Vincent van Ommen

Vincent van Ommen is a Dutch film and television actor. He is known for his English language work in films like Life is an Art (2010), Amsterdam Heavy (2011), A Morass (2011), and the TV mini-series You Look Stunning Too (2013) in which he has played the role of Richard. Van Ommen is also part of the film jury for ShortCutz Amsterdam. An annual film festival promoting short films in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, other jury members include George Sluizer, Roel Reine and Tygo Gernandt.

Early life

Van Ommen was born on 14 June 1982 in The Hague, the Netherlands. His parents raised him bilingual, speaking both English and Dutch. He studied drama at De Trap, a private school for acting in Amsterdam, where he was trained to become a professional actor. After that he did a post-grad, specializing in acting for film and television.^[1] He also studied classical Shakespearean acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and followed an advanced acting course at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.^[2] He was also trained in film and stage combat by Tony Wolf, the Lord of the Rings fighting styles designer.^[3]

Film career

His first screen role was in the short film Stop!.^[4] The film, depicting a violent theft and car chase, was released during the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2008. The film was a viral success and was widely praised for its acting, multiple journalists filed police reports "We think its real".^[5] The film reached national media and talk shows like De Wereld Draait Door and Editie NL.

In 2009, Van Ommen made his English language feature film debut as the immortal Elijah in the fantasy film Reiki, which screened at the Cannes Film Festival later that year.^[6] In April 2010, Reiki also screened at the Elf Fantasy Fair, the biggest fantasy event in Europe.

Director Jayant R. Harnam saw one of his short films^[7] and cast him in the leading role for his thriller Life is an Art, in which he stars opposite Alison Carroll (Doghouse, Tomb Raider: Underworld model). This movie was Van Ommen's second appearance at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010.^[8][9]

In March 2010, Van Ommen starred in the British film A Morass, with Alessandro Giuggioli (Me and Orson Welles, Genova) and was cast in the Dutch film Verloren Jaren starring Frederik de Groot and Wouter de Jong. He was also cast in the short film Klik alongside Lone van Roosendaal, Thomas Acda & Tim Oliehoek.

In January 2011, it was announced that Van Ommen was cast opposite Fajah Lourens in the action film Amsterdam Heavy^[10] by UK director Michael Wright. The movie also stars Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs).

In March 2011, he appeared in the short movie Paper Parachutes directed by Katie Pow, a children's fantasy film about obsessively ordered nine-year-old Miles. Both Amsterdam Heavy and Paper Parachutes screened at the 64th Cannes Film Festival^[11][12] and marked his third appearance at the festival.

In 2012, Van Ommen joined the film jury for ShortCutz Amsterdam.^[13][14] An annual film festival promoting short films in Amsterdam.^[15] Other jury members include George Sluizer, Waldemar Torenstra and Jeroen Koolbergen.

He starred in a slate of short movies, notably Millie directed by Merel den Otter, Faith, La Commedia, Escape and Orbit directed by Djie Han Thung.

Filmography

References

External links

• Vincent van Ommen at the Internet Movie Database
• Vincent van Ommen Official site
• Vincent van Ommen on Twitter