His earliest leading roles were as Romanian national heroes, beginning with Decebalus in Dacii (1967) and Columna (1968).His most famous comic role was as "Nea Mărin" (Uncle Marin), a character representing the archetypal Oltenian peasant.Nea Mărin miliardar is ranked 1 in the top most viewed Romanian films of all time.In 1977 he won the award for Best Actor at the 10th Moscow International Film Festival for his role in The Doom.He was married for 25 years to Domnica Mihaela Policrat, from their love resulting a girl named Oana Pellea who followed the same profession as her father.