin Smetana),[3] natural science and philology at Charles University in 1830 and became interested in the Czech revival movement.

[2] In 1837, Kolár was engaged in the Estates Theatre, and from 1842 appeared also in German language plays.

He also became director of Czech drama at the Theatre in Rose Street (Divadlo v Růžové ulici)[2] and translated and directed several plays by Shakespeare and Schiller.

He turned his attention to philosophy again and took part in the meetings with Augustin Smetana in his apartment, where among guests were Anton Springer, Vincenc Náhlovský, Michael František von Canaval, and Bernard Bolzano.