Halina Reijn

Halina Reijn (Dutch: [haːˈlinaː ˈrɛin]; born 10 November 1975) is a Dutch filmmaker, writer and former actress.

Early life and education

Halina Reijn was born on 10 November 1975 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Fleur ten Kate and Frank Volkert Reijn. Reijn's parents were both artists. She is the middle child of three daughters, with an older sister named Leonora and a younger named Esther. Her father was gay despite being in a heterosexual marriage with her mother. Reijn grew up in an anthroposophy household, and her parents were followers of the Subud spiritual movement. In her early years, she grew up with her family in the tiny village of Wildervank, Groningen located in the north of the Netherlands. The place attracted many artists, Reijn described it as a "pleasant community". They lived without television and never visited the cinema. Instead they played music, drew and painted. Her father built a theater room with a podium and flats for her.

Reijn developed an interest in acting when her babysitter took her to a showing of Annie, a film adaptation of the Broadway musical, at a local theater when she was six. She stated, "When I saw Annie, I thought, I want that too. I was very jealous of her." With help of her mother, she joined a youth theater in Veendam. Reijn found it inadequate and thought the other children did not take it seriously enough, which led her mother to pursue an audition with the theater collective De Voorziening (precursor to the Noord Nederlands Toneel) despite being only ten years old.