Johannes "Joop" Adrianus van den Ende (born 23 February 1942) is a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

theatrical producer A theatrical producer is a person who oversees all aspects of mounting a theatre production. The producer is responsible for the overall financial and managerial functions of a production or venue, raises or provides financial backing, and hire ...

, co-founder of international television production company Endemol and founder/owner of

Stage Entertainment Stage Entertainment is an international operating live entertainment company, a subsidiary of Advance Publications. The company was founded in 1998 by Joop van den Ende in Amsterdam. History The Netherlands / Corporate The root of the company l ...

, Europe's largest live entertainment company. Stage Entertainment was established in 1998 after being split off from the Live Entertainment Division of Endemol. The company has offices and theatres in eight countries (the Netherlands, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy and Russia).

Early years

Van den Ende started his career at age 15 as a trainee set carpenter for the Dutch Opera. Ten years later, in 1968, he opened his first independent theatrical and television production agency, Spotlight, followed by the creation in 1971 of Joop van den Ende Theaterproducties. Over the next decade his stage and television activities continued to expand, establishing him as one of the Netherlands' leading impresarios. In 1983 he bought a former flower auction building near Amsterdam which he turned into a large studio complex where he could record his television productions. In September 1988, van den Ende produced a Dutch version of the musical

Barnum Phineas Taylor Barnum (; July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871–2017) with James Anthony Bailey. He wa ...

in the Scheveningen Circustheater, starting a new musical tradition in the Netherlands that continues to this day. In October 1993 he opened his first show on Broadway: Cyrano. The production ran until March 1994, and although the show resulted in a financial loss, the musical was van den Ende's introduction to Broadway and earned him the respect of his American peers.

Work in television

In 1993, Van den Ende and John de Mol created television production company Endemol, combining the activities of their respective television production companies. Endemol went on to become the world's largest independent television production company, creating popular TV formats such as Big Brother, Fear Factor, Dancing with the Stars and Wipeout. Endemol was listed on the stock exchange in 1996, and in 2000 was sold to the Spanish telecom giant

Telefónica Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadba ...

for €5.5bn. In 2007 Endemol was sold on to a consortium including

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies f ...

, the former prime minister of Italy, as well as John de Mol, in a deal valued at €2.6bn. In 1998, before the sale of Endemol, Van den Ende personally bought and took control of Endemol's live entertainment division. This was the beginning of

, which soon grew into an international entertainment group.

Work in theatre

Van den Ende's early work in live entertainment received international critical acclaim. In 1995 he received five

Tony Awards The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

for the Broadway musical

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unit ...

, which he co-produced. In 2001 he was also awarded two

for the musical 42nd Street, and in 2002 he received two

for his Broadway production

Into the Woods ''Into the Woods'' is a 1987 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales, exploring the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. T ...

, plus three more for the play Urinetown. Under van den Ende's leadership,

grew rapidly at this time, much attributed to a licensing agreement made in 2000 with Disney Theatrical Productions (

Aida ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 Decemb ...

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance ...

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' (''The Young American and Marine ...

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

The Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid" ( da, Den lille havfrue) is a literary fairy tale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The story follows the journey of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a ...

, Aladdin) and an intensive collaboration in Europe with Littlestar, Mamma Mia!’s production company. This enabled the business to expand into Germany, Spain, Russia, France, Italy and the UK. In 2007 he became president of the Stage Entertainment Supervisory Board. Van den Ende returned to Broadway in the spring of 2011 with the musical

Sister Act ''Sister Act'' is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Emile Ardolino and written by Paul Rudnick (as Joseph Howard). It stars Whoopi Goldberg as a lounge singer forced to join a convent after being placed in a witness protection program. I ...

, a co-production with

Whoopi Goldberg Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ' ...

. This marked the beginning of a new phase in van den Ende’s longstanding ambition to develop a continuous stream of original musical content. Following successful launches in Germany (''Ich war noch niemals in New York'', ''Der Schuh des Manitu'', ''Ich will Spass!'') and the Netherlands (''3 Musketiers'', ''Ciske'', ''Petticoat'', ''Hij Gelooft in Mij''), he produced Rocky at the

Winter Garden Theatre The Winter Garden Theatre is a Broadway theatre at 1634 Broadway in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It opened in 1911 under designs by architect William Albert Swasey. The Winter Garden's current design dates to 1922, when ...

on Broadway and

Made in Dagenham ''Made in Dagenham'' is a 2010 British comedy-drama film directed by Nigel Cole and starring Sally Hawkins, Bob Hoskins, Miranda Richardson, Geraldine James, Rosamund Pike, Andrea Riseborough, Jaime Winstone, Daniel Mays and Richard Schiff. ...

at the Adelphi Theatre in London (both in 2014). Rocky won one

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

, one Outer Critics Circle Award, and two Drama Desk Awards.

Other activities

In 2001, van den Ende and his wife Janine established the VandenEnde Foundation, one of the Netherlands’ largest private foundations, which supports cultural and educational projects and stimulates cultural entrepreneurship. The foundation also provides scholarships to talented young performing artists. One of the foundation's most high-profile accomplishments was the reconstruction of the historic DeLaMar Theatre complex in the heart of Amsterdam. The VandenEnde Foundation — in close cooperation with the Dutch government and together with the Bankgiro Loterij, the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, and the VSBfonds— initiated the Blockbuster Fund, a fund designed to provide a sustainable way to make large-scale investments in culture. From 2005 to 2008, Van den Ende was active in real estate development through a joint venture that concentrated in mixed-use development and urban regeneration schemes around theatres, active in the Netherlands and abroad. Together with his business partner Hubert Deitmers, van den Ende is also active as an investor. Van den Ende & Deitmers Venture Capitalist Partners focuses on West European cross media companies via two venture capital funds.

Decorations

*2007 Medal of Honour in the Order of the House of Orange *2000 Commander in the Order of the House of Orange *1993 Knight in the Order of the House of Orange

Awards

*2019 Lifetime Achievement Award of the German Musical Awards, for contributions to German musical theatre *2015 Gustaf Gründgens Prize, for contributions to German theatre *2012 Honorary Doctorate Nijenrode Business University *2011 Honorary Doctorate from

Erasmus University Rotterdam Erasmus University Rotterdam (abbreviated as ''EUR'', nl, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam ) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century humani ...

*2010 Gold Medal of the City of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

*2010

receives King William I Award *2009 Hamburger of the Year, from the city of

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

*2004 IJ-Prijs, for contributions to the economic development and promotion of Amsterdam.

Musical productions

For an overview of all of Joop van den Ende's theatre productions, go to

References

External links

Stage Entertainment

Endemol

Van den Ende Deitmers

Van den Ende Foundation

Levenlang Theater, a biographical site in Dutch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ende, Joop Van Den 1942 births Living people Dutch chief executives in the media industry Businesspeople from Amsterdam Dutch billionaires Endemol Dutch theatre managers and producers Dutch television producers