Novak was born in c. 1520 or c. 1530 to a Serbian family in the village of Poreč, on an island on the Danube, at the time part of the Ottoman Empire (today Donji Milanovac, Serbia).

In addition to his Serbian mother tongue, he also learned Romanian in the Timok valley, Greek, and Turkish while a slave of the Ottomans.

[4] He began his career as a hajduk at an early age after he was imprisoned and beaten by Turks, losing all his teeth (hence the name Old Novak) that led him to leave his birthplace and take refuge in the forests of the Timok Valley where he quickly learned the use of weapons and military from a harambaša (commander of the hajudks).

[5] Novak joined the forces of Michael in the region of Banat, and received the rank of captain with 2,000 Serbian hajduks (brigands) under his command, set to liberate the Wallachian lands.

For this Novak was accused of treason by ally-turned-rival Giorgio Basta and was sent to the Hungarian authorities in Cluj (Kolozsvár), sentenced to burning.

Gypsies prepared the fire that would be the end of Novak, two of Michael's captains, Joan Celeste and Savi Armašulu, and some Saxon priests.

Features bearing his name include the street, a local community (sub-municipal administrative unit), an elementary school founded in 1922, and a park.