Johan Heldenbergh

Johan Heldenbergh — Biography

Johan Heldenbergh was born in 1967 in Wilrijk, Belgium; sources disagree on the exact date, so none is given here. A Belgian actor, playwright, screenwriter and theatre director, he co-founded the theatre initiative Compagnie Cecilia with writer Arne Sierens in 2006. He wrote and staged the play The Broken Circle Breakdown, built around bluegrass covers, before adapting it himself into the film of the same name; starring in the lead role, he became internationally known when the film won the Panorama Audience Award at the 2013 Berlin Film Festival and earned him a European Film Award nomination for Best Actor.

Active in Flemish cinema since the mid-1990s, he built his reputation with films including A Day in a Life, Moscow, Belgium and The Misfortunates, later appearing in The Zookeeper's Wife. He played Colonel Karremans in the Bosnian War drama Quo Vadis, Aida?, and has also appeared in Belgica, The Brand New Testament and Amal. Alongside his screen and television roles, he continues to write for and direct the stage.