Carice van Houten

Dutch Actress

Profile
Popular name           Carice van Houten
Nick name               Anouk
Birth Name              Carice Anouk van Houten
Birth date                 September 5, 1976
Birth place                Leiderdorp, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
Height                      5' 6½" (1.69 m)
Occupation              Actress


Career
Carice van Houten 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 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). 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. In 2001 she starred in Amnesia 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' blind girl in the Amsterdam Kleine Komedie. 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.