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 December 8, 1977) is a talented 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 for Best Foreign Language Film.

Matthias is well-known for many roles. He played Filip in Loft (2008) and Jacky Vanmarsenille in the Oscar-nominated movie Bullhead (2011). He also starred as Ali in Rust and Bone (2012), which was nominated for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe. For this role, he won the César Award for Most Promising Actor.

He has appeared in many other films, including The Drop (2014), Suite Française (2015), Far from the Madding Crowd (2015), and The Danish Girl (2015). Matthias also played Uncle Vanya in Red Sparrow (2018). Critics have praised his acting, especially for his role as an ex-soldier with post traumatic stress disorder in Disorder (2015). Another highly praised role was an inmate training a wild horse in The Mustang (2019). In 2015, France honored him by naming him a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters.

Early Life and Interests

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

Growing Up Bilingual

Matthias grew up speaking both Dutch and French, which are common languages in Belgium. He also learned to speak English very well by watching American movies. This helped him later in his international acting career.

Early Acting and Other Hobbies

When Matthias was nine years old, he acted in a play called The Little Prince. His father directed the play and also acted in it with him. His mother designed the costumes for the show.

As a teenager, Matthias enjoyed making graffiti art. He used the name "Zenith" for his artwork. He even traveled to New York City to work with a famous graffiti group called TATS CRU.

Matthias was also a very good football player. He almost became a professional player for a Belgian team called Beerschot AC. However, he decided to stop playing football when he was 16 years old to focus on other things. He is still a big fan of the Spanish football club FC Barcelona.

Matthias Schoenaerts' Acting Career

Matthias Schoenaerts has had a long and successful acting career, starting in Belgium and then moving to international films.

Early Films in Belgium and Netherlands (1992–2011)

Matthias made his first movie appearance at age 13 in the 1992 Belgian film Daens. Even though his father was in the film, they did not act in any scenes together.

After studying at The Academy of Dramatic Arts in Antwerp, he acted in many short and feature films. In 2003, he was recognized as one of "Europe's Shooting Stars" by the European Film Promotion. This award highlights promising new actors.

In 2008, Matthias played Filip in Loft. This movie became the most successful Flemish film ever at the Belgian box office. He also appeared in the mini-series The Emperor of Taste, playing a Belgian soldier during World War II.

Breakthrough Roles: Bullhead and Rust and Bone (2011–2013)

In 2011, Matthias starred as Jacky Vanmarsenille in Bullhead. This film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. His performance was highly praised, and he won several awards for it, including the FIPRESCI Award for best actor.

Schoenaerts next to Marion Cotillard, Armand Verdure and Jacques Audiard during the premiere of Rust and Bone at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012.

In 2012, he starred with Marion Cotillard in Jacques Audiard's film Rust and Bone. The movie was very popular and successful in France. In 2013, Matthias won the César Award for Most Promising Actor for his role in Rust and Bone.

Matthias also produced and acted in a short Belgian 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 him "the most versatile beefcake actor of our time" in 2012.

International Success (2014-Present)

Since 2014, Matthias has continued to star in many international films. In 2014, he appeared in Blood Ties and The Drop.

In 2015, he was in seven films! These included The Loft (an American remake of his earlier film Loft), Suite Française, and Far from the Madding Crowd. He also played a landscape architect in A Little Chaos with Kate Winslet.

Matthias also starred in the French thriller Disorder, where he played an ex-soldier dealing with post traumatic stress disorder. His acting in this film received a lot of praise. He also appeared in A Bigger Splash and The Danish Girl. Both of these films premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2015.

On July 28, 2015, Matthias was given the title of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in France. This is a special honor for people who have contributed a lot to arts and literature.

In 2017, Matthias 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 film Our Souls at Night, which also starred Robert Redford.

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

Schoenaerts holding his award at the 2013 César Awards ceremony.

In 2019, Matthias was in A Hidden Life, The Laundromat, and The Mustang. In The Mustang, he played an inmate who trains wild horses. In 2020, he appeared in The Old Guard as Booker.

More recently, Matthias starred in Brothers by Blood (2020) and the TV series Django (2023). He also appeared in the miniseries The Regime (2024).

Other Projects

Matthias Schoenaerts has also been involved in other interesting projects outside of acting.

Fashion and Casting

In 2014, Matthias was chosen to be the face of Louis Vuitton Menswear for their Spring/Summer collection.

In 2015, Matthias became a co-owner of a Belgian casting agency called Hakuna Casting. This agency focuses on finding actors from diverse backgrounds. They have helped cast films like Black and Belgica.

Directing Films

Matthias is also working on his first film as a director. It's a documentary called Franky, about a childhood friend who became an MMA fighter. The documentary is currently being finished.

Filmography

Key

Denotes works that have not yet been released

Film Roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Daens	Wannes Scholliers
2002	De blauwe roos	Minnaar	Short
	Waternimf
	Meisje a.k.a. Girl	Oskar
2003	Zien	Man	Short
	Any Way the Wind Blows	Chouki
2004	Je veux quelque chose et je ne sais pas quoi	Jaap	Short
	A Message from Outer Space	Frits
	Ellektra	DJ Cosmonaut X
	Gender		Short
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
	Loft	Filip Willems
2009	Afterday	Jef	Short
	My Queen Karo	Raven
2010	The Pack	Le Gothique en toc
	Pulsar	Samuel Verbist
	Injury Time	Van Dessel	Short
2011	Bullhead	Jacky Vanmarsenille	Magritte Award for Best Actor Flanders Film Award for Best Actor AFI Fest New Auteur's Critic Prize for Best Actor Fantastic Fest New Wave Award for Best Actor Les Arcs European Film Festival for Best Actor Palm Springs International Film Festival FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actor Nominated—International Cinephile Society 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 Étoiles d'Or Award for Best Male Newcomer Valladolid International Film Festival for Best Actor Nominated—Magritte Award for Best Actor Nominated—Lumière Award for Best Actor Nominated—Globe de Cristal Award for Best Actor Nominated—Prix Patrick Dewaere Nominated—Dublin Film Critics' Circle for Best Actor
	Death of a Shadow	Nathan Rijckx	Short
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	Nominated—Prix Patrick Dewaere
	The Danish Girl	Hans Axgil	Capri Hollywood International Film Festival Award for Revelation of the Year
	A Bigger Splash	Paul De Smedt
2017	Our Souls at Night	Gene
	Racer and the Jailbird	Gigi	Ensor Award for Best Actor Nominated—Magritte Award for Best Actor
2018	Red Sparrow	Ivan Vladimirovich Egorov
	Kursk	Mikhail Averin
	Close Enemies	Manuel Marco
2019	The Mustang	Roman Coleman	Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
	A Hidden Life	Captain Herder
	The Laundromat	Maywood
2020	The Old Guard	Booker/Sébastien Le Livre
	Brothers by Blood	Peter Flood
2022	Amsterdam	Lem Getwiller
2025	The Old Guard 2	Booker/Sébastien Le Livre
2026	Supergirl	Krem of the Yellow Hills	Post-production
TBA	The Way of the Wind	Saint Peter	Post-production

Television Roles

Awards and Recognitions

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

See also

In Spanish: Matthias Schoenaerts para niños