Matthias Schoenaerts facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Matthias Schoenaerts
Schoenaerts in 2016
Born	(1977-12-08) 8 December 1977 (age 47) Antwerp, Flanders, Belgium
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1992–present

Matthias Schoenaerts (born on December 8, 1977) is a famous actor from Belgium. He started acting in movies when he was just 13 years old. His first film was Daens in 1992, which was even nominated for an Academy Award!

Matthias is well-known for many roles. Some of his most famous movies include Loft (2008), Bullhead (2011), and Rust and Bone (2012). For Rust and Bone, he won a special award called the César Award for Most Promising Actor. He has also acted in big international films like The Drop (2014), Suite Française (2015), and The Danish Girl (2015).

In 2015, France honored him by making him a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters. This is a special award for people who have done great things in art and literature.

Early Life

Matthias Schoenaerts was born in Antwerp, a city in the Flanders part of Belgium. This is the Dutch-speaking area of Belgium. His father, Julien Schoenaerts, was also a famous actor. His mother, Dominique Wiche, was a costume designer and teacher. Matthias has an older half-brother named Bruno.

Matthias grew up speaking both Dutch and French. He also learned to speak English very well by watching American movies.

When he was nine years old, in 1987, Matthias acted in a play called The Little Prince. He performed alongside his father, who also directed the play. His mother designed the costumes for the show.

As a teenager, Matthias loved making graffiti art. He used the name "Zenith" for his artwork. He even traveled to New York to work with a famous graffiti group called TATS CRU. You can find videos of him doing graffiti in Belgium online!

Matthias was also a talented soccer player. He almost became a professional player for a Belgian team called Beerschot AC. But he decided to stop playing when he was 16. He is a big fan of the Spanish football club FC Barcelona.

Career Highlights

Starting Out in Belgium and Netherlands (1992–2011)

Matthias began his film career at 13 in the Belgian movie Daens. This film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. His father was also in the movie, but they didn't have any scenes together.

In 2003, Matthias was recognized as one of "Europe's Shooting Stars" by a group called European Film Promotion. This award highlights talented new actors.

After studying acting in Antwerp, he appeared in many short films and full-length movies. In 2008, he starred in Loft, which became the most successful Belgian film ever at the box office.

Big Breakthroughs: Bullhead and Rust and Bone (2011–2013)

In 2011, Matthias played the main character, Jacky Vanmarsenille, in the movie Bullhead. This film was nominated for an Oscar! His acting in the movie was highly praised. He won the FIPRESCI Award for best actor at a film festival in Palm Springs. The judges said he gave a "superb portrayal of an innocent and sensitive man." He also won the Magritte Award for Best Actor.

Schoenaerts with Marion Cotillard and director Jacques Audiard at the premiere of Rust and Bone in 2012.

In 2012, he starred with Marion Cotillard in the French film Rust and Bone. This movie was shown at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and was a big success. In 2013, Matthias won the César Award for Most Promising Actor for his role in this film.

Matthias also helped produce and starred in a Belgian short film called Death of a Shadow. This short film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 2013.

The New York Times newspaper even called Matthias "the most versatile beefcake actor of our time" in 2012. In 2013, he narrated the Dutch version of the Disneynature documentary Chimpanzee.

International Success (2014-Present)

Since 2014, Matthias has appeared in many international films. He was in Blood Ties (2014) and The Drop (2014) with Tom Hardy.

In 2015, he was very busy, appearing in seven movies! These included Suite Française with Michelle Williams, Far from the Madding Crowd, and The Danish Girl. He also played a French landscape architect in A Little Chaos with Kate Winslet.

Matthias received great reviews for his role in the French thriller Disorder (2015). In this film, he played an ex-soldier dealing with post traumatic stress disorder.

On July 28, 2015, Matthias was named a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in France.

In 2017, he worked again with director Michaël R. Roskam in the Belgian film Racer and the Jailbird. He also played Jane Fonda's son in the Netflix movie Our Souls at Night, which also starred Robert Redford.

In 2018, Matthias was in Kursk, a film about a submarine disaster. He also co-starred in the spy thriller Red Sparrow with Jennifer Lawrence.

Matthias Schoenaerts holding his award at the 2013 César Awards ceremony.

In 2019, he appeared in The Mustang, where he played an inmate who trains wild horses. He also had roles in A Hidden Life and The Laundromat. In 2020, he joined the cast of The Old Guard as Booker.

More recently, in 2023, he starred as the main character in the TV series Django. In 2024, he was cast as the villain Krem of the Yellow Hills in the upcoming DC Universe film Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.

Other Projects

Matthias Schoenaerts was the face of Louis Vuitton Menswear for their Spring/Summer 2014 collection.

He is also directing his first film, a documentary called Franky. It's about a childhood friend who became an MMA fighter.

In 2015, Matthias became a co-owner of Hakuna Casting, a Belgian company that helps find actors from different backgrounds for movies. This agency has worked on films like Black and Belgica.

Filmography

Key

Denotes works that have not yet been released

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Daens	Wannes Scholliers
2002	De blauwe roos	Minnaar	Short film
	Waternimf
	Meisje a.k.a. Girl	Oskar
2003	Zien	Man	Short film
	Any Way the Wind Blows	Chouki
2004	Je veux quelque chose et je ne sais pas quoi	Jaap	Short film
	A Message from Outer Space	Frits
	Ellektra	DJ Cosmonaut X
	Gender		Short film
2005	Another Day	Man
	The End of the Ride	Samuel
	Daughter	Mattias
	Exit	Anthony
	The One Thing to Do	Edward Monskii
2006	Retour	Maxime
	Love Belongs to Everyone	Dennis
	Black Book	Joop
2007	The Muse	John
	Nadine	Cornee
2008	Left Bank	Bob
	Tunnelrat	John Atkins	Short film
	Loft	Filip Willems
2009	Afterday	Jef	Short film
	My Queen Karo	Raven
2010	The Pack	Le Gothique en toc
	Pulsar	Samuel Verbist
	Injury Time	Van Dessel	Short film
2011	Bullhead	Jacky Vanmarsenille	Magritte Award for Best Actor Flanders Film Award for Best Actor
	The President	Boyko
	The Gang of Oss	Ties van Heesch
2012	Rust and Bone	Ali	César Award for Most Promising Actor
	Death of a Shadow	Nathan Rijckx	Short film
2013	Chimpanzee	Narrator (Belgian Dutch version)	Documentary
	Blood Ties	Anthony Scarfo
2014	The Drop	Eric Deeds
	A Little Chaos	André Le Nôtre
	The Loft	Philip Williams
2015	Suite Française	Bruno von Falk
	Far from the Madding Crowd	Gabriel Oak
	Disorder	Vincent
	The Danish Girl	Hans Axgil
	A Bigger Splash	Paul De Smedt
2017	Our Souls at Night	Gene
	Racer and the Jailbird	Gigi	Ensor Award for Best Actor
2018	Red Sparrow	Ivan Vladimirovich Egorov
	Kursk	Mikhail Averin
	Close Enemies	Manuel Marco
2019	The Mustang	Roman Coleman
	A Hidden Life	Captain Herder
	The Laundromat	Maywood
2020	The Old Guard	Booker/Sebastien le Livre
	Brothers by Blood	Peter Flood
2022	Amsterdam	Lem Getwiller
2026	Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow	Krem of the Yellow Hills	Filming
TBA	The Old Guard 2	Booker/Sebastien le Livre	Post-production
	The Way of the Wind	Saint Peter

Television

Awards and Nominations

Matthias Schoenaerts has won many awards for his acting. Here are some of them:

Other Honors

• Flemish Television Star: 2008
• Flemish Film Personality: 2011
• Knight in the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres: 2015

Images for kids

• 

  Schoenaerts holding his award at the 2013 César Awards ceremony.

See also

In Spanish: Matthias Schoenaerts para niños