Biography - Carice van Houten

Who is Carice van Houten?

Carice van Houten is an actress, singer by profession, and Dutch by nationality. She is best known for her roles in Suzy Q, Undercover Kitty, Black Book, Valkyrie, and Melisandre in Game of Thrones.

Carice van Houten – Age, Parents, Siblings

Carice van Houten’s birth took place on 5 September 1976 in Leiderdorp, Netherlands. She was born Carice Anouk van Houten to her father Theodore van Houten, a writer, and broadcaster, and her mother Margje Stasse, a Dutch educational TV board member.

She is not the only child of her parents and has a sibling too, a younger sister named Jelka van Houten, who is also an actress.

Education, Ethnicity

For education, Carice van Houten attended St. Bonifatius College. After graduation, she studied at the Maastricht Academy of Dramatic Arts for a year before transferring to  Kleinkunstacademie - The Academy of Theatre and Dance.

Her ethnicity includes Scottish and Dutch.

Carice van Houten – Boyfriend, Husband, Children

Carice van Houten dated German actor Sebastian Koch after meeting on the set of Black Book (2006). She and her boyfriend dated until 2009. From 2013 to 2015, Van Houten dated Kees van Nieuwkerk.

In 2015, she started dating Australian actor Guy Pearce. The couple welcomed their son Monte Pearce on 29 August 2016. The couple has not shared any plans to get married. Van Houten is unmarried sans husband. As she has never married, divorce is out of the question.

Carice van Houten – Career

Before fame

Van Houten’s first role was in the school production of Hugo Claus' Tijl Uilenspieghel. She started her professional career in 1997’s Suzy Q, in which she landed the leading role. With this role, she received major attention but still was unknown internationally. 

Her next big role was in Undercover Kitty (2001) which was soon followed by roles in Hollywood movies. Other films in which she has acted include Black Swans (2001), Love is All (2007), Valkyrie (2008), Repo Men (2010), and Jackie (2012), among others.

Also read: Jerome Flynn - Actor, Singer 

Worked in

She had also appeared in the TV series Kopspijkers (2004) and In therapie (2010). Finally, in 2012, she landed the role of Melisandre of Asshai in Game of Thrones which gained her international recognition. She was initially approached to play the role of Cersei Lannister but refused it due to schedule conflicts with Intruders (2011).

Since then Carice van Houten has lent her voice to TV series The Simpsons (2015), and Robot Chicken (2016) and starred in the films The Fifth Estate (2013), Race (2016), Domino (2019), I Am Not a Bird, etc.

In addition to acting, she is also a singer and songwriter. Her singles include Black Book (2007) and Fear Not (2015) while her album See You on the Ice was released in 2012.

Worked with

Carice van Houten has been professionally associated with Halina Reijn, Willem Dafoe, Marina Abramovic, Kerry Danielle Ingram, Holly Hunter, Kit Harington, and Liam Cunningham.

Carice van Houten – Awards, Nominations

As of 2019, Van Houten has won 18 awards including 2006’s Golden Calf Award for Best Actress and 2011’s Tribeca Film Festival — Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film.

Along with the Game of Thrones cast, she was nominated for 2013’s, 2015’s, and 2016’s Screen Actors Guild Awards — Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.

Also read: Dean-Charles Chapman - Actor of Game of Thrones, 1917

Carice van Houten – Net Worth, Salary

The net worth of van Houten is estimated at around $5 million while the figure for her annual salary/income is not known.

Carice van Houten – Instagram, Twitter, Facebook

On social media sites Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, Carice van Houten is followed by several hundred thousand followers. She also has an official website- caricevanhouten.nl.

Also read: List of Game of Thronescast