Michiel Huisman (July 18, 1981) is a Dutch actor and musician. After starting off primarily in Dutch-language film and television, Huisman has mainly done English-speaking roles in recent years.

After being the lead singer and guitarist for the Dutch band Fontane, Huisman moved on to Dutch television shows such as Goede tijden, slechte tijden, and De co-assistent, as well as a handful of films. Since then, he’s had roles in big time North American shows like Game of Thrones, Treme, Nashville and Orphan Black. Huisman has also appeared on the big screen in the films World War Z and Age of Adaline, the latter being his first starring role in an American film.

Michiel Huisman Bio

Michiel Huisman was born on July 18th, 1981 in the Netherlands in the town of Amstelveen, a suburb of Amsterdam.

While getting his feet on the ground in the acting industry, Huisman was the lead singer and guitarist of the Dutch band Fontane. Together with Roland van der Hoofd, Gilles Tuinder, Bas van Geldere and Donny Griffioen, the band released three singles from 2001 to 2003: “1+1= 2,” “Slapeloos,” and “Neem Me Mee.” The band’s work ended up being featured in Dutch films Huisman starred in.

After Fontane had split up, Huisman decided to pursue a solo music career. In 2005 he released an album in Dutch titled Luchtige Verhalen. He also released two singles– “Deel Van Mij” in 2005 and “Geef Je Over” in 2006. Once he took on more acting roles, Huisman backed away from his music career to focus on film and television.

Michiel Huisman Acting Career

Michiel Huisman’s career started off as a teenager when he appeared in the long-running Dutch soap opera Goede tijden, slechte tijden as Rover in 1998. In 2001, Huisman played Bart in the Dutch film and follow-up mini-series Costa!, which starred several Dutch soap opera stars. In the next two years, Huisman played a role in Full Moon Party and a co-starring role in Phileine Says Sorry, both in Dutch-speaking roles and both box office successes in The Netherlands.

In 2006, Huisman had a role in Paul Verhoeven’s Dutch World War II thriller Black Book. The film was not only the most expensive Dutch film to be made at the time, but also the country’s most successful at the box office. It was the country’s highest grossing film for 2006 and third overall in The Netherlands behind American films Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and The Da Vinci Code. Black Book also won critical acclaim worldwide and is still acclaimed as one of the best Dutch films ever made among audiences.

Huisman continued to be a mainstay on Dutch television in the mid-2000s. In 2005, he appeared in nine episodes of Meiden van De Wit. In 2007, Huisman landed the leading role in De co-assistent as Hugo Biesterveld. The show ran on Dutch television until 2010 with a run of 41 episodes. Huisman also took on a role in Bloedverwanten for its 12 episode run in 2010.

After having much success in Dutch television and film, Michiel Huisman began to appear in English speaking roles at the end of the decade. In 2009, he played Ernest II in The Young Victoria, which was about the early years of Queen Victoria’s rule. He also played legendary Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev in BBC’s television film Margot.

In 2010, Huisman took his talents to America to take on a role in HBO’s musical drama Treme. Huisman plays Sonny, a street musician from Amsterdam, as he and the other characters try to get by in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. Sonny would be a key character throughout the show’s four season run from 2010-2013.

Two years later, Huisman tacked on another American television work to his credit as he played Liam McGuinnis on ABC’s country music drama Nashville. Liam became a recurring character on the show, as he takes on the role of producer for the aging Rayna Jaymes, played by Connie Britton. Huisman would appear in 13 episodes of the show’s first two seasons.

After playing alongside Brad Pitt in 2013’s film adaptation of World War Z, Huisman became another recurring figure as Cal Morrison on BBC America’s Orphan Black. Cal is an outdoorsman who comes across the path of the clones. Huisman has appeared in various episodes throughout the show’s first two seasons.

Huisman’s biggest role yet came when he was tapped to replace Ed Skrein as Daario Naharis on HBO’s fantasy epic Game of Thrones early in 2014. Daario is a captain who switches allegiances from Yunkai to Daenerys and becomes a central figure in negotiations between the two. After appearing in occasional episodes in season 4, Daario became a regular character in the show’s 5th season. As a result, Huisman has seen his star power rise by taking on such a highly publicized role.

Later in 2014, Huisman played a co-starring role alongside Reese Witherspoon in the biographical drama Wild. Husiman played Jonathan in the film based on Cheryl Strayed’s autobiography, which went on to be nominated for two Academy Awards in 2015 for Best Actress (Witherspoon) and Best Supporting Actress (Laura Dern as Strayed’s mother).

In 2015, Huisman starred in an American full-length film for the first time alongside Blake Lively in The Age of Adaline. Huisman plays Ellis Jones, a young entrepreneur who falls in love with Adaline, a 107 year old woman stuck in a 29 year old’s body.

uInterview talked with Huisman about the film prior to its release. He described some of the challenges of playing the role of Ellis, especially in how he tried to make him remain likeable. “I tried to kind of ground him and make him a little humble in a way, I hope. He meets Adaline and just instantly falls for her and of course he’s blown away by her beauty, but then when he gets to know her, he just feels such an amazing depth to this person, which is not strange because she turns out to be a 107-year-old woman in the body of Blake Lively.”

In addition to Lively, Huisman got to play alongside the legendary Harrison Ford in the film. And as he told us, Huisman had a great time shooting the film with the both of them. “I had so much fun working with Blake,” he said. “I think like right from the start we shared our love for New Orleans, which was cool. She spent quite a bit of time there working on different projects and so have I; I lived there. So, we kind of had that connection. She loved the food and stuff, so every other day she’d bring in something great to set. I felt like we had a great rapport and fun portraying these two characters.”

“And with Harrison,” he continued “it was like I still can’t really believe that I’ve had the opportunity to play a character, and I got to work with someone as great as Harrison Ford.”

Huisman also played a starring role in the 2017 thriller film 2:22, which revolved around his character figuring out a set of ominous clues that occur each day to him at 2:22 pm. In 2018, he was featured the television show The Haunting of Hill House, which ran for one season, and in the drama film Irreplaceable You.

Huisman is currently starring in a thriller television show Echo 3, which follows the search for a young woman after she goes missing along the Colombia-Venezuela border. The show costars Jessica Collins and Luke Evans.

Michiel Huisman Personal Life

Michiel Huisman married Dutch actress Tara Elders in 2008. They have a daughter, Hazel, who was born in June of 2007. The family currently resides in New Orleans.

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