Cocea was born on 27 November 1912 in Bucharest to father N. D. Cocea, a well-known writer and journalist, and mother Florica Mille, who was the daughter of another prominent journalist and writer, the socialist politico Constantin Mille, in whose house Cocea resided as a child. At 14 yearsof age, Cocea went to Paris, where she attended a Roman Catholicboarding school for a time. She later moved in with her aunt, Alice Cocéa, a film actress and star of the Parisian theatre, who introduced and encouraged Cocea to take up the acting profession. After completing an education in the dramatic arts in Paris, Cocea returned to Romania where she debuted as an actress in 1934. In 1935, Cocea landed a role at Bucharest's Comedia, a basement theater, alongside actor G. Timică in the play Adevăratul Iacob. She initially appeared using the stage name, "Dina Cerna" but she quickly dropped the pseudonym. Cocea's first big success came when she played in Melchior Lengyel's 1909 play Taifunul. Cocea first screen appearance was in 1939's O noapte de pomină. In 1941 Cocea founded an acting troupe, Teatrul Nostru and took as partners, Fory Etterle, Eugenia Zaharia and Peter Niro. The partnership lasted for 8 years but was dissolved by circumstance when the Comedia theater was nationalized in 1948–1949. Cocea quickly became an actress in residence at the Bucharest National Theater where she remained for 17 years until retiring in 1966. Spanning part of this period, from 1952 to 1962 Cocea was dean of the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Theater. Following her retirement from the National Theater, Cocea appeared in many roles in other Bucharest theaters, from 1979 to 1989 acted as president of Asociaţia oamenilor din instituţiile teatrale şi muzicale , taught acting at university, and was a sometime political activist. She also appeared in a dozen films, up through the 1992 detective filmAtac în bibliotecă, and represented Romania for UNESCO and at international congresses organized by the UN. Despite acting in over 100 stage productions, a dozen films, being a regular television and radio guest, and being well known as a writer in Romania with a career spanning more than 50 years, Cocea was little known outside of Romania. However, in her home country she was a household name, having been dubbed Mare Doamnă a Teatrului. In 2001, Cocea was presented with an honorary doctorate from the Universitatea de Artă Teatrală şi Cinematografică, In 2002, she was awarded the Ordinul Naţional or "Steaua României", Romania's highest civil order awarded only by Romania's President, and granted thereby the rank of knight. Cocea died on 28 October 2008 of a heart attack about a month shy of her 96th birthday, having entered Floreasca hospital just days before suffering from a pulmonary infection. Following her death, former Romanian President, Ion Iliescu and Culture Minister Adrian Iorgulescu, among other dignitaries, expressed sorrow. On 30 October 2008, Cocea's body was laid in repose in the foyer of Bucharest's National Theatre where last respects were paid by dignitaries, actors such as Gheorghe Dinică, Marin Moraru and Ion Caramitru, many of her former students, friends, and relatives, as well as students of the National University of Theater and Cinematography known as "IL Caragiale." On 31 October 2008 Cocea was interred at Bellu cemetery where she was given military honors at the funeral. She was survived by her husband, Ion Toboşaru.
