Carel Struycken

Infobox actor
name = Carel Struycken
birthname =
birthdate = birth date and age|1948|7|30
location = The Hague, Netherlands
deathdate =
deathplace =
othername =
homepage =
academyawards =
spouse =

Carel Struycken (born July 30, 1948) is an actor in film, television, and stage. He is an exceptionally tall man at 7 feet (2.1 meters) and thus is often called upon to play character or comedic roles in which height plays a major part. Notably he was featured as Mr. Homn on the television series "", as Lurch in the Addams Family films "The Addams Family", "Addams Family Values", and "Addams Family Reunion", and as The Giant on the "Twin Peaks" television series.

Biography

Struycken was born in The Hague, Netherlands. When he was only 4 years old his family moved to Curaçao, an island in the Caribbean. At age 15, when he was living on the island of Curaçao, he composed several Caribbean waltzes. At 16 he returned to his home country, where he finished secondary school. He graduated from the directing program at the film school in Amsterdam, following which he spent a year at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. After that he collaborated on a number of projects of writer/director Rene Daalder. He was "discovered" as an actor at the corner of Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles by a lady who had abandoned her car in the middle of the street, calling after him: "We need you for a movie!". [Carel Struycken tells the anecdote about his discovery as an actor in an interview on the daily Dutch TV show " [http://dewerelddraaitdoor.vara.nl/terugkijken.php?id=175 De Wereld Draait Door] ", October 2, 2006 (at 41:08 min.)] The movie was "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". The turning point in his acting career however was playing the antagonist Terak in ', based on the Ewok creatures from '. Carel has also helped in hardware and software development of Virtual Reality systems. He also starred in the 1987 film "The Witches of Eastwick" with Jack Nicholson. He currently resides in Pasadena, California.

He has been diagnosed with acromegaly.

Filmography

*"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1978) [Source for filmography: [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0835393/ Carel Struycken] , accessed on October 3, 2006]
*"Go West, Young Man" (1980)
*"Die Laughing" (1980)
*"The Prey" (1984)
*"" (1985) (TV film)
*"The Witches of Eastwick" (1987)
*"Night of the Kickfighters" (1988)
*"Framed" (1990) (TV film)
*"Twin Peaks" (1990)
*"Servants of Twilight" (1991)
*"The Addams Family" (1991)
*"Journey to the Center of the Earth (1993 film)" (1993) (TV film)
*"Addams Family Values" (1993)
*"Oblivion" (1994)
*"Out There" (1995) (TV film)
*"Under the Hula Moon" (1995)
*"" (1996)
*"Men in Black" (1997)
*"I Woke Up Early the Day I Died" (1998)
*"Addams Family Reunion" (1998)
*"Enemy Action" (1999)
*"Tinnef" (2000) (Video)
*"The Vampire Hunters Club" (2001) (Video)
*"Science Fiction (2002 film)" (2002)
*"Fatal Kiss" (2002) (TV film)
*"The War of the Starfighters" (2003)
*"The Fallen Ones" (2005) (TV film)
*"My Name Is Earl" (2006) (TV film)

Personal life

Carel lives in Los Angeles California. He is married and has children. Carel is moving to Catalina Island. He is very close to his friends from Curaçao and he still has contact with them.

Television series

*"Babylon 5" Season 2 episode "Soul Mates", as the Trader
*"Charmed" ( 2002 ) : "Giant Demon"

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0835393|name=Carel Struycken
*amg name|id=113102|name=Carel Struycken
* [http://www.sphericalpanoramas.com/ www.sphericalpanoramas.com] - his photography website