With several awards in her pocket, including no less than four Golden Calves for Best Actress, Carice van Houten has become one of the most talented and popular actresses of the Netherlands. The success of Paul Verhoeven’s Black Book in her native country and abroad meant the beginning of a promising international career. In the Hollywood film Valkyrie, she played the female lead, alongside Tom Cruise. At the same time, she keeps filming in her country of origin. Thus Carice played the lead in the film versions of the books Stricken and The Happy Housewife.

Carice Anouk van Houten (IPA: [karis anuk vɑn hʌutɛn]) was born on September 5, 1976 in Leiderdorp. She was five when her father took her to see the movie Napoleon by Abel Gance. Since then she has become a cinephile. Already in high school in Utrecht, she began acting. One of her first roles was the title role in Hugo Claus’ Tijl Uilenspieghel. In 1995, she got accepted by both the Maastricht Theatre Academy as well as the Academy for Cabaret in Amsterdam. She chose the latter course.

As a student, she was discovered by casting director Hans Kemna who, in 1997, provided her a role in the VPRO TV series Labyrinth. Her commitment was rewarded with a 1999 Pisuisse Prize for most promising graduating student. For her stage work she got the Top 2000 Naeff Prize the same year in which she earned her first Golden Calf for her role in the TV movie Suzy Q. Director Martin Koolhoven’s Suzy Q made another appeal for his film Amnesia. Carice received a second Golden Calf for her leading role in the children film Undercover Kitty for which she is widely known in the Netherlands. This genre is her forte, as we can see in the other children films Lepel and Knetter. Another highlight in her career was the starring role in Father’s Affair, the film adaptation of the book by Karel Glastra Van Loon.

In 2000, she joined the Noord-Nederlands Theater, she played Polly in the opera “Driestuivers” by Bertolt Brecht. The versatile van Houten was also part of the cast of the musical “Foxtrot” (2001-2002). In the years 2007-2008, Carice could be seen in “The Duchess of Parma”, directed by Ursul de Geer. In 2006, Carice van Houten shone as Jewish singer Rachel Steinn in Paul Verhoeven’s Black Book. For her role in Black Book, Carice received her third Golden Calf for Best Actress. The film was voted best Dutch film of all time. Black Book was also very well received internationally and Carice’s role didn’t go unnoticed.

Love Is All (2007), which showed Carice also having a great comic talent, became one of the most successful Dutch films of all time. The film, directed by Joram Lürsen, received two Rembrandt Awards and three Golden Calves, including Best Actress for Carice van Houten. More than 1.2 million Dutch people saw Love Is All in the cinema.

Carice made her debut in the English-language thriller set in Ireland, Dorothy Mills (2008) by French director Agnes Merlet.

In 2008, she acted alongside with Aart Staartjes, Frank Lammers and Gaite Jansen in Singing In The Dark, a poignant short film about domestic violence. The film was commissioned by the aid agency Mutsaers Foundation Venlo. Singing In The Dark was shown only to perpetrators of domestic violence and aid workers.

She voiced for the first time an animated film in 2008 when she lent her voice to the Dutch version of Horton Hears A Who!. Carice played alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in Body of Lies from director Ridley Scott, but her scenes were deleted in the final cut.

The first Hollywood film that starred Carice van Houten was Valkyrie, directed by Bryan Singer. In this WWII film based on the true plot to murder Hitler, Carice played Nina von Stauffenberg, the wife of film star Tom Cruise, who personally chose her to play the part.

In 2009, she played for the first time since Love Is All in a Dutch film. In the long-awaited and controversial book film Stricken, Carice played the role of Carmen, for which she received critical acclaim. Stricken attracted over one million viewers to the cinema.

Carice played again in 2010 in a Dutch book adaptation, when she starred in The Happy Housewife, based on the novel by Heleen van Royen. Carice didn’t just act in Dutch productions. She has also played with famous actors such as Maggie Smith in the British costume drama From Time To Time and appeared alongside Jude Law and Forest Whitaker in the sci-fi thriller Repo Men.

In late January 2010, Carice, together with rock band Kane, scored a number one hit with a special live performance of “No Surrender”, that was sang during the television campaign ‘Netherlands Supports Haiti’.

In March 2010, Stricken was the big winner in the Rembrandt Awards. Carice won for the third time the Dutch Rembrandt Award for Best Actress.

Since April 2010, she has been writing a weekly music column for New Revue.

In the summer of 2010, she could be found in London and Madrid shooting the thriller Intruders, in which Carice with Clive Owen played the leading roles. Spanish director Juán Carlos Fresnadillo had previously made 28 Weeks Later. Intruders got a 2011 release.

In 2010, Carice lent her voice once again to an animated film. She voiced Otulissa, in Legend by Ga’Hoole, directed by Zack Snyder.

During the 30th edition of the Dutch Film Festival, Carice received her fourth Golden Calf for her role in The Happy Housewife.