Halina Reijn

Early life and education

Halina Reijn was born on 10 November 1975 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Fleur ten Kate and Frank Volkert Reijn. Reijn's parents were both artists. She is the middle child of three daughters, with an older sister named Leonora and a younger named Esther. Her father was gay despite being in a heterosexual marriage with her mother. Reijn grew up in an anthroposophy household, and her parents were followers of the Subud spiritual movement. In her early years, she grew up with her family in the tiny village of Wildervank, Groningen located in the north of the Netherlands. The place attracted many artists, Reijn described it as a "pleasant community". They lived without television and never visited the cinema. Instead they played music, drew and painted. Her father built a theater room with a podium and flats for her.

Reijn developed an interest in acting when her babysitter took her to a showing of Annie, a film adaptation of the Broadway musical, at a local theater when she was six. She stated, "When I saw Annie, I thought, I want that too. I was very jealous of her." With help of her mother, she joined a youth theater in Veendam. Reijn found it inadequate and thought the other children did not take it seriously enough, which led her mother to pursue an audition with the theater collective De Voorziening (precursor to the Noord Nederlands Toneel) despite being only ten years old.

When she was ten years old, and a year after her parents had amicably separated, her father died suddenly from suffocation caused by an undiagnosed pulmonary embolism. Following her father's death, Reijn and her remaining immediate family stayed "very close" and they moved to a newly built neighborhood of Groningen in order to escape the isolation. Reijn was able to continue her theater lessons, and her mother, like a "soccer mom", would bring her everywhere to auditions; Reijn had strong desire to become a child star. From age eleven onwards, under the tutelage of Josja Hamann, she attended the Vooropleiding Theater in Groningen, a selective youth academy where they were giving lessons and had to rehearse every midday. She stayed eight years at the academy. She also attended a VWO school in Groningen. Upon receiving her diploma, she applied at theater schools in Maastricht, Arnhem, and Amsterdam, with the Sonia Moore Studio of the Theatre in New York as a back-up. With the latter, she had spent a year in New York and passed an audition. She ultimately chose the Maastricht Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Career

1994–1999: Early television and theater work

Throughout her teenage years, she had her earliest acting gigs in various minor roles on the small screen, and a bigger role in Pril geluk, a thirteen-part comedy series on the Veronica channel, that ran for a single season. The latter one was meant as a foundation for her entrance exam into theatre school. Reijn was professionally trained at the Maastricht Academy of Dramatic Arts, where she graduated in 1998. In the middle of her second year in Maastricht, two years before her final exams, she was allowed to leave with an honorable mention. She was asked to join the ensemble at the De Trust where she was offered the role of Ophelia in Hamlet, Subsequently, Theu Boermans, the artistic director, offered her a permanent place at the collective. Among her other performances for De Trust, her portrayal of Lulu in Shopping and Fucking was awarded the prestigious Dutch theater prize, the Colombina, for "Best Supporting Actress" in 1998. She also had parts in The Cherry Orchard, The Last Ones, Jeff Koons and Adel Blank; the latter was a co-production with De Mexicaanse Hond.

She also appeared in a short called Temper! Temper! written and directed by Frank Lammers, which was part of Kort Rotterdams, a five-part series highlighting common elements of Rotterdam's society. In 1998, Reijn branched out into film, with the adaptation of the Jan Wolkers's short story De wet op het kleinbedrijf, where she had a principal role in the television film. The following year she starred in her first telefilm, an initiative started by the NPO in 1998 to produce films for public television: De Trein van zes uur tien, a Dutch thriller directed by Frank Ketelaar that was broadcast by AVRO. It was part of the 2000s Cologne Conference, where it was selected among the ten programmes at the TopTen section of the festival. That same year she played a bit part as a sex worker in Martin Koolhoven's breakout film, Suzy Q, which featured Reijn's lifelong friend Carice van Houten in the title role. Despite its warm critical reception and launching the careers of the people involved, the movie was never released on home video, in theaters or shown outside its home country due to music license issues.

2000–2003: Toneelgroep Amsterdam and first film roles

Reijn made her big screen acting debut in De Omweg (also known as "The Detour"), a semi-autobiographical drama directed and written by Frouke Fokkema. It opened in Dutch theaters on November 7, 2000, to little fanfare. On January 1, 2001, 3 years after Reijn joined, De Trust would fuse with another theater company named Art & Pro, they would continue under the new name of de Theatercompagnie. Further that year, she would star in Nanouk Leopold's directorial debut, tragicomedy Îles flottantes, it follows the dysfunctional lives of three friends who all recently turned thirty. The low budget film was part of No More Heroes, an initiative started in order to produce films from upcoming Dutch filmmakers. The film was selected for and first premiered at the 2001's International Film Festival Rotterdam, where it was nominated for the Tiger Award. Between her two film releases in 2001, she also participated in De acteurs, a seven part weekly series where fourteen young actors were interviewed and paired up with each other to rehearse scenes from a miniseries created by Kim van Kooten. That same year, Reijn gained further notoriety with her role in the tragicomedy, Zus & Zo, alongside De Trust peers, which was written and directed by Paula van der Oest. The movie revolves around three sisters trying to stop their gay brother from marrying a woman and in doing so securing the family's seaside estate for his own. Reijn played the unsuspecting fiancée. The movie premiered at the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival, just before the September 11 attacks. The movie was nominated for Academy Award for Best International Feature Film at the 75th Academy Awards, despite mixed reviews. She also starred in her second short, Flicka, as the title role, in which she played a computer programme who is in relationship with a lonely building supervisor, it was produced as part of NTR Kort!. And lastly she appeared in the VARA TV Movie Herschreven vriendschap.

In 2002, Reijn featured in four projects. First she played a minor part in Frank Van Passel's Villa des Roses, her first role in an English/French language international co-production, based on the novel of the same name by Willem Elsschot. Her next two projects were on television with the short TV drama De afrekening and the TV Movie Ware Liefde. She also had a minor role in Moonlight, Paula van der Oest's follow-up movie. Meanwhile, back on stage she performed her first role for Toneelgroep Amsterdam, with Ivo van Hove as director. She took on the role of the courtesan Poppea in Con Amore. At the time, she was still connected with De Trust, but she got 'loaned out' to TGA. For De Theatercompagnie she returned to the role of Ophelia in Hamlet, a character she played previously, for a new rendition of the Shakespearean classic.

2004–2009: Black Book, La Voix humaine and brief hiatus from acting

Compared to her previous years, 2004 was a year of rediscovery and recuperation for Reijn. During a production of Mourning Becomes Electra she approached and told Ivo van Hove: "Take me out of everything, remove me from all your plans, because I can't handle it anymore". She started to resent her work and needed a time-out from her work, friends and home. She was granted unpaid leave by Toneelgroep Amsterdam. In April of that year, on invitation of Renée Missel, who she met at the Oscars that spring, she travelled to Los Angeles. While staying in Los Feliz, and with a scholarship of the VandenEnde Foundation and Fonds Podiumkunsten, she attended an actors and directors lab under the guidance of Judith Weston. The following year, she returned to the stage with Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, where she played the title character. The new interpretation of the play received glowing reviews, Reijn in particular got acclaim for her part as Katherina. Reijn also took part in Masterclass, a hidden camera fake documentary-style television film written and directed Hans Teeuwen. It follows Pierre Bokma playing as himself giving a master class together with his reclusive former mentor Peer Mascini to six theatre students. In the film, Reijn is one of the actors interviewed about their previous experiences with Mancini, the actors involved, however, aren't made aware that they are secretly being recorded. Also in 2005, she starred in Erik de Bruyn's poetry short Lentelied, based upon the poem Frühlingslied by J. C. van Schagen.

In 2006, she starred in A Thousand Kisses, directed by Willem van de Sande Bakhuyzen, the final film before his death. It was released on 9 March in Dutch theaters. That same week, Huis van de toekomst (House of the Future) had its premiere at the Compagnietheater, Amsterdam. The multimedia play, written and directed by Carina Molier, stars a group of actors living in Big Brother-style house playing fictionalized versions of intellectuals, who Molier had previously interviewed, engaging in a science experiment. The piece also included video that was recorded prior and the actors could be viewed from every angle by the audience, who were also accompanied by a camera crew. Reijn played a media expert named Anna Tabaknikova that was based on Maja Kuzmanovic. She next played as the central character in Hedda Gabler. In contrast with other portrayals, Reijn approached the character in a more messy, unkept way who is more direct and frank in her dealings with others. While her performance received praise, the play itself was viewed less favourably.

2010–2012: Established actress and the Theo d'Or

With the start of the decade, she returned to the silver screen with Win/Win, a telefilm about the 2008 financial crisis that takes place in Amsterdam Zuidas. Reijn gravitated to the script due to it engagement with current events, and joined the cast despite the fact that her role as receptionist Deniz, described as a "cold formal type", was only secondary. The film has had its debut at IFFR and was later shown in Dutch theaters in April. She would also come back to television with the first season of In therapie alongside van Houten, the Dutch version of the Israelian BeTipul, In the show she plays Lara, a doctor, who falls for her therapist. She also starred in the music short film Great Lengths featuring music from Martyn. After a four-year hiatus she reprised her leading role in Hedda Gabler, and would return for another season in the second half of 2011, followed-up by a final show at the Munich Kammerspiele in July 2012. Alongside other famous Dutch actors, she had a cameo appearance in Sterke verhalen.

Reijn provided her voice for another short film, titled Sintel. The English-language animated short was made in Blender in collaboration with the Blender Foundation. The 15 minute long short revolves around a girl named Sintel, voiced by Reijn, and her pet dragon that is voiced by Thom Hoffman. With a budget of four thousand euros, the short was the second-most expensive Dutch animated film at the time and had its debut at the Netherlands Film Festival, before it was released online for free. It was viewed over a million times in less than a week. Her final film role of the year was in The Dinner Club, directed by Robert Jan Westdijk. The movie revolves around an eating club set in the affluent neighbourhood of het Gooi. Reijn was considered one of the few highlights, in a movie that was mostly panned. On stage, she was part of another co-production between TGA and NTGent, in a reworking of Maxim Gorky's Children of the Sun where she portrayed Lisa, the sister of the main character. It earned significant acclaim from critics, with particular mentions towards the cast.

Volkskrant's Karin Veraart called Reijn performance as the neurotic sister Lisa "fantastic". The original season ran until February 2011, with a follow-up season in early 2013.

In 2011, she was part of the ensemble cast for De Russen! (The Russians), an adaptation written by Tom Lanoye that rewrites Anton Chekhov's Platonov and Ivanov into a five hour long tragicomedy set in the modern day, that involved the entire emsemble of the company. On television she starred in the episode called "Kortsluiting" of the crime drama anthology series, Van God Los, which were inspired by real events. Her single film release in 2011, was in the psychological thriller Isabelle as the titular character, a famous and beautiful actress who is abducted and held captive by a disfigured artist. In preparation for the role, Reijn lost nine kilos (18lbs) by sticking to strict diet for nine weeks. While filming, she struggled with keeping herself warm during the nude scenes and described the overall experience as intense. The film based on the eponymous novel received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics, and although her effort was commended she was largely viewed as a miscast. Despite this, Reijn was nominated for best Dutch actress for the role at the 2012's Rembrandt Awards.

2013–2018: Continued theater work and final film roles

In 2013, she was bestowed with the Courbois-pearl by the namesake of the award, Kitty Courbois, at the Toneelgroep Amsterdam 25th anniversary event. The award was created in 2010 by Toneelgroep Amsterdam and Stadsschouwburg in order to honor the careers of actresses who have made an indelible impression on the public on theater, and in the world television and film with Courbois being the inaugural recipient. Unlike other awards, The pearl can only given by the previous recipient to another actress. She then starred as the title character in the ten-part television series Charlie, the Dutch remake of the medical comedy-drama Nurse Jackie. In the show, she played a married ER nurse who leads a double life who struggles with a drug addiction and commits adultery. After reading the scripts she quickely signed on, relishing the opportunity to play a different, more cynical character. On the ten-year anniversary, she came back as Lavinia in Mourning Becomes Electra for the 2013/2014 theater season. Over the years, they staged it over 100 times with at least 35.000 visitors worldwide. She also had a minor part in the Feuten: Het Feestje, a stand-alone sequel film to the Feuten television series.

Reijn portrayed four characters, three women and one man, St. Just, Julie, Lucile and Marion, in a radical restaging of Georg Büchner's Danton's Death, directed by Johan Simons. Its first night was on 9 February 2014, and ran until April. Set during the French Revolution, the story follows the conflict between French revolutionaries Georges Danton and Robespierre. In collaboration with theatre director Adelheid Roosen and De oversteek project, this new version incorporated hundred of local regular folks in their own clothing that are inserted in select scenes. This version of the famous play, was met a polarizing response. Loek Zonneveld writing for De Groene, noted Reijn's acting as the three women a "strong one-woman choir commentator", but adding, St. Just, Robespierre alter ego, a "strange directerial choice" that "doesn't hold up". On television, she was a guest star on the comedy show Jeuk. In the summer she was in back in theatres with an adaptation of The Fountainhead with her taking on the role of Dominique Francon. It earned a mostly positive reaction from European critics. In his positive review for The Guardian, Andrew Todd proclaimed Reijn as a "superb Francon" who is the "beating heart of the story". It was staged across Europe in Amsterdam, Festival d'Avignon, Festival Grec de Barcelona among others. The play would be restaged intermittently every year until 2019, including appearances in Paris, Seoul, Taiwan, New York City, and Manchester.

2019–present: Transition to filmmaker

2019 marked the year Reijn moved into filmmaking and officially announced her retirement from acting with Red Light being her last official project. Reijn made her directorial debut with the 2019's Instinct, with Carice van Houten and Marwan Kenzari in leading roles. It was the first film produced through her production company Man Up. Development of the film started in 2015, Reijn co-wrote the script with Esther Gerritsen, they did extensive research for the project. It was made on a modest budget and filming took place in May 2018. The film premiered at the Locarno Film Festival, winning the Variety Piazza Grande Award and received a special mention for best first feature. It also premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, and Les Arcs Film Festival, and was selected as the Dutch entry for the 92nd Academy Awards for Best International Feature. It received generally positive reviews from critics and was awarded a Golden Film for having sold 100.000 tickets.

2020 saw the release of Red Light, a Belgian-Dutch television series starring Reijn that follows three women who become entangled in matters of human trafficking after one of their husbands goes missing. Reijn co-created the series alongside Carice van Houten, writing and producing the show through her and van Houten's production company, Man Up. The series won the Dutch Golden Calf award for Best TV Show and Best Actress at the Dutch Film Festival, and had its premiere at the Cannes Series festival where it won the Canneseries Student Prize and Special Interpretation Prize. Van Houten left Man Up in 2023 to start her own production company, Birdcat, leaving Reijn the sole principal of Man Up.

Reijn's English-language directorial debut, Bodies Bodies Bodies, was released in 2022. It premiered at SXSW in March 2022 and had its U.S. theatrical release in August, where it had the second-highest-grossing opening weekend of any limited-release film that year. It was met a positive critical reception and achieved solid success at the box office. The film was nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards in 2022, for best director and best screenplay. Shortly after the release of Bodies Bodies Bodies, A24, the film's distributor, also acquired the North American rights for Reijn's debut feature Instinct.

Reijn next wrote, produced, and directed the erotic thriller, Babygirl, with Nicole Kidman in the lead role; it follows Kidman as a CEO who starts an affair with a young intern, played by Harris Dickinson. The film, which marks her second direct collaboration with A24, began filming in December 2023. The film premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, while it competed for the prestigious Golden Lion. It was released by A24 in the United States on December 25, 2024.

Other works

In 2005, she released her first novel, the semi-autobiographical Prinsesje Nooitgenoeg (Prometheus, 2005), which she wrote during her first stay in Hollywood. Her second book was a collection of columns, presented as a diary, which she wrote for Viva, called Halina: doen alsof ik iemand anders ben (Prometheus, 2009). Her next work was Antiglamour (Nijgh & Van Ditmar 2013), a fashion style guide and an exploration of her friendship with her best friend Carice van Houten, who co-wrote the book. Her latest book was Loos (Nijgh & Van Ditmar 2016).

With fellow actor Robert de Hoog, she presented the weekly film programme called Close Up on the premium television service Film1, where they discussed what the various channels had to offer that week; the show had its debut on 13 September 2013 and it was broadcast on Film1 Premiere. In 2013, for a company called Soundtrackcity, Reijn was one of the voices for an audio tour through De Pijp, Amsterdam. It traces the footsteps of writer Herman Heijermans using fragments of his work as a basis. Since 2016, she has provided her voice for the audio tour of the Old Church located in Amsterdam. Writing these film scripts and magazines led her to later to be named one of the top 20 most influential people in the Dutch media.

Reijn was a regular guest and co-host on the talk show De Wereld Draait Door (DWDD), the popular TV show attracted audiences over one million people for the majority of its 15-season duration.

Personal life

When Reijn was around six or seven years old, she and one of her sisters wanted to join the Catholic Church, to the shock of their parents. After they relented, the children would go to Sunday school, and when Reijn was twelve she was baptised. In a 2007 interview with the NRC, she remarks that she doesn't believe in God, but does in reincarnation.

Reijn has a close friendship with fellow Dutch actress Carice van Houten, whom she has known since about 1994. They worked together in movies Black Book and Valkyrie. In 2013, the two published a book together called Anti Glamour, a (mock) style guide and a celebration of their friendship, as well as a candid look into the unglamorous back-stage side of their lives. Although the two occasionally kiss on camera, and have joked about being lesbians, there is no actual romantic involvement.

Reijn moved to New York in 2021 for Bodies Bodies Bodies when the movie was greenlit, and then decided to stay on a permanent basis, and was still living there as of March 2024.

Acting credits

Television

TV movies

Filmmaking credits

Film

Short film