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Johan Heldenbergh (55) grew up in Gent (Belgium) dreaming of being a movie director and actor, but he was converted to theatre in the late eighties, during his education in the prestigious Studio Herman Teirlinck acting school in Antwerp. The fact that Flanders didn't have a real, or interesting movie and television culture at the time and the freedom he found as a theatre actor, persuaded him to follow that path, enjoying the independence and creativity contemporary Flemish theatre had to offer. He worked as an actor for Alain Platel, Luc Perceval, Raven Ruell, Arne Sierens.a.o.

He started writing and directing in 2001. In 2005 he founded "Compagnie Cecilia" together with Arne Sierens and Marijke Pinoy. His plays "Massis the musical" and especially "The Broken circle breakdown" have become landmarks in Flemish theatre history. His major themes are suicide, political, social, and religious commentaries.

His true vocation has always been cinema, but it wasn't until he met Felix Van Groeningen for his first movie "Steve and Skye", that he started to consider engaging himself in Belgian cinema, and combining the two, playing a character in a movie every summer. His collaboration with Felix Van Groeningen continued for "De helaasheid der dingen/La merditude des choses", that was selected for "La quinzaine des realisateurs" in Cannes, and especially for the adaptation of his own play "The Broken Circle Breakdown/Alabama Monroe" that received an Oscar nomination, a EFA nomination, and the Cesar for best foreign language in 2014.

Since then he is a regular actor in French and international movies and television series. He starred with Jessica Chastain in "The zookeepers wife" (2017), with Hilary Swank and Helena Bonham Carter in "55 Steps" and with Jesse Eisenberg and Alexander Skarsgard in "The hummingbird project". He played "Kolonel Karremans" in "Quo Vadis Aida" which was nominated in 2021.

In 2009 he started a community project in the village where he lived for 13 years. 600 nonprofessionals collaborated on a movie he wrote and directed, called "Schellebelle 1919". Although the priority has always been on the social aspect of the project, the movie succeeded in getting a professional distribution, and got the first "Ensor for special merit" the flemish academy issued every year since then.

He plays the five-string banjo, mandolin, and acoustic guitar. He tapdances and has four children.

Johan Heldenbergh in The Zookeeper's Wife (2017)

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