Veerle Baetens (born 24 January 1978) is a Belgian actress, filmmaker, and singer best known for her lead role as Elise / Alabama in the romantic drama film The Broken Circle Breakdown (2012), for which she won the Tribeca Film Festival Award for Best Actress. She is also known for her lead role as Detective Hannah Maes on the VTM crime drama series Code 37 (2009–12).
She made her feature directorial debut with the drama film When It Melts (2023), for which she was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.
Early life Baetens was born in Brasschaat, Belgium. She had a musical education at the Hoger Instituut voor Dramatische Kunsten in Brussels.
Career In 2005, she won the "John Kraaijkamp Musical Award", in the category of 'Leading Actress in a musical', for the title role in the Dutch musical adaptation of Pippi Longstocking.
In 2008, she won the Flemish TV-star Award (Flemish equivalent of the Emmy Award) for Best Actress and Most Popular TV Personality, both for the title role in Sara.
In 2012, she released an album with her band "Dallas", called Take it all.
In 2013, she won the "best actress" category at the European Film Awards for her role in The Broken Circle Breakdown.
In 2013 she portrayed Margaret of Anjou in the Starz miniseries The White Queen, based on the novel of the same name by Philippa Gregory.
In 2023 she made her directorial debut with the film When it Melts.
Filmography Year Title Role Director Notes2000 Misstoestanden Fanny Kiekeboe Renaat Coppens 2002 Alias Girl at car rental Jan Verheyen Up The woman Jeroen Dumoulein & Dirk Verheye Short2003–04 Wittekerke Els 'Rachel Cohen' Jacobs Several TV series (20 episodes)2004 The Kiss Rita Hilde Van Mieghem De zusjes Kriegel Anne Dirk Beliën Romance Chantal Douglas Boswell Short Costa! Veerle Robin Pera TV series (1 episode) Rupel Kathy Bergmans Renaat Coppens (2) TV series (1 episode) Sprookjes Rudi Van Den Bossche TV series (1 episode) Flikken Annick Lafaille Toon Slembrouck & Dirk Corthout TV series (4 episodes)2005 Verlengd weekend Lisa Hans Herbots Litteken The woman Bert Temmerman Short2006 Love Belongs to Everyone Barbara Hilde Van Mieghem (2) Stormforce Alex Breynaert Hans Herbots (2) 2007–08 Sara Sara De Roose Several TV series (164 episodes)2008 Loft Ann Marai Erik Van Looy Lang Zullen Ze Leven Irna Hans Claes Short Samaritan The nurse Douglas Boswell (2) Short2009 The Over the Hill Band The nurse Geoffrey Enthoven 2009–12 Code 37 Hannah Maes Several TV series (39 episodes)2010 Zot van A. Anna Reynders Jan Verheyen (2) Yellow The woman Stijn Guillaume Short2011 Come as You Are The nurse Geoffrey Enthoven (2) Code 37 Hannah Maes Jakob Verbruggen 2012 The Broken Circle Breakdown Elise Vandevelde/Alabama Felix Van Groeningen European Film Award for Best ActressTribeca Film Festival Award for Best ActressFilm Club's The Lost Weekend – Best ActressFilm Festival Oostende – Best Actress2013 The Verdict Meester Teugels Jan Verheyen (3) The White Queen Margaret of Anjou Jamie Payne TV Mini-Series (Episodes 4 and 5)2014 Halfway Natalie Geoffrey Enthoven (3) Cordon Katja Tim Mielants TV series (10 episodes)2015 The Ardennes Sylvie Robin Pront Un début prometteur Mathilde Carmain Emma Luchini The Team Alicia Verbeeck Kasper Gaardsøe & Kathrine Windfeld TV series (8 episodes)2016 News from Planet Mars Chloé Dominik Moll Au-delà des murs Lisa Hervé Hadmar TV Mini-Series2017 Tabula Rasa [Anne]"Mie" D'Haeze Kaat Beels & Jonas Govaerts TV series (9 episodes)Also writer2018 Mothers' Instinct Alice Brunelle Olivier Masset-Depasse Magritte Award for Best Actress A Sister (Une sœur) operator Delphine Girard Nominated for an Oscar for best short movie2019 Cheyenne et Lola Cheyenne Eshref Reybrouck TV series (8 episodes)Nominated - ACS Award for Best Actress2020 Zuur Kim Robin Pront Short 2023 Through the Night (Quitter la nuit) Anna Delphine Girard Nominated—Magritte Award for Best Actress When It Melts (Het smelt) Herself Magritte Award for Best Flemish FilmNominated—Ensor Award for Best FilmNominated—Ensor Award for Best DirectorNominated—Ensor Award for Best Screenplay 2025 The Deal Alexandra Weiss Jean-Stéphane Bron TV series
Musicals Cabaret (1998) Where were you when... (1999) Nonsens (1999) Chicago (2000) Holiday Love Show (2003) Pippi Langkous (2005) – Pippi Langkous
Awards as film actress
Year Award Category Film Result2013European Film Awards European ActressThe Broken Circle Breakdown2013Tribeca Film FestivalBest Actress in a Narrative Feature FilmThe Broken Circle Breakdown2016Magritte AwardsBest ActressUn début prometteur
References
External links