The Flemish (Dutch-language Belgian) actor Julien Schoenaerts made a most notable acting career, foremost in the theatre but also on the movie - and TV screen.
Schoenaerts was born on 30 August 1925 in Eigenbilzen (Belgian province of Limburg). He once said his first public part was that of St-John at age four, when his sister put a living lamb in his arms during a Catholic procession. From age six Schoenaerts joined "Lust en Leven", the amateur theatre society his father belonged to. After classical humanities (Latin-Greek) he joined in 1948 the then two years young Studio Herman Teirlinck, after which he played ten years in Herman Teirlinck's theatre "Koninklijke Nederlandse Schouwburg" (KNS) in Antwerp. In the 1950s he toured both Dutch-speaking countries with such plays as (both in Dutch translation) "De huisbewaarder" by Harold Pinter and "De kleine prins" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
Frustrated by Flanders' weak theatre policy, he emigrated north, played a year in Karl Guttmann's Ensemble and two with De Nederlandse Comedie, but remained at unease. Schoenaerts returned to Belgium, working with the Flemish public broadcaster BRT, and simultaneously started his own Ringtheater. Unable to continue both, Schoenaerts started a solo career; his last theatre performance was in 1993.
His first screen part was in 1955 in 'Meeuwen sterven in de haven' (scenario by Ivo Michiels). Memorable film parts were Pieter De Coninck in Hugo Claus' 'De Leeuw van Vlaanderen' (1983) and Monseigneur Stillemans in the Oscar-winning 'Daens' (1992). In 1999 he acted in a movie for a young audience; in 2004 he and his son Matthias Schoenaerts appeared in Rudolph Mestdagh's 'Ellektra'.
His artistic interest extended to other arts forms. In 2003 the gallery of "kunstkring Jacques Gorus" in Antwerp held an exposition of his paintings and etchings. Since the 1970s he suffered from mental problems.
