Johan Heldenbergh

Acting

Johan Heldenbergh

Born

1967-02-09 (59)

Place of birth

Wilrijk, Flanders, Belgium

Known for

Acting

Credits

65 titles

Johan Heldenbergh (born 9 February 1967) is a Belgian actor, playwright, screenwriter, theatre director and film director. He gained international fame by starring in films, including A Day in a Life (2007), Moscow, Belgium (2008), The Misfortunates (2009), The Broken Circle Breakdown (2012) and The Zookeeper's Wife (2017). For 19 years he lived together with the Flemish actress Joke Devynck in Hofstade in Aalst, Belgium. On 17 September 2013 it became public that both actors separated. They have three children; two are twins. Source: Article "Johan Heldenbergh" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Known for

De Slimste Mens ter Wereld poster
7.7

Do we still sing the praises of folly like Erasmus, or is it trendy again to be smart? And if so, who is the smartest? Who can talk about the medals won at the Olympic Games in London, but at the same time knows who Captain Haddock is? Who knows whether Lacan was a hair growth product or a psychoanalyst and can also program their own digital television? Who has déjà vu when leafing through the Encyclopedia Britannica and when reading the interviews with the new Miss Waregem Koerse? Who, oh who, is the smartest person in Flanders, Belgium, Europe, and by extension, the world? That is determined by a fierce battle between three fellow human beings. Every day, someone is eliminated, someone who may not be the smartest, but who is perhaps cherished in their family circle because of their many other talents. The others advance and are joined by a new challenger every day.

De Slimste Mens ter Wereld

2003

Familie poster
6.1

'Familie' is the longest running Belgian soap opera. The Van den Bossches originally had an electronics company, later a holding company that included a clothing chain and a sandwich shop. In the meantime, we closely follow the personal lives of the Van den Bossches and their entourage. Grandma Anna and all her children and grandchildren have been through a lot over time and it doesn't look like their lives will become calmer any time soon.

Familie

1991

The Twelve poster
7.2

Twelve ordinary people are called for jury duty for a controversial murder case.

The Twelve

2019

Vermist poster
6.4

No synopsis available yet.

Vermist

2008

Witse poster
6.6

Witse is a Dutch language crime drama produced by Belgian broadcaster VRT and broadcast on their één channel. It is also shown on BVN. First broadcast in 2004, as of 2010 the programme comprises eight series with a ninth and final series planned for 2012. It stars Hubert Damen as the eponymous Witse, a driven inspector in the Belgian federal police based in Halle. It is one of the most popular Flemish television programmes with some 1.6 million viewers. There are also Witse books. The first three were based on the last two episodes of each season, but since 2010 every six months a brand new story is published, written and invented by established Belgian writers, as Bob Van Laerhoven and Bart Van Lierde. The music for Witse is composed by Steve Willaert.

Witse

2004

Code 37 poster
6.8

Female detective Hannah Maes leads a police squad, specialized in sexual offenses. A smaller, but important part of the story is about the private quest of Hannah. She investigates a past robbery at her home and the subsequent brutal rape of her mother.

Code 37

2009

Film credits

2020s · 15 titles

Quo Vadis, Aida? poster
7.6

Bosnia, July 1995. Aida is a translator for the UN in the small town of Srebrenica. When the Serbian army takes over the town, her family is among the thousands of citizens looking for shelter in the UN camp. As an insider to the negotiations Aida has access to crucial information that she needs to interpret. What is at the horizon for her family and people – rescue or death? Which move should she take?

Quo Vadis, Aida?

2021

The Commander poster
6.9

One dark night during the early phases of WWII, the Italian Royal Navy submarine Cappellini sinks an armed merchant ship sailing with lights out. At that moment, its commander Salvatore Todaro makes a decision that was destined to go down in history: to save the 26 shipwrecked Belgians who otherwise would have drowned in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and disembark them at the nearest safe harbor. To make room for them on board his submarine, he is forced to navigate on the surface of the water for three days, visible to the enemy forces and endangering his life and that of his men.

The Commander

2023

Ad Vitam poster
6.2

When he and his pregnant wife are attacked in their home, a former elite agent becomes trapped in a deadly manhunt tied to his own painful past.

Ad Vitam

2025

The Worst Ones poster
6.8

The story centres on a group of teenagers street cast in their neighbourhood and selected to play in a feature film during the summer. The film tells the story of this film shoot and of the connections that will be formed during it.

The Worst Ones

2022

The Colors of Fire poster
6.7

February 1927. The funeral of Marcel Péricourt, the most powerful banker in Paris. His daughter Madeleine must take the helm of the financial empire of which she is the heiress. But she has a son, Paul, who with an unexpected and tragic gesture will place her on the path to ruin.

The Colors of Fire

2022

Amal poster
7.6

An idealistic and passionate literature teacher in a suburban Brussels school becomes the target of intense hostility from students and colleagues tied to Islamic extremism when she chooses to help a teenage Muslim girl accused of homosexuality.

Amal

2024

A Woman poster
4.8

Juliane, a police commissioner in Paris, is a woman with great moral integrity. But when she discovers her husband’s double life, she starts committing acts she never would have thought herself capable of.

A Woman

2022

Encontro poster
3.5

the mobile phone of Alain, a belgium director in his fifties, appears a mysterious picture. Enough time to recognise Luisa, the portuguese actress he loved so passionately 7 years ago, during the shooting of his unfinished film.

Encontro

2026

My Dad Is a Sausage poster
5.8

A father leaves his unhappy job at a bank to pursue an acting career.

My Dad Is a Sausage

2021

inert poster
NR

Casper is haunted by feelings of self-blame and post-traumatic stress after the loss of his father. As he grapples with his grief, he becomes increasingly isolated and is forced to confront the darkness within himself.

inert

2022

Jeunesse, mon amour poster
6.0

No synopsis available yet.

Jeunesse, mon amour

2024

Cool Abdoul poster
4.5

The story of Ismail Abdoul, a promising young boxer getting caught between his sporting carreer and his rising fame in the criminal underworld.

Cool Abdoul

2021

Sisyphus at Work poster
1.0

No synopsis available yet.

Sisyphus at Work

2021

Chercheurs poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Chercheurs

2027

Vigilante poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Vigilante

2026

2010s · 17 titles

The Zookeeper's Wife poster
7.3

The account of keepers of the Warsaw Zoo, Jan and Antonina Zabinski, who helped save hundreds of people and animals during the Nazi invasion.

The Zookeeper's Wife

2017

The Brand New Testament poster
6.7

God lives in Brussels. On Earth though, God is a coward, morally pathetic and odious to his family. His daughter, Ea, is bored at home and can't stand being locked up in a small apartment in ordinary Brussels, until the day she decides to revolt against her dad...

The Brand New Testament

2015

The Hummingbird Project poster
6.2

A pair of high-frequency traders go up against their old boss in an effort to make millions in a fiber-optic cable deal.

The Hummingbird Project

2019

The Broken Circle Breakdown poster
7.7

The loss of their young daughter threatens to destroy the love and faith of two married musicians.

The Broken Circle Breakdown

2012

55 Steps poster
6.7

The inspiring true story of Eleanor Riese, a mental illness patient herself, who brings a class action suit to give competent mental patients the right to have a say in their medication while they're in a hospital, and Colette Hughes, the lawyer appointed to her case.

55 Steps

2018

The Breitner Commando poster
5.7

1959, France. Colonel Breitner is given a secret mission : find the body of his former aide, Colonel Delignières, who is reported missing in French Algeria, before the French army burns the whole place to the ground. Breitner puts together a team of five outlaws, who are promised freedom if the mission succeeds.

The Breitner Commando

2019

The Confessions poster
5.9

A G8 meeting is being held at a luxury hotel on the German coast. The world's most powerful economists are gathered to enact important provisions that will deeply influence the world economy. One of the guests is a mysterious Italian monk, invited by Daniel Rochè, the director of the International Monetary Fund. He wants the monk to receive his confession, that night, in secret. The next morning, Rochè is found dead...

The Confessions

2016

Gaspard at the Wedding poster
6.0

After keeping a careful distance for many years, 25-year-old Gaspard must renew contact with his family when his father remarries. Accompanied by Laura, an eccentric young woman who agrees to pretend she's his girlfriend at the wedding, he finally feels ready to set foot in the zoo owned by his parents, where he is reunited with the monkeys and tigers he grew up with... But with a father who is an out-of-control womanizer, a brother who is far too sensible, and a sister who is far too beautiful, he unknowingly sets himself up to experience the last days of his childhood.

Gaspard at the Wedding

2018

Dumped poster
6.0

Françoise has just been dumped by her husband for a much younger woman. In order to cheer her up, and to celebrate her 60th birthday, sisters Rose and Alice decide to take their mother to a resort on the tropical island of Reunion so they can relax, work on their tans, and have too many margaritas. But when Rose pays a one-night stand, Thierry, to show her mother a good time, their holiday plans start to unravel.

Dumped

2018

Come As You Are poster
6.9

Three young guys like wine and women. They tested wine with pleasure, but the second they have never been able to taste. Under the guise of a wine tour, the three plans a trip to Spain to finally have sex. Nothing will stop them. Certainly not the fact that the first guy is blind, the second is in a wheelchair and the third is completely paralyzed.

Come As You Are

2011

Carnivores poster
5.5

At the dawn of her thirties, Mona tries relentlessly to take off as an actress. Time passes and proposals do not arrive. Short of resources, she is forced to move to Sam, her younger sister.

Carnivores

2018

Turquoise poster
5.9

A trio of Turkish brothers immigrants find themselves torn between two lands and cultures, with roots in neither.

Turquoise

2010

Through the Air poster
5.4

Vincent, a former air rifle champion lives a quiet life with his wife and his daughter. Despite his happy family life he ends up with economic problems. One day at the shooting range he meets the mysterious Renaud who promises him a solution to his problems by offering him an unusual job. Suddenly Vincent finds himself in a very dangerous spiral which turns out to be even harder to get out of than finding a solution to his economic problems.

Through the Air

2015

Belgica poster
6.0

The story of two brothers who, even though they have absolutely nothing in common, open a bar together that quickly becomes a regular hangout for nighthawks. Despite the success, they must soon face up to the difficulties inherent in running a family business. Their brotherhood turns into rivalry, through no fault of their own.

Belgica

2016

Younger Days poster
6.3

A group of middle-aged former bandmates reunite to scatter the ashes of their deceased lead singer, only to have their bond put to the test by the unexpected presence of one of the friends' twenty-something girlfriend.

Younger Days

2017

Porcelain poster
4.0

The lives of Anna, Paul and their little son Thomas seem perfect from the outside. Paul has a well-paid job, Anna has a home studio where she works with porcelain and Thomas is an angelic child. However, when Thomas bites one of his friends at school, the cracks of a context that is anything but perfect begin to surface.

Porcelain

2019

Swimsuit 46 poster
6.1

Chantal, a chubby girl of twelve, is having a hard time finding her way throughlife. She doesn't have a lot of friends, and at home she can only turn to herstepfather for support as she doesn't get along with her mother or stepbrother.Only in the local pool, where she is training intensively for an upcoming swimmingcompetition, does she truly feel at home. But when she needs a new pair ofgoggles, things don't go as smoothly as planned and she takes everything to gethold of them.

Swimsuit 46

2011

2000s · 10 titles

Steve + Sky poster
6.5

A story about two struggling people who are trying to find their own place in the world. He is a small-time crook recently released from prison and she is a prostitute craving some love and affection. They find each other in an obscure part of Gent. Jean-Claude is responsible for their meeting ; he is also an ex-inmate who has just traded the low-life crime scene for life as a pimp. Will their love survive?

Steve + Sky

2004

The Misfortunates poster
7.1

13-year-old Gunther Strobbe grows up surrounded by alcohol, trash and his completely useless father and uncles. Slowly but surely, he's being prepared for the same hapless life. Can he defy his destiny?

The Misfortunates

2009

Moscow, Belgium poster
6.6

‘Moscou’ is a densely populated working class neighbourhood on the outskirts of Ghent, Belgium. Matty, mother of three, bumps her car into a truck on the parking lot of a supermarket. Johnny climbs down from the cabin. He is infuriated by the dent in his front bumper and yells at Matty. Although impressed by the accident, Matty fights back with sharp words. Their discussion turns into a row, and the police have to intervene. Matty goes home, the trunk of her car dancing up and down. Back in her apartment, Matty takes a hot bath to recover from the afternoon’s emotionswhen the phone rings. It’s Johnny, apologizing for his behaviour on the parking lot. Matty tells him to stay out of her life. A dramatic comedy begins about a woman whose soul is full of dents and bruises.

Moscow, Belgium

2008

No artwork available
5.0

Mario and Tom are two street punks who want to rob a bank. They ask the young Turkish Emin to be their driver that day. Emin can use the money and accepts, but he doesn't have a getaway car.

A Day in the Life

2008

Any Way the Wind Blows poster
6.8

Antwerp, early June. On a sweltering Friday, eight people dream of a different life. There is wind and music, police and paranoia, gossip and arguing. There's an ancient virus, a lost Frisbee, a dead horse, and, wandering the city, an enigmatic phenomenon called Windman who feels everyone's pain but can't seem to help himself. In the evening a party awaits them...

Any Way the Wind Blows

2003

No artwork available
NR

Tanguy has big plans - the film script he is working on is almost finished. But meanwhile he still lives with his mother and her new boyfriend and he works as a cleaner. Tanguy is forced to swing into action when his mother tells him that the time has come to look for his own apartment. A cheerful film about Tanguy and his buddy Gregoire, and the setbacks they struggle through.

Tanguy's Unifying Theory of Life

2007

Vleugels poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Vleugels

2006

Firmin poster
5.3

After almost thirty years, Germaine, Firmin's great love, suddenly returns to her hometown. Firmin is overjoyed and determined to win Germaine's heart back, but Germaine rejects his advances. Then Mohammed Boutrous, a young and talented boxer, seeks out Firmin. He wants Firmin to train him. Firmin accepts, hoping to regain his honor and the love of his life...

Firmin

2007

No artwork available
8.0

When Bas puts up the note Wanted: Man on the notice board of the local supermarket for his single mother, she does not know about it. The self-willed Bas tries to find a solution for the separation between him and his mother, who no longer knows how to cope with Bas' superstitious compulsions. And both are hydrophobic. But by the end of the summer, the harmony between these two heart-warming characters has been restored.

Wanted: Man

2005

No artwork available
4.5

Four members of a pour family from Ghent each have a memorable day.

My Bonnie

2005

Undated · 4 titles

Series credits

De Slimste Mens ter Wereld poster
7.7

Do we still sing the praises of folly like Erasmus, or is it trendy again to be smart? And if so, who is the smartest? Who can talk about the medals won at the Olympic Games in London, but at the same time knows who Captain Haddock is? Who knows whether Lacan was a hair growth product or a psychoanalyst and can also program their own digital television? Who has déjà vu when leafing through the Encyclopedia Britannica and when reading the interviews with the new Miss Waregem Koerse? Who, oh who, is the smartest person in Flanders, Belgium, Europe, and by extension, the world? That is determined by a fierce battle between three fellow human beings. Every day, someone is eliminated, someone who may not be the smartest, but who is perhaps cherished in their family circle because of their many other talents. The others advance and are joined by a new challenger every day.

De Slimste Mens ter Wereld

2003

Familie poster
6.1

'Familie' is the longest running Belgian soap opera. The Van den Bossches originally had an electronics company, later a holding company that included a clothing chain and a sandwich shop. In the meantime, we closely follow the personal lives of the Van den Bossches and their entourage. Grandma Anna and all her children and grandchildren have been through a lot over time and it doesn't look like their lives will become calmer any time soon.

Familie

1991

The Twelve poster
7.2

Twelve ordinary people are called for jury duty for a controversial murder case.

The Twelve

2019

Vermist poster
6.4

No synopsis available yet.

Vermist

2008

Vermist poster
6.4

No synopsis available yet.

Vermist

2008

Witse poster
6.6

Witse is a Dutch language crime drama produced by Belgian broadcaster VRT and broadcast on their één channel. It is also shown on BVN. First broadcast in 2004, as of 2010 the programme comprises eight series with a ninth and final series planned for 2012. It stars Hubert Damen as the eponymous Witse, a driven inspector in the Belgian federal police based in Halle. It is one of the most popular Flemish television programmes with some 1.6 million viewers. There are also Witse books. The first three were based on the last two episodes of each season, but since 2010 every six months a brand new story is published, written and invented by established Belgian writers, as Bob Van Laerhoven and Bart Van Lierde. The music for Witse is composed by Steve Willaert.

Witse

2004

Code 37 poster
6.8

Female detective Hannah Maes leads a police squad, specialized in sexual offenses. A smaller, but important part of the story is about the private quest of Hannah. She investigates a past robbery at her home and the subsequent brutal rape of her mother.

Code 37

2009

Recht op Recht poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Recht op Recht

1998

Everybody Loves Diamonds poster
6.2

A team of small-time Italian thieves who manage to deceive top-level security to steal millions of dollars' worth of precious stones from the Antwerp Diamond Centre.

Everybody Loves Diamonds

2023

Alleen Elvis blijft bestaan poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Alleen Elvis blijft bestaan

2013

The Tour poster
7.4

Easter Sunday, April 4, 2010. In Bruges, some 200 cyclists and their entourage are getting ready for the 94th Tour of Flanders. A sea of supporters awaits them along the route, while millions more follow Flanders' finest on radio or TV. With the race as a backdrop, De ronde tells the story of a number of people who, like the cyclists, have everything to gain or lose today. The series originally had nine episodes, but these were recut to seven episodes for the DVD.

The Tour

2011

Sphinx poster
6.6

Early one morning, 14-year-old Minke Moorman is kidnapped. Three years later she reappears out of nowhere, completely feral and with a mysterious wing tattoo on her back. After her return, the entire family comes under pressure. Minke has been changed by her traumatic experience and, without anyone knowing, she is still being played by her captor from the shadows.

Sphinx

2024

The Plague poster
4.8

In 2029, just as we have learned to live with seasonal variants of Covid, a new variant of the plague bacillus is discovered in this southern city. With no treatment available, the central government decides to seal off the city and implement a mysterious "Plan D" with monstrous consequences in order to spare the rest of the country.

The Plague

2024

Ons Geluk poster
6.5

No synopsis available yet.

Ons Geluk

1995

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Clash

—

Jes poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Jes

2009

Behind the camera