Clara Cleymans (born 5 January 1989) is a Belgian actress and musical theatre singer.

Early years and education

She was born on 5 January 1989 in

Wilrijk Wilrijk (; former, original spelling: ''Wilrijck'') is a district of the municipality and city of Antwerp in the Belgian province of Antwerp. Wilrijk had been a separate municipality before January 1, 1983; the enlarged municipality of Antwerp wa ...

, as the second child of Karin Jacobs and Jan Cleymans. She has an older brother, named Jelle. She attended the

Lemmensinstituut The Lemmensinstituut The Lemmensinstituut (Lemmens Institute) is a Belgian conservatory of music. It was founded in Mechelen, in 1879, by the Belgian bishops as the ''École de musique religieuse'' (School of Religious Music). It was later rena ...

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

, and then the philosophy department of the

University of Antwerp The University of Antwerp () is a major Belgian university located in the city of Antwerp. The official abbreviation is ''UAntwerp''. The University of Antwerp has about 20,000 students, which makes it the third-largest university in Flanders. ...

Career

She began her acting career when she was 8 years old, and appeared as Klaartje in a 1997 episode of the Belgian television series '' Samson en Gert''. Her film debut came in 1999 by appearing as Liese in ''De Kabouterschat''. She had the same role in the following sequels as well, ''Plop in de Wolken'' (2000) and ''Plop en de Toverstaf'' (2003). After having minor roles in various television series, she had her first leading role in the one-season VTM series ''Dag & Nacht: Hotel Eburon'' (2010) as Amber Claessens. Between 2010 and 2011, she portrayed Nina Oostvoghels, one of the main characters at that time of the

Eén VRT 1 is a public Dutch-language TV station in Belgium, owned by the VRT, which also owns Ketnet, VRT Canvas and several radio stations. Although the channel is commercial-free, short sponsorship messages are broadcast in between some programm ...

series ''

Thuis ''Thuis'' () is a Belgian television soap opera, which airs on VRT 1, which is in the hands of VRT, the national broadcasting channel of the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium, Flanders. Until 2023 VRT produced the series but due to general c ...

''. She imitated various celebrities and public figures, and had different characters in the VTM satirical series ''Tegen de sterren op'' between 2010 and 2018 . For her performances in the series, she was awarded with the Rising Star award in the

Vlaamse Televisie Sterren The Vlaamse Televisie Sterren (Dutch for "Flemish Television Stars") are Flemish television awards, in fifteen categories. Winners are announced during an annual television show called Night of the Flemish Television Stars (Dutch: Nacht van de Vlaa ...

2011, and nominated for the Best Actress in the 2012 edition of the awards. Cleymans continued her film career with '' Kill Me Please'' (2010) and '' Groenten uit Balen'' (2011). She portrayed public prosecutor Helena De Ridder, the leading role of the four-season Eén series ''De Ridder'' (2013–2016). She was nominated for the Best Actress in the 2014 and 2015 editions of the Vlaamse Televisie Sterren, for the performances in ''De Ridder'', and ''De Ridder'' and ''Tegen de sterren op'' respectively. Between 2018 and 2019, she portrayed Sarah Liebman, a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

girl that has a love affair with a non-Jewish guy Louis Segers (Jonas Van Geel) in a dramatic musical theatre 40-'45'' that set during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In the Belgian

comedy horror Comedy horror (also called horror comedy) is a literary, television and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as having three types: "black comedy, parody and spoof." Comedy horror can a ...

zombie A zombie (Haitian French: ; ; Kikongo: ''zumbi'') is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. In modern popular culture, zombies appear in horror genre works. The term comes from Haitian folkl ...

movie '' Yummy'' (2019), she played the hospital director Janja, one of the leading roles in the movie. She appeared as Els and shared the main role with

Rik Verheye Rik Verheye (born 24 December 1986, Knokke) is a Flemish actor. He graduated in 2009 at the Herman Teirlinck Instituut. He was active in productions of the theatres Monty (''Voorproef op fragmenten uit de nieuwe wereld''), Olympique Dramatique ...

in ''We moeten eens praten'', the Eén mini-series that started to air in January 2021.

Personal life

She married Jo Mahieu in 2014. The couple has two children, Jeanne (born 2016) and Romy (born 2019).

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cleymans, Clara 1989 births Living people Belgian child actresses Belgian film actresses Belgian musical theatre actresses Belgian stage actresses Belgian television actresses Belgian voice actresses People from Wilrijk University of Antwerp alumni 20th-century Belgian actresses 21st-century Belgian actresses