Louis van Beek

Louis van Beek graduated with highest distinction from Studio Herman Teirlinck in Antwerp in 1994, under the guidance of Jan Decleir. He made his debut in Willeke, de musical. After various roles in (music) theatre productions, he performed from 1998 to 2008 in productions by De Paardenkathedraal, directed by both Dirk Tanghe and Paula Bangels (including Midsummer Night’s Dream (Audience Theatre Award 2002), Equus, The Government Inspector, The Father). As a guest actor, he frequently performed with NTGent: with Johan Simons he created Merlin (2007) for the Ruhrtriennale and Kasimir and Karoline (2010) for the Festival d’Avignon. From 2010 to 2015, he acted and sang at NTGent in the musical theatre trilogy Aida, Candide, and Parsifal. Since 2016, he has performed regularly with Toneelgroep Maastricht, including Eyes Wide Shut (2016), EMMA (2018) and King Lear (2018). He also appeared in the Telekids Musical School productions Look@Me! (2019) and O DY ZEEËN (2022).

He initiated and wrote Mathilde for Theaterproductiehuis Zeelandia, about the muse of painter Carel Willink. He played the title role himself and was nominated for the 2010 Louis d’Or. In 2015 he wrote and performed, again under the direction of Paula Bangels, Sœur Sourire; or: Life and Death of God’s Mayfly, about the singing nun of the 1960s.

Van Beek has appeared in several television series, including Pleidooi, Westenwind, and Het Gouden Uur. He has worked for more than twenty-five years in dubbing as a voice actor and director, and is also a highly sought-after audiobook narrator. In 2020 he was nominated as Best Narrator for a Storytel Award. He was not only one of the four narrators of the new Dutch Bible translation, but also recorded the complete Proust cycle In Search of Lost Time.

For the Flemish company De Spelerij he translated and adapted Shakespeare’s Othello (2010), Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2014), and Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya (2015). For De Graaf & Cornelissen he adapted Fatal Attraction by James Dearden and Indecent Proposal by Jack Engelhard. In October 2017, his first original musical premiered, about chansonnière and diva Liesbeth List.

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From 2017 to 2023 he directed ArtEZ Zwolle students each year in a musical performance based on the work of a composer and/or lyricist (Drs. P, Sondheim, Bannink, Wilmink, Long, Kaandorp, Yentl and de Boer). Since 2023 he has been teaching song interpretation workshops at De Zuiderlingen, the preparatory programme of the Maastricht Academy of Dramatic Arts.

In 2019 he wrote and performed the operetta Bloemenduel together with Steef de Jong, which continued to be staged in 2020 and 2021. He also wrote the lyrics for De Jong’s acclaimed performance Sisi Boy. In February 2023, his adaptation of The Brave Soldier premiered at Toneelschuur Producties, again directed by Steef de Jong. The production was selected for the Dutch Theatre Festival. He wrote the libretto and lyrics for Postillon d’amour, the 2024 Christmas production of Stadsschouwburg Haarlem and Steef de Jong.

Meanwhile, in the summer of 2023, he performed Fanfare on location in Giethoorn, inspired by the film by Bert Haanstra, for which he also wrote the script and lyrics.

In autumn 2024 he played Albin/Zaza in La Cage aux Folles, produced by the English-language company QETC.

In addition, his first children’s book, The Forgetful Bat and Other Stories of Doctor Sam, was published in September 2025.