Dutch actress: Carice van Houten
Born September 5, 1976, in the Netherlands, actress Carice van Houten worked steadily in her native country on both the small and big screens, garnering a number of nominations for her work. She first started to acquire international fame as the star of Paul Verhoeven’s Black Book, portraying Rachel Stein, a Jewish woman who disguises herself and uses her allure and beauty in order to manipulate the Nazis in charge of the occupation of Holland. The exposure from her work in that film served as a springboard for van Houten, and she was soon appearing prominantly in high-profile Hollywood pictures, such as Bryan Singer’s WWII drama Valkyrie, starring Tom Cruise; the sci-fi film Repossession Mambo, as the wife of Jude Law’s character; and the biographical drama Vivaldi, starring Joseph Fiennes as the classical composer.
Van Houten was born on 5 September 1976 in Leiderdorp, the Netherlands. Her mother Margje Stasse is on the board of Dutch educational TV and her father Theodore van Houten is a writer and broadcaster. She has a younger sister, Jelka van Houten, who is also an actress. She went to the St. Bonifatiuscollege (high school) in Utrecht, where she played the leading role in Hugo Claus’ Tijl Uilenspieghel, directed by Ad Migchielsen. Van Houten studied at the Kleinkunstacademie in Amsterdam.
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Carice (Anouk) van Houten was born in Leiderdorp (near Leiden) on 5 September 1976. Her parents are Margje Stasse (on the board of Dutch educational TV) and writer and broadcaster Theodore van Houten. She is the elder sister of actress and designer Jelka van Houten. When she was five, her father took her to a screening of Abel Gance’s epic Napoleon (1927), which fascinated her. She has demonstrated great interest in cinema since. Carice convincingly demonstrated her acting talents at the Bonifatius Lyceum high school, “Utrecht”, in the early 90s. One of her first parts was the title role in Hugo Claus’ play, “Tijl Uilenspiegehel”. She also developed a skill in clarinet playing. In 1995, she was rather uniquely accepted by both the Maastricht and Amsterdam drama academies, and started her TV career (Labyrint, VPRO TV 1997) as a student of the Kleinkunst Academie Amsterdam. There, she was awarded the 1999 Pisuisse Prize, and the 2000 Top Naeff Prize for her theatre work. A day before the Top Naeff Prize, she was awarded the ‘Gouden Kalf’ as best TV actress in Martin Koolhoven’s Suzy Q (1999) (TV). In 2001, she starred in AmnesiA (2001), by the same director. In September 2000, she joined the Noord-Nederlands Toneel, starring as a both singing and acting “Polly” in a contemporary staging of the Threepenny Opera to fabulously stunning reviews. Her great talent for dark comedy was demonstrated in a parody on City Lights (1931)’ blind girl in the Amsterdam Kleine Komedie. Carice is a great admirer of American silent comedies – particularly Charles Chaplin and Laurel & Hardy – although she can display an equally dramatic talent. In 2001, she made Miss Minoes (2001), in the title role of the cat-woman after Annie M.G. Schmidt. In the 2001-02 season, she won the main role in a theatre production of Schmidt’s musical, “Foxtrot”.Van Houten’s role in Black Book (2006) launched her international career. She went on to play in films such as Valkyrie (2008), alongside Tom Cruise, who asked for her to specifically play his wife after seeing her performance in “Zwartboek”. However, after this, her international career was unsuccessful, until she was offered the role of “Melisandre” in the HBO series, “Game of Thrones” (2011), in 2011.
