Claim: Carice van Houten was born in the Netherlands on September 5, 1976.

Carice Anouk van Houten -LRB- -LSB- kaːˈris ɑˈnuk vɑn ˈɦʌu̯tə -LRB- n -RRB- -RSB- ; born 5 September 1976 -RRB- is a Dutch actress and singer . Born in Leiderdorp , a town in the western Netherlands , she was brought up by writer and theatre-radio producer Theodore van Houten . Her younger sister Jelka is also an actress . She was exposed to the performing arts at an early age and studied at the Maastricht Academy of Dramatic Arts and the Kleinkunstacademie Theaterschool in Amsterdam . Her first leading role as the eponymous protagonist in the television film Suzy Q -LRB- 1999 -RRB- won her the Golden Calf for Best Acting in a Television Drama ; two years later , she won her second Golden Calf for Best Actress for Undercover Kitty -LRB- 2001 -RRB- .   She gained widespread recognition for her performance in Black Book -LRB- 2006 -RRB- , the most commercially successful Dutch film to date , for which she won her second Golden Calf for Best Actress , in addition to nominations from the Chicago Film Critics Association , the European Film Academy , and the Online Film Critics Society . She was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress for Valkyrie -LRB- 2008 -RRB- , and won her fourth and fifth Golden Calf Awards for Best Actress for The Happy Housewife -LRB- 2010 -RRB- and Black Butterflies -LRB- 2011 -RRB- . Her other notable English-language performances include Repo Men -LRB- 2010 -RRB- , Black Death -LRB- 2010 -RRB- , and Brimstone -LRB- 2016 -RRB- .   Since 2012 , Van Houten has received international recognition for her role as Melisandre on the HBO fantasy drama television series Game of Thrones -LRB- 2012 -- present -RRB- , for which she has been nominated for two Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series . After meeting Australian actor and musician Guy Pearce on the set of Brimstone in 2015 , she gave birth to their first child the following year .