Quick Facts about Carice van Houten:
Name:Carice (Anouk) van Houten
Date of birth:5 September1976
Birthplace:Leiderdorp, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
Birth Name: CariceAnouk van Houten
Zodiac sign:Virgo
Height:5' 6½" (1.69 m)
Eye color:brown
Partner:Sebastian Koch(2005–2009)
Pets:dogs
Age:35 years
Occupation:Dutchstage and Film Actress
Years Active:1997-Present
Official Website: caricevanhoutendotcomMini Biography of Popular Celebrity Carice (Anouk) van Houten
Carice (Anouk) van Houten was born in Leiderdorp (near Leiden) on 5 September 1976. Her parents are MargjeStasse (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 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's play TijlUilenspiegehel.
Carice van Houten played her first leading role in Martin Koolhoven'sTV filmSuzy Q. Van Houten won a Golden Calf for her part as Suzy. She also won the Pisuisse Award and the Top Naeff Award for her stage acting and another Golden Calf for her part as the kitten that becomes a girl in Undercover Kitty (2001). The first time she could be seen in cinemas in the USA was when Martin Koolhoven'sAmnesiA (2001) got a small theatrical release.
Van Houten won a Golden Calf for her performance as Rachel Stein in the 2006 filmBlack Book at the Netherlands Film Festival. Black Book's director Paul Verhoeven says about her in a television interview: "Never in my life I have worked with an actress this talented." and when he is asked to compare her with Sharon Stone he says: "Carice can really act". The international press is also enthusiastic about her role in Black Book. Dick Schümer writes in his review of the film in the Frankfurter Allgemeine that Carice van Houten is "not only more beautiful, but also a better actress than Scarlett Johansson".
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 KleinkunstAcademie 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 'GoudenKalf' as best TV actress in Martin Koolhoven's Suzy Q. In 2001 she starred in Amnesia by the same director. In September 2000 she joined the Noord-NederlandsToneel 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' blind girl in the Amsterdam KleineKomedie. Carice is a great admirer of American silent comedies - particularly Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy - although she can display an equally dramatic talent. In 2001 she made Minoes, 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.
In April 2009 it was announced that Van Houten would star in Black Death by UK director Christopher Smith and in the highly anticipated Dutch film Love Life (Komteenvrouwbij de dokter), based on the celebrated novel of the same name by Ray Kluun. She also starred in the Science-Fiction thriller Repo Men.
In July 2011, Van Houten was cast as the sorceress Melisandre in the second season of HBO's fantasy TV series Game of Thrones.
Trivia
Often plays in films of director Martin Koolhoven, for whom she played the part that made her famous (Suzy Q (1999) (TV) ).
Is fluent in Dutch, English, German and French.
Sister of actress, singer and stage-designer Jelka van Houten.
Met former boyfriend Sebastian Koch on the set of Black Book (2006).
Singin' in the Rain (1952) is her personal favorite movie of all time.
Went to St. Bonifatiuscollege in Utrecht.
Born to MargjeStasse, who is on board of the Dutch educational TV, and Theodore van Houten, a writer and broadcaster.
Played the character of Gretchen Ferris in Ridley Scott's Body of Lies (2008), but all her scenes were deleted in the final cut.
Is a WWF ambassador since 2009.
Scored a #1 hit in The Netherlands with Dutch rock band Kane in 2010.
Personal life of Carice (Anouk) van Houten:
She was in a relationship with actor Sebastian Koch, her co-star in Black Book. The couple announced they were separating in August 2009.
Carice has stated that Hollywood makes her unhappy: "I have seen Hollywood, and although I have nothing against it, it's not my kind of life. My agent is shocked that I want to stay in Europe", she says. "If Hollywood offers me a great part, of course I'll take it, but I just don't want to live there."
Personal Quotes of Carice (Anouk) van Houten:
I don't do method acting. If I play a farmer I'm not gonna spend 3 weeks on a chicken farm. That's a bit too much for me. For Minoes (in which she played a cat in a woman's body) I didn't spend 3 weeks in a cat pound.
In The Netherlands you know who the good and the bad are if I have to say it so black and white. You can orientate yourself better in your own country. Here everything is overwhelming. It is very difficult to know who to trust here.
To me, that's not the most difficult thing. To transform. I don't really see it happen. I don't have the feeling I am transforming, really. I don't believe you can get into somebody's character but more that somebody comes in you. You just use yourself. In everything I play, I feel like it is me. I just say different things on different times and look different.
If you are not in America fast enough, it must have failed. When there is another thing like, maybe I don't want to go to America. I mean, it's not SO great there anyway...
On what foreign press wants to know: I think they're all waiting for a crazy story about Paul (Verhoeven), that he exploded once or something, but I keep telling them he's a sweet man so I keep letting them down. And what it's like to be naked on a set. They all think that's very exciting. I just answer that in Holland, it's weird not to be naked on a set so we're all used to it.
[About her scenes being cut from Body of Lies (2008)] It sounds much more pitiful than it is. To be honest, I was wondering several times on set what my character was actually adding to the story.
Filmography of Carice (Anouk) van Houten:
3 ronden,Ivory Guardians,Suzy Q, Storm In MijnHoofd, AmnesiA, Undercover Kitty, The Wild Boar, Father's Affair, Black Swans, Lepel, Knetter, IkOmhels Je Met 1000 Armen, Black Book, Alles is Liefde, Dorothy Mills, Valkyrie, Komteenvrouwbij de dokter (Love Life), From Time to Time, Repo Men, De GelukkigeHuisvrouw, Black Death, Satisfaction, Intruders, Black Butterflies, Vivaldi, Game of Thrones,
Discography of Carice (Anouk) van Houten:
· Black Book (2007)
Awards
· Golden Calf 1999: Best TV Actress – Suzy Q
· Camério (2002): Best Actress – Undercover Kitty
· Golden Calf 2002: Best Actress – Undercover Kitty
· Artek (2005): Best Actress – Undercover Kitty
· Golden Calf 2006: Best Actress – Black Book
· Rembrandt Award 2009: Best Actress – Komteenvrouwbij de dokter
· Tribeca Film Festival 2011: Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film - Black Butterflies
Theatre Awards
· Pisuisse Prize (1999)
· Top Naeff Prize (2000)
Other Awards
ELLE Personal Style Award 2006
Regards;
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