# Matthias Schoenaerts

Matthias Schoenaerts (/ˈʃoʊnɑːrts/ SHOH-narts, Dutch:; born 8 December 1977) is a Belgian actor. He made his film debut at the age of 13 in Daens (1992), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He is best known for his roles as Filip in Loft (2008), Jacky Vanmarsenille in the Oscar-nominated Bullhead (2011), and Ali in the BAFTA and Golden Globe-nominee Rust and Bone (2012), for which he won the César Award for Most Promising Actor. He played Eric Deeds in The Drop (2014), Bruno von Falk in Suite Française (2015), Gabriel Oak in Far from the Madding Crowd (2015), Hans Axgil in The Danish Girl (2015), and Uncle Vanya in Red Sparrow (2018). Schoenaerts received critical acclaim for his portrayal of an ex-soldier suffering from PTSD in Disorder (2015), and for his performance as an inmate training a wild horse in The Mustang (2019).
In 2015, he was named Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in France.

## Early life

Schoenaerts was born in Antwerp, Flanders, the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium. He is the son of actor Julien Schoenaerts (1925–2006) and Dominique Wiche (1953–2016), a costume designer, translator and French teacher. He has an older half brother, Bruno Schoenaerts (born 1953), who is a lawyer. Schoenaerts is of Flemish descent through his father. His maternal grandmother is from Liège, Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium. For the first six years of his life, he lived with his maternal grandparents in Brussels.
Schoenaerts grew up bilingual, speaking Dutch and French. He is also fluent in English, which he learned by watching American movies.
In 1987, at nine years old, he appeared in a stage production of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince opposite his father, who also directed the play. His mother, Dominique, was the costume designer of the play.
Schoenaerts started producing graffiti as a teenager under the pseudonym "Zenith". He went to New York City to collaborate with the Bronx group TATS CRU.
Schoenaerts was close to becoming a professional association football player and was on the books of Belgian team Beerschot AC, but gave up when he was 16 years old. In 2013, Schoenaerts said that he was a fan of the Spanish football club FC Barcelona.

## Career
### Early work in Belgium and Netherlands (1992–2011)

At the age of 13, Schoenaerts made his film debut with a small role in the 1992 Belgian film Daens, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. His father starred in the film but they did not share any scenes together.
After completing studies at The Academy of Dramatic Arts in Antwerp, he featured in several shorts and feature films. In 2002, he starred in Dorothée Van Den Berghe's Meisje (Girl); Tom Barman's Any Way the Wind Blows in 2003; Rudolf Mestdagh's Ellektra and Roel Mondelaers and Raf Reyntjens's sci-fi short film A Message from Outer Space, which Schoenaerts also produced in 2004. In 2003, Schoenaerts was named one of "Europe's Shooting Stars" by the European Film Promotion.
In 2006, Schoenaerts played Dennis in Hilde Van Mieghem's Love Belongs to Everyone. He had , and had a small role as a member of the Dutch resistance in Paul Verhoeven's Black Book.
In 2007, he starred in Ben van Lieshout's film De Muze, and in Erik Bruyn's Nadine. In 2008, he played Bob in Pieter van Hees's horror film Left Bank, and most notably played the role of Filip in Erik Van Looy's Loft, which became the most successful Flemish film at the Belgian box-office, earning over $7,075,161. In the same year, Schoenaerts starred in the mini-series The Emperor of Taste (De smaak van De Keyser), playing a Belgian soldier in World War II.
In 2009, he starred in Dorothée Van Den Berghe's My Queen Karo, in which he played the hippie Raven in 1970s Amsterdam. In 2010, he played the lead role in Alex Stockman's techno-thriller Pulsar, and had a cameo in Franck Richard's La Meute (The Pack).
In 2011, Schoenaerts starred in the Dutch films The Gang of Oss (De Bende van Oss) and The President (De President).

### Breakthrough: Bullhead and Rust and Bone (2011–2013)

In 2011, Schoenaerts played Jacky Vanmarsenille, the lead role in Bullhead, directed by Michaël R. Roskam, which was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar. His performance in the film was well received and won him the FIPRESCI Award for best actor at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in January 2012. The jury praised the actor's "superb portrayal of an innocent and sensitive man trapped in a truculent body." He also won the Magritte Award for Best Actor.
In 2012, he starred in Jacques Audiard's Rust and Bone (De rouille et d'os) alongside Marion Cotillard. The film premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and was a critical and box office hit in France. On 22 February 2013, Matthias won the César Award for Most Promising Actor for his role in Rust and Bone.
Schoenaerts produced and starred in the Belgian short film Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw), directed by Tom Van Avermaet. On 10 January 2013, the short film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.
The New York Times described Schoenaerts as "the most versatile beefcake actor of our time" in 2012.
In 2013, he narrated the Flemish version of the Disneynature documentary Chimpanzee.

### International success (2014-Present)

In 2014, Schoenaerts appeared alongside Clive Owen, Billy Crudup and again Marion Cotillard in the thriller Blood Ties, in which he played Anthony Scarfo. The film premiered at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.
He played Eric Deeds in The Drop, his second film with Michael R. Roskam, starring opposite Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace and James Gandolfini.
In 2015, Schoenaerts appeared in seven films: The Loft, the American remake of the Belgian film Loft, in which he played the same character and which was his first English-language film; in Saul Dibb's Suite Française, playing the German officer Bruno von Falk opposite Michelle Williams and Kristin Scott Thomas; in Thomas Vinterberg's Far from the Madding Crowd as Gabriel Oak, one of Carey Mulligan's three love interests; in Alan Rickman's period drama A Little Chaos, as French landscape architect André Le Nôtre, opposite Kate Winslet. In the same year, Schoenaerts was announced as William Clark on HBO's miniseries Lewis and Clark, co-starring Casey Affleck as Meriwether Lewis. Production got shut down in August 2015 due to "internal and external, weather-related factors".
Schoenaerts starred in Alice Winocour's French thriller Disorder (Maryland), as an ex-soldier suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, for which his performance was highly praised. He played Paul in Luca Guadagnino's erotic thriller A Bigger Splash, starring opposite Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes and Dakota Johnson, and played the art-dealer Hans Axgil in Tom Hooper's The Danish Girl. A Bigger Splash and The Danish Girl made their world premieres at the 2015 Venice Film Festival, both were screened in the official competition.
On 28 July 2015, Schoenaerts was named a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in France.
In January 2016, it was announced that Schoenaerts would play a drummer who begins to lose his hearing in Darius Marder's Sound of Metal. After a couple of years in development, Schoenaerts was replaced by Riz Ahmed.
In 2017, Schoenaerts reteamed with Michaël R. Roskam in the Belgian film Racer and the Jailbird (Le Fidèle), in the role of a gangster named Gigi. The film was Roskam and Schoenaerts' first film in Belgium since 2011's Bullhead. In the same year, Schoenaerts played Gene, Jane Fonda's son on the Netflix film Our Souls at Night, also starring Robert Redford and directed by Ritesh Batra.
He worked again with director Thomas Vinterberg in 2018's Kursk, a film about the Kursk submarine disaster of 2000 in which Schoenaerts played Russian Navy captain-lieutenant Mikhail Kalekov.
In 2018, Schoenaerts co-starred in Francis Lawrence's spy thriller Red Sparrow in the role of Uncle Vanya opposite Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton and Jeremy Irons. He starred in the Belgian-French film Close Enemies, directed by David Oelhoffen.
In 2019, Schoenaerts appeared as Captain Herder in Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life, as Maywood in Steven Soderbergh's The Laundromat, and as Roman Coleman, an inmate who participates in a rehabilitation program centered around training of wild horses in Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre's The Mustang. In 2020, he appeared in Gina Prince-Bythewood's The Old Guard as Booker / Sébastien le Livre, once a French soldier who fought under Napoleon.
In 2021, Schoenaerts starred as Peter Flood in Jeremie Guez's Brothers by Blood and as Jurgen in the Flemish TV anthology Lockdown episode "Zuur" alongside him was Veerle Baetens. His upcoming works include Terrence Malick's The Way of the Wind, Justin Kurzel's Ruin alongside Margot Robbie, and David O. Russell's Amsterdam. In 2023, He starred in the TV series Django as the title character.
In September 2024 Schoenaerts was cast in the DC Universe film Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow as the villain Krem of the Yellow Hills, with Milly Alcock starring as the title character.

### Other ventures

Schoenaerts was the face of Louis Vuitton Menswear Spring/Summer 2014.

### Directorial debut

His directorial debut, Franky, is a documentary about a one-legged childhood friend of his who became an MMA fighter, Franky van Hove. The documentary is currently in post-production.

### Hakuna Casting

On 24 August 2015, it was reported that Schoenaerts became the co-owner of the Belgian casting agency Hakuna Casting, which focuses on people of ethnic origin.
The agency has collaborated on the casting of films like Black by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, and Belgica by Felix Van Groeningen.

## Filmography

Key :
| † | Denotes works that have not yet been released |

### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1992 | Daens | Wannes Scholliers | |
| 2002 | De blauwe roos | Minnaar | Short |
| 2002 | Waternimf | | Short |
| 2002 | Meisje a.k.a. Girl | Oskar | |
| 2003 | Zien | Man | Short |
| 2003 | Any Way the Wind Blows | Chouki | |
| 2004 | Je veux quelque chose et je ne sais pas quoi | Jaap | Short |
| 2004 | A Message from Outer Space | Frits | Short |
| 2004 | Ellektra | DJ Cosmonaut X | |
| 2004 | Gender | | Short |
| 2005 | Another Day | Man | Short |
| 2005 | The End of the Ride | Samuel | Short |
| 2005 | Daughter | Mattias | Short |
| 2005 | Exit | Anthony | Short |
| 2005 | The One Thing to Do | Edward Monskii | Short |
| 2006 | Retour | Maxime | Short |
| 2006 | Love Belongs to Everyone | Dennis | |
| 2006 | Black Book | Joop | |
| 2007 | The Muse | John | |
| 2007 | Nadine | Cornee | |
| 2008 | Left Bank | Bob | |
| 2008 | Tunnelrat | John Atkins | Short |
| 2008 | Loft | Filip Willems | |
| 2009 | Afterday | Jef | Short |
| 2009 | My Queen Karo | Raven | |
| 2010 | The Pack | Le Gothique en toc | |
| 2010 | Pulsar | Samuel Verbist | |
| 2010 | Injury Time | Van Dessel | Short |
| 2011 | Bullhead | Jacky Vanmarsenille | Magritte Award for Best Actor Flanders Film Award for Best Actor AFI Fest New Auteur's Critic Prize for Best Actor Fantastic Fest New Wave Award for Best Actor Les Arcs European Film Festival for Best Actor Palm Springs International Film Festival FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actor Nominated—International Cinephile Society Award for Best Actor |
| 2011 | The President | Boyko | |
| 2011 | The Gang of Oss | Ties van Heesch | |
| 2012 | Rust and Bone | Ali | César Award for Most Promising Actor Étoiles d'Or Award for Best Male Newcomer Valladolid International Film Festival for Best Actor Nominated—Magritte Award for Best Actor Nominated—Lumières Award for Best Actor Nominated—Globe de Cristal Award for Best Actor Nominated—Prix Patrick Dewaere Nominated—Dublin Film Critics' Circle for Best Actor |
| 2012 | Death of a Shadow | Nathan Rijckx | Short |
| 2013 | Chimpanzee | Narrator (Belgian Dutch version) | Documentary |
| 2013 | Blood Ties | Anthony Scarfo | |
| 2014 | The Drop | Eric Deeds | |
| 2014 | A Little Chaos | André Le Nôtre | |
| 2014 | The Loft | Philip Williams | |
| 2015 | Suite Française | Bruno von Falk | |
| 2015 | Far from the Madding Crowd | Gabriel Oak | |
| 2015 | Disorder | Vincent | Nominated—Prix Patrick Dewaere |
| 2015 | The Danish Girl | Hans Axgil | Capri Hollywood International Film Festival Award for Revelation of the Year |
| 2015 | A Bigger Splash | Paul De Smedt | |
| 2017 | Our Souls at Night | Gene | |
| 2017 | Racer and the Jailbird | Gigi | Ensor Award for Best Actor Nominated—Magritte Award for Best Actor |
| 2018 | Red Sparrow | Ivan Vladimirovich Egorov | |
| 2018 | Kursk | Mikhail Averin | |
| 2018 | Close Enemies | Manuel Marco | |
| 2019 | The Mustang | Roman Coleman | Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead |
| 2019 | A Hidden Life | Captain Herder | |
| 2019 | The Laundromat | Maywood | |
| 2020 | The Old Guard | Booker/Sébastien Le Livre | |
| 2020 | Brothers by Blood | Peter Flood | |
| 2022 | Amsterdam | Lem Getwiller | |
| 2025 | The Old Guard 2 † | Booker/Sébastien Le Livre | Post-production |
| 2026 | Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow † | Krem of the Yellow Hills | Filming |
| TBA | The Way of the Wind † | Saint Peter | Post-production |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2001 | Flikken | Jens Goossens | Episode: "Corrupt" |
| 2002 | Stille waters | Rechercheur | Episode #1.8 |
| 2008 | De Smaak van De Keyser a.k.a. The Emperor of Taste | Alfred Lenaerts | 8 episodes |
| 2009 | Los zand | Vincent Vandeweghe | 13 episodes |
| 2010 | Duts | Himself | Episode: "De nieuwe buurman" |
| 2015 | De Biker Boys | Himself | Episode: "De reconstructie" |
| 2021 | Lockdown | Jurgen | Episode: "Zuur" with Veerle Baetens |
| 2023 | Django | Django | |
| 2024 | The Regime | Herbert Zubak | Miniseries |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Association | Category | Work | Result |
| 2003 | Berlin International Film Festival | EFP Shooting Star | | Won |
| 2009 | Monte-Carlo TV Festival | Golden Nymph for Outstanding Actor - Drama Series | De smaak van De Keyser | Nominated |
| 2011 | Flanders Film Awards | Best Actor | Bullhead | Won |
| 2011 | AFI Fest | New Auteurs Critic's Prize For Best Actor | Bullhead | Won |
| 2011 | Austin Fantastic Fest | Next Wave Award for Best Actor | Bullhead | Won |
| 2011 | Les Arcs European Film Festival | Best Actor | Bullhead | Won |
| 2011 | 2-in-1 International Film Festival | Heroes Award for Best Actor | Bullhead | Won |
| 2011 | Saint-Jean-de-Luz Young Filmmakers Festival | Best Actor | Bullhead | Won |
| 2011 | Ostend Film Festival | Ensor Award Best Actor | Bullhead | Won |
| 2012 | Palm Springs International Film Festival | FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actor | Bullhead | Won |
| 2012 | Magritte Award | Best Actor | Bullhead | Won |
| 2012 | Valladolid International Film Festival | Best Actor | Rust and Bone | Won |
| 2012 | Dublin Film Critics' Circle | Best Actor | Rust and Bone | Nominated |
| 2013 | César Award | Most Promising Actor | Rust and Bone | Won |
| 2013 | Magritte Award | Best Actor | Rust and Bone | Nominated |
| 2013 | Lumières Award | Best Actor | Rust and Bone | Nominated |
| 2013 | Globes de Cristal Award | Best Actor | Rust and Bone | Nominated |
| 2013 | Chlotrudis Awards | Best Actor | Rust and Bone | Nominated |
| 2013 | Étoiles d'Or | Best Male Newcomer | Rust and Bone | Won |
| 2013 | CinEuphoria Awards | Best International Actor | Rust and Bone | Won |
| 2013 | CinEuphoria Awards | Best International Actor | Bullhead | Won |
| 2013 | International Cinephile Society Awards | Best Actor | Bullhead | Nominated |
| 2013 | Chlotrudis Awards | Best Actor | Bullhead | Nominated |
| 2013 | Prix Patrick Dewaere | | | Nominated |
| 2015 | Ostend Film Festival | Outstanding Achievement | | Won |
| 2015 | Capri Hollywood International Film Festival | Revelation of the Year | The Danish Girl | Won |
| 2016 | Prix Patrick Dewaere | | | Nominated |
| 2016 | Elle Style Awards | Actor of the Year | | Won |
| 2018 | Ostend Film Festival | Ensor Award Best Actor | Racer and the Jailbird | Won |
| 2018 | Magritte Award | Best Actor | Racer and the Jailbird | Nominated |
| 2019 | Women Film Critics Circle | Best Actor | The Mustang | Nominated |
| 2020 | Independent Spirit Awards | Best Male Lead | The Mustang | Nominated |
| 2020 | Chlotrudis Awards | Best Actor | The Mustang | Won |

### Other honors

* Flemish Television Star: 2008
* Flemish Film Personality: 2011
* Knight in the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres: 2015