Matthias Schoenaerts
Matthias Schoenaerts (/ˈʃoʊnɑːrts/;[1] Dutch: [ˈmɑtiɑs ˈsxunaːrts];[2] born 8 December 1977) is a Belgian actor. He made his film debut at the age of 13 in Daens (1992), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He is best known for his roles as Filip in Loft (2008), Jacky Vanmarsenille in the Oscar-nominated Bullhead (2011), Ali in the BAFTA and Golden Globe-nominee Rust and Bone (2012), for which he won the César Award for Most Promising Actor, Eric Deeds in The Drop (2014), Bruno von Falk in Suite Française (2015), Gabriel Oak in Far from the Madding Crowd (2015), Hans Axgil in The Danish Girl (2015) and Uncle Vanya in Red Sparrow (2018). Schoenaerts received critical acclaim for his portrayal of an ex-soldier suffering from PTSD in Disorder (2015), and for his performance as an inmate training a wild horse in The Mustang (2019).
In 2015, he was named Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in France.[3]
Early life[edit]
Schoenaerts was born in Antwerp, Flanders, the Dutch speaking region of Belgium. He is the son of actor Julien Schoenaerts (1925–2006) and Dominique Wiche (1953–2016), a costume designer, translator and French teacher. He has an older half brother, Bruno Schoenaerts (born 1953),[4] who is a lawyer.[5] Schoenaerts is of Flemish descent through his father, although his maternal grandmother is from Liège, Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium, and for the first six years of his life he lived with his maternal grandparents in Brussels.[6][7]
Schoenaerts grew up bilingual,[8] speaking Dutch and French. He is also fluent in English,[9] which he learned by watching American movies.[10]
In 1987, at nine years old, he appeared in a stage production of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince opposite his father, who was also the director.[11] His mother, Dominique, was the costume designer of the play.[12]
He started producing graffiti as a teenager under the pseudonym "Zenith",[13] going to New York to collaborate with the Bronx group TATS CRU.[14]
Schoenaerts was close to becoming a professional association football player and was on the books of Belgian team Beerschot AC, but gave up when he was 16 years old.[15][16] In 2013, Schoenaerts stated that he was a fan of the Spanish football club FC Barcelona.[9]
Career[edit]
Early work in Belgium and Netherlands (1992–2011)[edit]
At the age of 13, Schoenaerts made his film debut with a small role in the 1992 Belgian film Daens, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. His father starred in the film but they did not share any scenes together.
In 2003, Schoenaerts was named one of "Europe's Shooting Stars" by the European Film Promotion.[17]
After completing studies at The Academy of Dramatic Arts in Antwerp, he featured in several shorts and feature films. In 2002, he starred in Dorothée Van Den Berghe's Meisje (Girl);[18] Tom Barman's Any Way the Wind Blows in 2003; Rudolf Mestdagh's Ellektra[19] and Roel Mondelaers and Raf Reyntjens's sci-fi short film A Message from Outer Space,[20] which Schoenaerts also produced in 2004.
In 2006, Schoenaerts played Dennis in Hilde Van Mieghem's Love Belongs to Everyone, and had a small role as a member of the Dutch resistance in Paul Verhoeven's Black Book.
In 2007, he starred in Ben van Lieshout's film De Muze,[21] and in Erik Bruyn's Nadine. In 2008, he played Bob in Pieter van Hees's horror film Left Bank, and most notably played the role of Filip in Erik Van Looy's Loft, which became the most successful Flemish film at the Belgian box-office, earning over $7,075,161.[22][23] In the same year, Schoenaerts starred in the mini-series The Emperor of Taste (De smaak van De Keyser), playing a Belgian soldier in World War II.[24]
In 2009, he starred in Dorothée Van Den Berghe's My Queen Karo, in which he played the hippie Raven in 1970s' Amsterdam.[25] In 2010, he played the lead role in Alex Stockman's techno-thriller Pulsar, and had a cameo in Franck Richard's La Meute (The Pack).
In 2011, Schoenaerts starred in the Dutch films The Gang of Oss (De Bende van Oss)[26] and The President (De President).[27]
Breakthrough: Bullhead and Rust and Bone (2011–2013)[edit]
In 2011, Schoenaerts played Jacky Vanmarsenille, the lead role in Bullhead, directed by Michaël R. Roskam, which was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar. His performance in the film was well received and won him the FIPRESCI Award for best actor at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in January 2012. The jury praised the actor's "superb portrayal of an innocent and sensitive man trapped in a truculent body."[28][29] He also won the Magritte Award for Best Actor.
