Biography
Johan Heldenbergh is a Belgian actor, playwright, screenwriter, theatre director and film director. He trained at Studio Herman Teirlinck in Antwerp and began his career in Flemish theatre before moving into film and television. He co-founded the Ghent-based Compagnie Cecilia in 2005, where he has written, directed and performed original work.
Heldenbergh gained wider recognition through Belgian films including Moscow, Belgium (2008), The Misfortunates (2009) and The Broken Circle Breakdown (2012), the last of which he adapted from his own stage play and which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. He has since appeared in international productions such as The Zookeeper's Wife (2017) as Jan Żabiński and Quo Vadis, Aida? (2021) as Colonel Karremans.
He previously lived with actress Joke Devynck for 19 years; they separated in 2013 and have three children.
