Aage Hertel was born in
Frederiksberg to
Royal Danish Army colonel Harald Christian Hertel and Michaelle Elisabeth (
née Thomsen) Hertel. After he finished his studies, he began working as a stagehand and set painter before studying drama at the
Royal Danish Theatre in
Copenhagen. In 1901, he began an engagement as an actor at the Dagmarteatret in Copenhagen which lasted until 1909. He played on various tours of the Danish provinces and in
Norway before beginning an engagement at the
Odense Teater for the 1923–1924 season. In 1917, he founded Den Danske Filmskole, an academy for devoted to creating stage and film costume, makeup and effects, which utilized putty and plastics. The academy was only short-lived, however and closed shortly afterward. ==Personal life and death==