Marcel van Heerden (born 1952) is a South African

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

and director. He is best known for his roles in the popular films ''The Flyer'', '' Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom'' and ''

White Wedding A white wedding is a traditional formal wear, formal or semi-formal wear, semi-formal wedding originating in Great Britain. The term originates from the white colour of the wedding dress, popularised by Victorian era elites after Queen Victoria ...

''.

Personal life

Van Heerden was born in 1952 in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

and grew up

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronouncing Gazetteer.
Thomas Baldwin ...

, South Africa. His mother Marie van Heerden, was a stage director and actress. He has one brother, Johann van Heerden. Van Heerden was in a relationship with the singer, Juliana Venter with whom he also collaborated in the performance group ''Mud Ensemble'' in the 1990s. The couple has one son, Vincent.

Career

Van Heerden studied drama at the

University of Stellenbosch Stellenbosch University (SU) (, ) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant university in Sub-Sahara ...

Drama Department. He then moved to the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

Drama Department and studied under renowned artists Robert Mohr and Mavis Taylor. Meanwhile, he qualified with a Bilingual Performers Diploma in Speech and Drama in 1975. He later become one of the first Afrikaans actors to work consistently in the anti-apartheid theaters, ''The Space'' theater and ''The Market Theater''. He made notable appearances in the films such as ''Mapantsula'', ''The Flyer'', ''White Wedding'', ''Durban Poison'', ''Long Walk to Freedom'', ''Pad na Jou Hart'' and ''n Pawpaw vir my Darling''. In the meantime, he also joined with several television serials such as ''Konings'', ''Onder Draai die Duiwel Rond'' and ''The Outcast''. Apart from acting, he is also a prolific voice artist and dubbing director. In 2015, he wrote and directed the short film ''Vryslag'' was chosen as the Best Short Film at 2015's

Silwerskerm Film Festival The Silwerskerm Film Festival (), usually called the Silwerskerm Fees, is a film festival held annually in Camps Bay, South Africa. The festival has been held every August since 2010 and is one of the only Afrikaans film festivals in the world. ...

in Cape Town. In 2013, he transformed the short ''Vryslag'' as a radio drama, which won the Sanlam-RSG Award at Radio Playwright Competition.

Partial filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:van Heerden, Marcel Living people South African male television actors 1952 births South African male film actors South African male stage actors Alumni of Paul Roos Gymnasium