Ellen ten Damme

Last updated
Ellen ten Damme
Ellen-ten-damme-1337525935.jpg
2012 concert performance
Background information
Born (1967-10-07) 7 October 1967 (age 55)
Warnsveld, Netherlands
Occupationsactress, musician, singer-songwriter
Years active1989–present
Website ellentendamme.com

Ellen ten Damme (born 7 October 1967) is a Dutch actress, performer, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Ten Damme both sings and acts in four languages (Dutch, English, French and German), and plays piano and keyboards, guitar and violin. During her school years Ellen was an enthusiastic gymnast, and incorporating some gymnastic tricks or even circus acts into her shows has become a trademark.

Contents

Ten Damme grew up in the rural village of Roden, close to the university town Groningen, where she studied Dutch for a while. However she switched to the Amsterdam Theatre School for stage, film, cabaret and musical actors. After spending a great deal of time in Germany, Ten Damme returned to Amsterdam, where she lives on a houseboat.

Acting

After a few small Dutch TV roles, Ten Damme made her film debut starring in the 1991 short film The Tears of Maria Machita [nb 1] by director Paul Ruven, and was nominated for a Golden Calf movie award. Since then Ten Damme has consistently worked in TV and film – mostly in Dutch and German, and mostly in supporting roles and guest parts. Examples are recurring parts in Dutch comedy series We zijn weer thuis (1993) and Jiskefet (1995–1997), and appearing in 25 episodes of lawyer drama Pleidooi (1993–1995). Further movie parts included The Little Blonde, Dead (1993), No Trains No Planes (1999), Full Moon Party (2002) and Interview (2003), directed by Theo van Gogh. In 2000 Ten Damme played an English language leading role in Irish film drama Conamara. [1]

In 2013 she featured in the World War II theatre comedy To Be or Not to Be, based on the Ernst Lubitsch film of the same name alongside Waldemar Torenstra, Raoul Heertje, Frank Lammers and others.

Music and artistry

Ellen ten Damme has released five studio albums and one live CD. The first three: Kill Your Darlings (1995), I Am Here (2001) and Impossible Girl (2007) are in English. The next two albums: Durf jij (2011) and Het Regende Zon (2012) are in Dutch. Her latest CD, Berlin (2014) is a live cut of a German language concert at the Royal Dutch Concertgebouw.

In 1996–1997, ten Damme joined new wave band Soviet Sex which featured painter/photographer Peter Klashorst. In 2003–2004, she accompanied German rock musician Udo Lindenberg on the tour for his album Atlantic Affairs. In 2005, she competed to represent Germany in the annual Eurovision Song Contest, singing "Plattgefickt", [nb 2] a provocative anti-war protest song written by Lindenberg.

Guitarist Robin Berlijn  [ nl ] (who has played with Sam Lapides and Shannon Lyon) has recorded and performed with her for many years.

She has recorded songs that appear on movie soundtracks such as Casper: A Spirited Beginning and Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie . Dutch avant garde filmmaker Cyrus Frisch directed her music video "Stay".

Notes

  1. Original title: De Tranen van Maria Machita
  2. Translates as "fucked flat" or "fucked from the top down ".

Related Research Articles

<i>1492: Conquest of Paradise</i> (album) 1992 soundtrack album by Vangelis

1492: Conquest of Paradise is a 1992 music score to the film of the same name by Greek electronic composer and artist Vangelis. The film, a recount of the voyage to America in 1492 by Christopher Columbus, was directed by Ridley Scott, for whom Vangelis had previously composed the music score for Blade Runner, in 1982. The album and the single "Conquest of Paradise" enjoyed a revival in 1995 for various reasons and broke many sales records.

Kim Loraine Appleby is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. She participated in the duo Mel and Kim, with her sister Melanie Appleby, until her sister's death from pneumonia following treatment for cancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Udo Lindenberg</span> German musician and composer (born 1946)

Udo Lindenberg is a German singer, drummer, and composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Birgit Schuurman</span> Dutch singer and actress

Birgit Schuurman is a Dutch singer and actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carice van Houten</span> Dutch actress and singer (born 1976)

Carice Anouk van Houten is a Dutch actress and singer. Her first leading role in the television film Suzy Q (1999) won her the Golden Calf for Best Acting in a Television Drama; two years later, she won the Golden Calf for Best Actress for Miss Minoes (2001).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annie M.G. Schmidt</span> Dutch writer

Anna Maria Geertruida "Annie" Schmidt was a Dutch writer. She is called the mother of the Dutch theatrical song, and the queen of Dutch children's literature, praised for her "delicious Dutch idiom," and considered one of the greatest Dutch writers. An ultimate honour was extended to her posthumously, in 2007, when a group of Dutch historians compiled the "Canon of the Netherlands" and included Schmidt, alongside national icons such as Vincent van Gogh and Anne Frank.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tatjana Šimić</span> Croatian-Dutch model, actress and singer

Tatjana Šimić, also known by the mononym Tatjana, is a Croatian-Dutch model, actress and singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">La solitudine</span> 1993 single by Laura Pausini

"La solitudine" is an Italian ballad recorded by pop singer Laura Pausini and released as her debut single by CGD in February 1993. The song is included in Pausini's self-titled first album, released on 18 May 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trijntje Oosterhuis</span> Dutch singer and songwriter (born 1973)

Judith Katrijntje "Trijntje" Oosterhuis is a Dutch singer and songwriter. She formed the band Total Touch in 1990 with her brother Tjeerd Oosterhuis before she started as a solo singer. She represented the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "Walk Along", placing fourteen in the first semi-final with 33 points and winning the Barbara Dex Award of the year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hind Laroussi</span> Dutch singer

Hind Laroussi Tahiri, known professionally as Hind, is a Dutch singer of Moroccan descent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helena Vondráčková</span> Czech singer

Helena Vondráčková is a Czech singer whose career has spanned five decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edsilia Rombley</span> Dutch singer and television presenter (born 1978)

Edsilia Francisca Rombley is a Dutch singer and television presenter. She began her career in 1995, as a member of the Dutch girl group Dignity. Rombley began her solo career in 1996, after winning the Dutch talent show Soundmixshow, later winning the European Soundmix Show as well the following year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">(I'll Never Be) Maria Magdalena</span> 1985 song by West German singer Sandra Cretu

"(I'll Never Be) Maria Magdalena", also known simply as "Maria Magdalena", is a song recorded by German singer Sandra for her debut studio album The Long Play (1985). The song, written by Hubert Kemmler, Markus Löhr, Michael Cretu and Richard Palmer-James, was released as the lead single from The Long Play on 15 July 1985 by Virgin Records, and was a major chart hit in Europe, reaching number one in multiple countries. It remains Sandra's signature song.

Patty Trossèl is a Dutch singer and composer who performs under the name "La Pat." She sang a unique mix of cabaret, big band, vaudeville, pre-war styled chansons as well as extraordinary stage outfits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mouth and MacNeal</span> Dutch pop duo

Mouth and MacNeal was a Dutch pop duo that enjoyed commercial success in the 1970s. They are best known for their million selling recording of "How Do You Do" in 1972, which topped the Dutch chart and became a US top ten hit, also reaching number 2 in Canada, and for representing the Netherlands at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing third with the song "I See a Star", which went on to become a UK top ten hit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Threes Anna</span>

Threes Anna is a novelist, theatre and film maker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth Jacott</span> Surinamese-Dutch singer

Ruth Jacott is a Surinamese-Dutch singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willemijn Verkaik</span> Dutch singer and actress

Willemijn Verkaik is a Dutch singer and actress. She is best known for her stage roles in Wicked and Elisabeth, and for providing the singing voice for Elsa in both the German and Dutch versions of Disney's Frozen. She was the longest running Elphaba in the musical Wicked, having played the role over 2,000 times, and is the only person to have played the role in three languages. Her first performance as Elphaba was on 31 October 2007, in Stuttgart, Germany, and her final performance was on 22 July 2017 in the West End of London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Follow Me (Amanda Lear song)</span> 1978 single by Amanda Lear

"Follow Me" is a song by French singer Amanda Lear released in 1978 by Ariola Records as the lead single from her second album, Sweet Revenge. The song went on to become a multi-million-selling chart success in Continental Europe and remains one of Amanda Lear's trademark hits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saskia Rosendahl</span> German actress (born 1993)

Saskia-Sophie Rosendahl is a German actress. She is best known for her role in the film Lore (2012), for which she won the AACTA Award for Best Young Actor.

References

  1. "Conamara". IMDb.com. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 30 September 2021.