Renée Soutendijk

Renette Pauline Soutendijk ([ˈsʌutəndɛik], born 21 May 1957), known professionally as Renée Soutendijk, is a Dutch actress. A gymnast in her youth, Soutendijk began her acting career in the late 1970s. She was a favorite star of director Paul Verhoeven's films and is perhaps best known for her work in his 1980 release Spetters, and 1983's The Fourth Man. Her good looks and striking blond hair secured her status as a Dutch sex symbol in the 1980s.[2][3][4]

Renée Soutendijk
Renée Soutendijk in 1992
Born	Renette Pauline Soutendijk (1957-05-21) 21 May 1957 Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1978–present
Spouse(s)	Thed Lenssen[1]
Children	2

Soutendijk attempted to establish herself in the United States in the late-1980s, and appearing in the science fiction film Eve of Destruction (1991). Since the 2000s, she has played a number of television and stage roles, and appeared as one of the leads in the 2012 RTL 4 television series Moordvrouw. She has also had supporting roles in the American drama A Perfect Man (2013) and in Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria (2018).

Life and career

Early life

Soutendijk was born in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands, on 21 May 1957.[5][6] In her youth, Soutendijk was a qualifying Olympic gymnast.[7] She studied acting at the Academy for Podium Formation in The Hague.[8]

Television and film beginnings

Soutendijk made her television debut in the Dutch television series Dagboek van een herdershond (English: Dutch the Shepherd Dog (1979–1980).[8] She began her film career playing the heroines in the Paul Verhoeven-directed cult films Spetters (1980)[9] and The Fourth Man (1983). Spetters established her as a sex symbol; the movie and its star attracted attention in the United States as well,[10] and The New York Times saw her "stylish performance" of a "compelling character" as a focal point of the movie.[11] In the early 1980s, Soutendijk, Monique van de Ven, and Willeke van Ammelrooy were the three best-known actresses in Dutch cinema, and most movies featured one of the three.[1] The movie that marked her breakthrough as an actress in a major role, though, is considered to be The Girl with the Red Hair (1981), in which she played Dutch resistance fighter Hannie Schaft.[12] From 1981 to 1989 she played in Zeg 'ns Aaa, one of the longest-running and most popular Dutch sitcoms. In 1983, Soutendijk gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Caro.[8]

Soutendijk and Jeroen Krabbé promoting The Fourth Man, 1983

Soutendijk's first English-language role was as Eva Braun in the made-for-TV movie Inside the Third Reich. Her subsequent TV movie roles included Anna Mons in Peter the Great (1986) and Mrs. Simon Wiesenthal in Murderers Among Us (1989).[13] She sought a career in Hollywood and lived in the United States for a year and a half. She played opposite Academy-award nominee Chris Sarandon in the Holocaust-themed movie Forced March (1989), and the title character in Eve of Destruction (1991), in which she portrayed an android opposite Gregory Hines.[14]

In the late 1990s she played in another Dutch film (De Flat) [15]. She also acted in German television movies (and series, including Tatort) in which, she said, she was rarely typecast and played more interesting characters.[1] In 1996, she gave birth to her son, Jaïr.[8] The films Dial 9 and Met grote blijdschap (With Great Joy), which were both released in 2001, marked her return to the Dutch movie-screen after a four-year absence.[1]

2000s and later career

Soutendijk subsequently played roles in television shows and as a stage actress, playing for instance Queen Juliana (2006)[16] and a woman dying of cancer in Margaret Edson's Wit (2010).[17][18][19] In 2011, Soutendijk was given the Rembrandt Award for her body of work.[20] That same year, news came that Soutendijk was to star in a television series for RTL 4, Moordvrouw, a police drama.[21][22] In 2018, Soutendijk had a supporting role in Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria, a reimagining of the Dario Argento film of the same name.[23]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978	Pastorale 1943	Marie Bovenkamp
1978	Deadly Sin	Renée
1979	A Woman Like Eve	Sigrid
1980	Spetters	Fientje
1981	The Girl with the Red Hair	Hannie Schaft
1981	The Forbidden Bacchanal	Corrie
1982	Inside the Third Reich	Eva Braun	Television film
1982	Hedwig: The Quiet Lakes	Hedwig
1983	The Fourth Man	Christine Halsslag
1983	An Bloem	Loedie
1984	The Cold Room	Lili	Television film
1984	Out of Order	Marion
1985	Private Resistance	Trudi
1986	Op hoop van zegen	Jo
1986	Motten im Licht
1987	Scoop	Ishmaelia - Kätchen
1987	The Second Victory	Traudi Holzinger
1987	A Month Later	Liesbeth
1987	Der Madonna-Mann	Juliane Mundt
1987	Der Fall Boran (a.k.a. Boran – Zeit zum Zielen)	Linda Mars
1988	King of the Olympics: The Lives and Loves of Avery Brundage	Linnea Dresden	Television film
1988	Wherever You Are...	Nina
1989	Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story	Cyla	Television film
1989	Forced March	Myra
1989	Grave Secrets	Iris Norwood
1991	Eve of Destruction	Dr. Eve Simmons / Eve VIII
1991	Keeper of the City	Vickie Benedetto	Television film
1993	The Betrayed	Olga Grond	Television film
1993	Seventh Heaven	Charlyne
1994	De Flat	Roos Hartman
1996	The Little Riders	Beatrix Hunter
1998	Hauptsache Leben	Corinna
1999	Dance of the Dolphins	Claire Strauss	Television film
2000	Anna Wunder	Sophie
2001	With Great Joy	Els
2001	Hochzeit zu viert	Susanne Berthold
2001	Hanna - Wo bist Du?	Erika Strom	Television film
2003	Eine Liebe in Afrika	Jane	Television film
2008	Radeloos	Vera Scholte
2009	Der Mann aus der Pfalz	Hannelore Kohl - alt
2013	A Perfect Man	Martha
2018	Redbad	Idwina
2018	Suspiria	Miss Huller

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	The Hitchhiker	Sara Kendal	Episode: "Murderous Feelings"
1986	Peter the Great	Anna Mons	Miniseries
1999	Schimanski: Sehnsucht	Eva Marsfeldt	Episode: "Sehnsucht"
2000–2005	Tatort: Bittere Mandeln	Eva Maria Klein / Evelyn	2 episodes
2002	The Enclave	Ilse Terhoef	Miniseries
2008	S1ngle	Edith	5 episodes
2008–2009	Leipzig Homicide	Maja Peters	4 episodes
2009	Vienna Crime Squad	Wanda Wolf	Episode: "Preis der Schönheit"
2009	Ein starkes Team	Katarina Kamm	Episode: "Geschlechterkrieg"
2012	Van God los	Ellen	Episode: "D.I.S.C.O."
2012	Moordvrouw	Carla Vreeswijk	50 episodes
2016–2017	Centraal Medisch Centrum	Emily Zomer	16 episodes

References

1. Ockhuysen, Ronald (24 August 2008). "Het meisje voorbij". de Volkskrant. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
2. Sweeney, Louise (30 September 1985). "European festival splices diplomacy, fine films". Christian Science Monitor. pp. 25–26.
3. "What's On: Out of Order". The Age. 6 November 1987. Retrieved 29 June 2011. Soutendijk repris[es] her stock blonde sexpot schtick...
4. Grant, Lee (15 July 1981). "Spetters: Sexuality and Reality". Los Angeles Times. p. I1.
5. Erickson, Hal. "Renée Soutendijk Biography". Fandango. Archived from the original on 19 November 2018.
6. Skin 2004, p. 520.
7. Seattle Post-Intelligencer Staff (18 April 2004). "The Insider: It's a revival of those cool Rainier Beer ads". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Seattle, Washington. Archived from the original on 19 November 2018.
8. Powilleit, Inga (18 June 2018). "'Ik dacht: alles heeft een reden. Totdat mijn levenslustige, sportieve zoon ineens ernstig ziek bleek te zijn'". Jan (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 19 November 2018.
9. Thomson 2008, p. 2838.
10. Kleiner, Dick (3 September 1981). "Fresh from Holland: Renee Soutendijk". Sarasota Journal. Sarasota, Florida. p. 10. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
11. Forsberg, Myra (9 August 1987). "Home Video; Movies". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
12. Veraart, Karin (17 July 2001). "Impressies van 20 jaar film". de Volkskrant. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
13. "Murderers Among Us". Los Angeles Times. 23 April 1989. p. 7. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
14. "Movies: Eve of Destruction". New York Magazine. Vol. 24 no. 3. New York Media, LLC. 21 January 1991. p. 82. ISSN 0028-7369.
15. Beerekamp, Hans (7 February 2001). "De Sterren: Reneé Soutendijk". NRC Handelsblad. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
16. Janssen, Hein (27 April 2006). "Wuivende hand op een stokje". de Volkskrant. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
17. Embrechts, Annette (20 April 2010). "Joods meisje heeft verrassend scherpzinnige kijk op het leven". de Volkskrant. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
18. "Podiumkunsten". de Volkskrant. 4 March 2010. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
19. Embrechts, Annette (10 March 2010). "Sterven zonder ontroering". de Volkskrant. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
20. "New Kids wint Rembrandt Award beste film". de Volkskrant. 28 March 2011. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
21. "Wendy van Dijk en Renée Soutendijk in nieuwe politieserie". Televizier. 27 June 2011. Archived from the original on 30 June 2011. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
22. Bakker, Arjen (28 June 2011). "Politieserie is beter dan sponsor-reisshow". Friesch Dagblad. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
23. Van Zwol, Coen (2 September 2018). "Heksenfilm 'Suspiria' is een matriarchale nachtmerrie". NRC Handelsblad (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 27 October 2018.

Sources

• Skin, Mr. (2004). Mr. Skin's Skincyclopedia. New York: Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-312-33144-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Thomson, David (2008). The New Biographical Dictionary of Film (Reprint ed.). New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-375-70940-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

External links

• Renée Soutendijk on IMDb
• Renée Soutendijk at AllMovie