Veerle Casteleyn

Veerle Casteleyn (born March 6, 1978 in Vlaanderen, Belgium) is a Belgian musical theatre performer and ballerina. Her name means 'Feather' in Dutch.

Biography

She trained at the De Koninklijke Balletschool van Antwerpen in Belgium, and during her training she was in various plays such as:

*"Joint Venture"
*"Initiate"
*"Fanfare"
*"The Three Musketeers" (short piece)
*"Self Made"

After leaving school, she performed in various shows in Belgium such as:

*"Annie"
*"The Sound of Music"
*"Cats"
*The Sound of Music (revival)

In 1997, Veerle moved to London to play the role of Jemima in the video production of “Cats”. Even though Veerle’s voice was going to be dubbed, it didn’t stop millions from falling in love with her wide-open face and big brown eyes. After the video, she took on several roles apart of the swing in the West End’s production of “CATS”. Soon after, she started to perform as Jemima on a regular basis; she also understudied the roles of Victoria and Rumpleteazer. After “CATS”, she joined the UK tour of “Carousel” as Louise. After the tour was over, Veerle went back to her homeland of Belgium and performed as Fredrika in the European tour of “A Little Night Music”.

In 2002, Veerle landed the role of Julia in the Belgian production of the French hit, “Roméo et Juliette: de la Haine à l’Amour” (appropriately re-named “Romeo en Julia: van Haat tot Liefde") It was Veerle’s first lead role, and her first time releasing a CD with her voice on it.

After "Romeo en Julia", Veerle starred as Chava in the Straight From the Heart production of "Fiddler on the Roof". After a short hiatus, Veerle moved onto television…becoming a cast member on the Belgian TV show "De Wet Volgens Milo" as Sonja, an intern at a law firm. During the end of 2005, Veerle took part in the Belgian version of the Czech musical "Dracula", as a part of the ensemble.

Recently, Veerle was a part of the ensemble in the Antwerp production of the ABBA song inspired musical "Mamma Mia!". On August 9th, she began rehearsals for the new Dutch production of "CATS", in which she will be a swing member (1st cover for Electra, 1st cover for Sylvani aka Jemima, and 2nd cover for Victoria). She took over the role of Jemina full time in the summer of 2007. "CATS" premiered in Rotterdam in October, and will be touring the Netherlands until October of 2007.

tage credits

*"Annie (Belgium)
*"The Sound of Music" (as Liesl) (Belgium)
*"Cats" (as Sylvani) (Belgium)
*"Cats" (as Jemima/Victoria/Rumpleteazer/Swing) (London)
*"Carousel" (as Louise) (UK National Tour)
*"A Little Night Music" (as Fredrika) (European Tour)
*"" (as Julia) (Belgium)
*"Fiddler on the Roof" (as Chava) (Belgium)
*"Alleen op de Wereld" (as adult Remi) (European Tour)
*"Dracula" (ensemble) (Belgium)
*"Mamma Mia!" (ensemble) (Belgium)
*"Cats" (swing) (European Tour)

Video credits

*"Cats" video (as "Jemima")
*"Dracula" (ensemble)

Television credits

*"Flikken" (Elke De Brock) [Season 5, Episode 6: Sporen]
*"De Wet Volgens Milo" (Sonja)

External links

*imdb name|id=0144623|name=Veerle Casteleyn
* [http://nekoweb.topcities.com Veerle Casteleyn fansite]
* [http://www.clubs.nl/community/default.asp?clubid=335296 The Unofficial Dutch Veerle Casteleyn Fanclub]