Background
Jeroen Willems was born on 15 November 1962 in Maastricht as the third child of a drama teacher and an elocutionist.
Jeroen Willems was born on 15 November 1962 in Maastricht as the third child of a drama teacher and an elocutionist.
Willems attended the Maastricht Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Soon afterwards, the family moved to Heerlen. Willems" father died in 1978, age 52, when Jeroen was 15 years old. Willems was attached to theatrical company Theatergroep Hollandia.
He could be seen in Louisiana Musica (1991), the solo show Twee stemmen (from 1997 on) and Louisiana Musica Twee (2003).
He also played with other companies, including Het Zuidelijk Toneel/Hollandia, het Nationale Toneel, and the Flemish company De Tijd. With Oostpool, he played in the musical stage production Brel, de zoete oorlog.
In the show, he also sang a couple of songs of Jacques Brel, translated to Dutch. In April 2010 he had the leading role in a performance of Louis Andriessen"s opera Louisiana Commedia at Carnegie Hall in New New York
He also could be seen in many film and television productions.
In 1991, he played David Grobben in the television series Bij nader inzien, based on the novel of Josip Juraj Voskuil. Other television series include Tijd van leven (1996), Wij, Alexander (1998), as Dutch cabaret star Wim Sonneveld in Bij ons in de Jordaan (2000), Bellicher (2010), and Lijn 32 (2012). In 2007, he had the leading role in Stellenbosch), a drama series about a South African wineyard at the end of the apartheid.
In 2010, he played King William II in the AVRO television series De Troon.
In 2012, he played the role of criminal Mirko Narain in the television film Cop vs Killer. Two television series will be released posthumously.
In January 2013, the VPRO broadcast the television series De ontmaskering van de Vastgoedfraude, in which Willems has the leading part. Three movies were released in 2013.
Willems appeared in Tula: The Revolt, and Boven is het Stil,De wederopstanding van een klootzak opened the 2013 International Film Festival Rotterdam.
On 3 December 2012, Willems became unwell during the rehearsals for a gala event on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of Royal Theatre Carré in Amsterdam, later that evening. The same day, he died of the effects of congestive heart failure in the Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis hospital. The event, which would have been attended by Queen Beatrix, was canceled in connection with his death.
He had a relationship with the actor Marcel Musters.
Film roles include Nynke (2001) as Dutch socialist Pieter Jelles Troelstra, De passievrucht (2003), Ocean"s Twelve (2004), Simon (2004), Summer Heat (2008), Stricken (2009), and as Prince Claus in Majesteit (2010).