| Katja Schuurman | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 19, 1975 Utrecht, Netherlands |
| Other names | Katja Römer |
| Occupation | Actress, singer, presenter |
| Years active | 1992-present |
| Spouse | Thijs Römer (2006-present) |
Katja Römer-Schuurman (born February 19, 1975) is a Dutch actress, singer, television personality and occasional VJ.
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Katja grew up in Bunnik as the eldest daughter of a Dutch father and a Chinese-Surinamese mother; she has one younger sister, Birgit, who is an actress as well.
Schuurman made her acting debut in 1992 on the television series Uit de school geklapt. Two years later she resurfaced in the RTL soap Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden (GTST) as Jessica, the eldest niece of one-time angry neighbour Govert Harmsen. Katja immediately rose to fame.
With two other characters from GTST she formed the spin-off girl group Linda, Roos & Jessica. Their debut single "Ademnood" (English version: "Turn Your Love Around'") topped the Dutch charts in late 1995.
The only disappointment in this successful year was the release of De Zeemeerman (The Merman); it failed to draw people to the cinemas and was voted the worst Dutch movie ever made.
Katja continued to release singles with both LR&J and on her own. She had hits with Maar nu heb ik er een, Wereldmeid, Totaal Verkocht and Lover or friend.
In 1999 her last GTST-scenes were shown while LR&J called it a day; their farewell single was aptly titled "1999 X". She ended the year by making the headlines for drink-driving.
In 2000 Katja played Frida in the Salou-based movie Costa! and found herself reunited with Georgina Verbaan, who played her sister Hedwig in Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden. Costa! premiered in 2001 and was successful enough to be adapted into a television series. Both Katja and Georgina left after two seasons.
Katja went on to host programs for BNN alongside Bridget Maasland, till the latter was signed up by Talpa in 2005. As a farewell present they made Katja vs. Bridget, a "Battle of the Babes"-type series. One of the challenges saw Katja recording a Christmas single with the innovative rap-trio De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig; it was the one exception to her decision not to pursue a singing career ("Lack of discipline" she told nl.20-magazine).
The next two years the formula was repeated for Katja vs. de Rest, replacing Bridget with other Dutch celebrities. Katja won both seasons, even though she failed to outsmart her own sister.
On August 8, 2006 Katja married actor Thijs Römer (grandson of actor Piet Römer) in Vallery, France. The couple, who first met on the set of television series Medea, went on to play the starring roles in Kapitein Rob en het Geheim van Professor Lupardi, a comic book adaptation that premiered on November 26, 2007.
Their subsequent joint movie, Het Wapen van Geldrop, has become a commercial failure upon release; critics blame Katja's joy-free character and Thijs Römer's directing.
In 2007 Katja launched a Fair Food-line and did a lot of presenting work, including a talkshow with Sophie Hilbrand. In 2008 she swapped BNN for NET 5, starring in an adaptation of the newspaper comic S1ngle and reprising her Return to Sender documentary series.
On March 26, 2009 it was confirmed that Katja was almost three months pregnant with her first child but just one week later, on April 1 of all dates, she miscarried. 4 months later on August 25 it was confirmed she was pregnant again. On April 22, 2010 she gave birth to daughter Sammie.
Katja currently appears in a series of lottery-adverts, as her Return to Sender-foundation is one of the benefitting charities.