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Slavko Popadić was born in 1991 in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the Bosnian War (1992–1995), his family fled to Germany and eventually settled in Cologne. From 2015 to 2019, Popadić studied acting at the Folkwang University of the Arts, one of Germany's most respected performing arts schools. During his training, he appeared on stage at the Folkwang Theater Center as well as at Schauspielhaus Bochum's experimental venue, Zeche 1.
After graduating, Popadić shifted his focus primarily to screen work. He made his feature film debut in the queer teen love story "Bonnie & Bonnie" (2019), playing the older brother of one of the main characters. That same year, he appeared in two episodes of the crime series "Skylines" as a small-time hooligan, and in the Berlin-set "Tatort" episode "Das Leben nach dem Tod" as a social worker who later becomes romantically involved with investigator Nina Rubin (played by Meret Becker) in a subsequent episode. In the Hamburg "Tatort" episode "Die goldene Zeit" (2020), he took on the role of the leader of an Albanian neighborhood crime clan. Additional television appearances followed in series such as "Professor T." (2020), "Nord bei Nordwest" (2021), and "Der Kroatien-Krimi" (2022).
On the big screen, Popadić appeared in the literary adaptation "Der Russe ist einer, der Birken liebt" ("All Russians Love Birch Trees," DE/IL, 2022), directed by Pola Beck, where he played the terminally ill friend of the protagonist. He also starred in Christina Ebelt's award-winning social drama "Monster im Kopf" ("Monster Inside," 2023), portraying the partner of a woman struggling with uncontrollable aggression.
In television, Popadić played a mysterious pianist in the four-part historical series "Oktoberfest 1905" and took on a major role as a migrant laborer and occasional boxer in the Western-style series "Schwarzes Gold" (both released in 2025). For his performance as a doctor in the hospital drama "KRANK Berlin," he received the German Actors' Award together with the ensemble, as well as a Grimme Award, and was nominated for Best Actor at the German Television Awards.
In the summer of 2026, Popadić returned to the set in a leading film role. In the screen adaptation of the bestselling novel "Herkunft" ("Where You Come From"), scheduled for theatrical release in 2027, he plays a Bosnian refugee.