Miodrag Petrović (Serbian Cyrillic: Миодраг Петровић, pronounced [mîɔdra:g pɛ̌trɔv̞it͡ɕ], best known by his nickname Čkalja (Чкаља, [t͡ʃkâʎa]); 1 April 1924 — 20 October 2003) was a Serbian actor who was one the most popular comedians of former Yugoslavia.
He played in theatre, where he found talent for comedy, especially in plays by Branislav Nušić, his favourite author. However, it was new medium of television that made him famous. Starting from 1959, he appeared in many TV comedy shows: Servisna stanica in 1950s, Dežurna ulica, Spavajte mirno, Sačulatac, Crni sneg, Ljudi i papagaji in 1960s, and later, in seventies and eighties, Ljubav na seoski način,Kamiondžije and Vruć vetar. Since late 1980s he retired. He spent his last years peacefully. His last public appearance was during the DOS election campaign in 2000 in the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević.
He was born in Kruševac, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes on 1 April 1924 and died in Belgrade, Serbia on 20 October 2003.
In 2005, the statue of Čkalja was placed in front of his birth house in Kruševac. From 2006, one street in Zvezdara neighborhood in Belgrade is named after him.
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