Carel Struycken

Carel Struycken

Carel Struycken at the Brussels Comic-Con, March 2016.
Born (1948-07-30) July 30, 1948
The Hague, Netherlands
Occupation Actor
Years active 1978–present
Height 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in)
Website carelstruycken.com

Carel Struycken (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈkaːrəl ˈstrœy̯kə(n)]; born July 30, 1948) is a Dutch film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for playing the Giant in Twin Peaks, Mr. Homn in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Lurch in the films The Addams Family, Addams Family Values, and Addams Family Reunion. Because he is 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in) tall, he often plays character and comedic roles in which height is a major part.

Early life

Struycken was born in The Hague, Netherlands. When he was four years old, his family moved to Curaçao, an island in the Caribbean. There, at age 15, 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. After that, he spent a year at the American Film Institute, in Los Angeles. Struycken's height is due to acromegaly.[1]

Career

Struycken collaborated on several projects with writer and director Rene Daalder, including the 1986 punk rock musical Population: 1, which featured Tomata du Plenty, of The Screamers, and which was released on DVD in October 2008.[2]

In 1978, Struycken was "discovered" as an actor at the corner of Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles by a woman who had abandoned her car in the middle of the street, calling after him: "We need you for a movie!".[3] The movie was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Struycken played Terak in the 1985 TV movie Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, a spinoff of Return of the Jedi.

Struycken appeared as Fidel in the 1987 film The Witches of Eastwick. That same year, he appeared as Mr. Homn in "Haven", an episode of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, a role he would reprise in four more episodes until 1992.

In 1991, he starred as Lurch in the feature film The Addams Family. He reprised the role in the 1993 sequel, Addams Family Values.

He portrayed the mystical guide-character "The Giant" in David Lynch and Mark Frost's hit 1990-91 ABC television series Twin Peaks, and will be reprising the role in the 2017 Showtime revival of the series.

Personal life

Carel Struycken is married to an American woman and has two children. He lives in the Los Angeles area. His brother Peter Struycken is a noted Dutch artist, who has won the 2012 Heineken Prize for Arts of the Royal Netherlands Academy for Sciences.[4]

Struycken is also an avid photographer. He maintains a website devoted to his spherical panoramas[5] and shares a photography blog with Josh Korwin.[6]

Filmography

Television series

Music videos

References

  1. ↑ Dennis McLellan for the Los Angeles Times. December 27, 1992 Shedding Light on a Rare Disease : Woman Hopes O.C. Group Will Increase Awareness of Life-Threatening Effects of Excessive-Growth Illness
  2. ↑ Population1movie.com
  3. ↑ Carel Struycken tells the anecdote about his discovery as an actor in an interview on the daily Dutch TV show De Wereld Draait Door, October 2, 2006 (at 41:08 min.)
  4. ↑ KNAW Dr. A.H. Heineken Prize for the Arts: Peter Struycken. Retrieved July 31, 2014
  5. ↑ Struycken, Carel.Spherical Panoramas. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  6. ↑ Picture Bubbles Blog. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  7. ↑ Source for filmography: Carel Struycken, accessed on October 3, 2006

Further reading

External links

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