Gys de Villiers
(1960-) Actor, voice artist and sculptor.
The son of film-maker and playwright Dirk de Villiers, he was born Dirk Gysbert de Villiers in Roodepoort on 4 November, 1960, matriculating at Hoërskool Linden. He lived in Johannesburg with his life partner, Jaci Smith. They moved to New York in April 2015.
After school he began his national service in Kimberley. During his second year he met Lochner de Kock and Marie Human in Windhoek – it was there that he did his first professional acting, in Die Drie van der Walts.
After that he enrolled for a Performer's Diploma in Speech and Drama at the University of Cape Town , but only completed the first year of the three-year course.
In 1983 he joined PACT and for the first 10 years of his career he only did theatre work. He appeared in numerous theatre productions during this time, including Die Spinner (with its anti-war sentiment), as well as Diepe Grond and Sing jy van Bomme, which truly delved into the Afrikaner psyche. Also in He starred in Reza de Wet’s Diepe Grond together with Susan Coetzer, Dawid Minnaar and Doris Simula under Lucille Gillwald’s direction at Upstairs at the Market in 1986. He starred in Die Sakeman van Venesië at the Alexander Theatre in 1991, Siener in die Suburbs by P.G. du Plessis, directed by Chris Vorster, KKNK, 2002. *
He had a roles in the TV miniseries Arende (Dirk de Villiers, 1987/88), Triptiek 1 (1993), Die Vierde Kabinet (1998), Binnelanders (2005-2006), Jozi H and 7de Laan (2000-2001), Malan en Kie (2008).
De Villiers has also acted in numerous feature films, including City of Blood (1983), The Stick (1987), On the Wire (1990), Dangerous Ground (1997), Tarzan and the Lost City (1998), Inside Out (2000) and Zoop in Afrika (2005).
Scoring a Goal; Kabarette; The Seagull; It's a Boy; Wag tot Donker Kom; Al my Seuns; Vereeniging, Vereeniging; Die Spinner; Hamlet Machine; Woyzeck; Bloed in die Strate.
His television credits include Die Genesis Kontrak; Dood van Elmien Adler and Op die Grens.
Nominee 1991 De Villiers, Gys in In Kamera (Anton de Waal Award for best actor in a leading role in Afrikaans); De Villiers, Gys in `Sakeman van Venesie' (Johannesburg civic theatre Award for best actor in a supporting role in Afrikaans);
Sources
"Gys de Villiers" on the TVSA website [1]
"Gys de Villiers" on the Thespians website[2]
Outers programme notes, 1985(??).
Die Burger 24 August 2015.
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