1994–1999: Early television and theater work Throughout her teenage years, she had her earliest acting gigs in various minor roles on the
small screen, and a bigger role in '''', The latter one was meant as a backbone for her entrance exam into theatre school. In the middle of her second year in Maastricht, two years before her final exams, she was allowed to leave with an honorable mention. She also appeared in a short called
Temper! Temper! written and directed by
Frank Lammers, which was part of Kort Rotterdams, a five-part series highlighting common elements of
Rotterdam's society.
De Trein van zes uur tien, a Dutch thriller directed by
Frank Ketelaar that was broadcast by
AVRO. That same year she played a bit part as a sex worker in
Martin Koolhoven's breakout film,
Suzy Q, which featured Reijn's lifelong friend
Carice van Houten in the title role. Despite its warm critical reception and launching the careers of the people involved, the movie was never released on home video, in theaters or shown outside its home country due to music license issues with artists like
The Rolling Stones and
Jimi Hendrix among others. On 1 January 2001, 3 years after Reijn joined, De Trust would fuse with another theater company named
Art & Pro, they would continue under the new name of de Theatercompagnie. The fusion, however, did not prove fruitful in the long term, the newly formed company was steeped in financial difficulties, infighting between the co-founders, overworked actors and in the later years there would be conflict with the government over subsidies. Further that year, she would star in
Nanouk Leopold's directorial debut,
tragicomedy Îles flottantes, it follows the dysfunctional lives of three friends who all recently turned thirty. The low budget film was part of No More Heroes, an initiative started in order to produce films from upcoming Dutch filmmakers. Between her two film releases in 2001, she also participated in
De acteurs, a seven part weekly series where fourteen young actors were interviewed and paired up with each other to rehearse scenes from a miniseries created by
Kim van Kooten. that same year, Reijn gained further notoriety with her role in the tragicomedy,
Zus & Zo, alongside De Trust peers, which was written and directed by
Paula van der Oest. The movie premiered at the
2001 Toronto International Film Festival, just before the
September 11 attacks. The movie was nominated for
Academy Award for Best International Feature Film at the
75th Academy Awards, even though it received mixed reviews. She also starred in her second short,
Flicka, as the title role, in which she played a computer programme who is in relationship with a lonely building supervisor, it was produced as part of
NTR . And lastly she appeared in the
VARA TV Movie
Herschreven vriendschap. In 2002, Reijn featured in four projects. First she played a minor part in
Frank Van Passel's
Villa des Roses, her first role in an English/French language international co-production, based on the novel of the same name by
Willem Elsschot. Her next two projects were on television with the short TV drama
De afrekening and the TV Movie
Ware Liefde. She also had a minor role in
Moonlight, Paula van der Oest's follow-up movie. Meanwhile, back on stage she performed her first role for
Toneelgroep Amsterdam, with Ivo van Hove as director she took on the role of courtesan Poppea in
Con Amore. At the time, while she was still connected with De Trust, she got 'loaned out' to TGA. For De Theatercompagnie she returned to the role of Ophelia in Hamlet, a character she played previously, for a new rendition of the Shakespearean classic. In 2003, she joined the ensemble at
Toneelgroep Amsterdam (TGA), Around that time she also completed her final performance for De Theatercompagnie, with a new production of
The Seagull, where she played Nina. for the latter performance, in which she played Lavinia, she was nominated for a
Theo d'Or for "Best Female Actress" in 2004. Reijn had three big screen releases in 2003. Her first appearance was as Polleke's mother, Tina, in the
family film Polleke, a film adaption of
Guus Kuijer's children's book. At first, she was bewildered why she approached by director Ineke Houtman for the role of Polleke's mother, at the time she viewed herself too young to play a mother, but later accepted the role when delving into the character's story. Her next feature film was with director-writer
Alex van Warmerdam, called
Grimm, in which she had the female leading role. The story is loosely based on
Grimm Brothers's
Brother and Sister, in which a brother and sister are abandoned by their father in a forest; in a note their mother urges them to go to Spain to meet up with their uncle. The movie was first shown at
SSIF, before released nationwide in the Dutch theaters in early December. Dissatisfied with the original cut, director Alex van Warmerdam together with editor
Job ter Burg went back to the original and reworked the entire film. The new cut premiered at 2019's
Netherlands Film Festival. For her performance as Ellen, Reijn was nominated for best actress at the
Golden Calves. In March 2004, both
Polleke and ''Father's Affair'', were awarded the
Golden Film by the Netherlands Film Festival for having sold 100,000 tickets at the box office.
2004-2009: Black Book, La Voix humaine and brief hiatus from acting Compared to her previous years, 2004 was a year of rediscovery and recuperation for Reijn. During a production of
Mourning Becomes Electra she approached and told Ivo van Hove: "Take me out of everything, remove me from all your plans, because I can't handle it anymore". She started to resent her work and needed a time-out from her work, friends and home. She was granted unpaid leave by Toneelgroep Amsterdam. In April of that year, on invitation of
Renée Missel, who she met at the
Oscars that spring, she travelled to
Los Angeles. While staying in
Los Feliz, and with a scholarship of the VandenEnde Foundation and Fonds Podiumkunsten, she attended an actors and directors lab under the guidance of Judith Weston. The following year, she returned to the stage with
Shakespeare's
The Taming of the Shrew, where she played the title character. Reijn also took part in
Masterclass, a
hidden camera fake documentary-style television film written and directed
Hans Teeuwen. It follows
Pierre Bokma playing as himself giving a
master class together with his reclusive former mentor
Peer Mascini to six theatre students. In the film, Reijn is one of the actors interviewed about their previous experiences with Mancini, the actors involved, however, aren't made aware that they are secretly being recorded. Also in 2005, she starred in
Erik de Bruyn's
poetry short Lentelied, based upon the poem
Frühlingslied by J. C. van Schagen. In 2006, she starred in
A Thousand Kisses, directed by
Willem van de Sande Bakhuyzen, the final film before his death. It was released on 9 March in Dutch theaters. That same week,
Huis van de toekomst (House of the Future) had its premiere at the Compagnietheater, Amsterdam. The multimedia play, written and directed by Carina Molier, stars a group of actors living in
Big Brother-style house playing fictionalized versions of intellectuals, who Molier had previously interviewed, engaging in a science experiment. The piece also included video that was recorded prior and the actors could be viewed from every angle by the audience, who were also accompanied by a camera crew. Reijn played a media expert named Anna Tabaknikova that was based on Maja Kuzmanovic. While her performance received praise, the play itself was viewed less favourably. Reijn then starred in
Black Book, a World War II drama-thriller co-written and directed by
Paul Verhoeven and co-starring Carice van Houten and
Sebastian Koch. Set in
Nazi occupied Netherlands, the film featured her as Ronnie, an opportunist who prioritizes her own luxury and survival during the war in contrast with Rachel Steinn (van Houten), a Jewish woman on the run, who gets involved with the
Dutch resistance. She originally auditioned for the lead role, but was passed over in favour of van Houten and was given the part of Ronnie instead; Verhoeven found her appearance a better match for the latter character, they wanted a softer less pronounced look for the protagonist. The international co-production, with a total production cost of 21 million dollars, is the most expensive Dutch film ever made. The movie had its world premiere at the
63rd Venice Film Festival, where it was nominated for the
Golden Lion. It was the 2007's Dutch entry for the Academy Awards as Best Foreign Language Film, but was not selected. For her performance, she was nominated for her second Golden Calf and a
Rembrandt Award. She would return to the stage with
Oresteia, where she portrayed the character of
Elektra under the direction of
Johan Simons. She would also provide her voice for the short
Voor een paar knikkers meer, which became a festival darling that was shown at 200 festivals. Following a three-year absence of the play, she would reprise her role in
Mourning Becomes Electra for a new season in the first half of 2007. Also that spring, at the
57th Berlin International Film Festival, Reijn was one of the actors selected by the
European Film Promotion for the annual
Shooting Stars Award. Her next film role was in
Tamar van den Dop's first feature film,
Blind. In the film she played a withdrawn
albino woman, whose face is so fully scarred and who has severe insecurities about her appearance that one day she gets hired to read for a recently blind man. The role was noted to be a departure for Reijn, at the time she was primarily known for portraying extroverted characters. She also took on the role of
Nadine, in the
road film drama of the same name, directed by
Erik de Bruyn. The role of Nadine is depicted by three different actors across three stages of the character's life with Reijn appearing in flashbacks as the youngest one who is an ambitious party animal. The movie received only a limited release, and was received mostly positive by critics who praised the acting but criticised the poor script. On television she starred in the two-part
mini-series biographical drama,
De Prins en het Meisje, that loosely depicts the controversial engagement and its fallout between
Mabel Wisse Smit and the late
Prince Friso, portrayed respectively by Reijn and
Fedja van Huêt. It was first screened at the Netherlands Film Festival, where the two leads won the
Golden Calf Special Jury Prize, before it was broadcast on
Nederland 2. In May 2008, Reijn returned to Hollywood for the second time in order to develop her screenplay of her novel,
Prinsesje Nooitgenoeg, into a feature film with the intention of directing the project herself. Upon her return to Europe, she went back to stage with an adaptation of Luchino Visconti's
Rocco and His Brothers which had its premiere in German at the
Ruhrtriennale festival before coming to Amsterdam following May. In the play she takes on the part of sex worker Nadia, who finds herself caught in a rivalry between the brothers Rocco and Simone. Even though Nadia only appears sporadically, she loved playing this type of character which she described as "part strong woman, part almost animalistic". In October, TGA started a new season of
The Taming of the Shrew that ran until December. She had supporting role as
Margarethe von Oven alongside her
Black Book co-star Carice van Houten, in the
Tom Cruise vehicle
Valkyrie. Both were separately asked to join the cast, after Cruise and
Bryan Singer had watched
Black Book. The movie about the
20 July plot received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and was a box office success. In the wake of Valkyrie's release, she was offered numerous film roles but decided to stick to theater and forgo Hollywood at the time. Reijn started off 2009 with her first
monodrama,
Jean Cocteau's
La voix humaine. The project was developed for
Antwerp-based
Arts centre Monty, who asked van Hove to produce a small-scale production for their "Le salon des exilés" exhibition, which was created to challenge its participants to create a scaled-down play. At first, Reijn was apprehensive about the role citing poor experiences with solo plays at school, as a solution she became directly involved co-translating the original text. Furthermore, she had adjust her usual intense acting style to be more subdued. Reijn earned widespread acclaim for her performance. Mick Heaney of the
Irish Times described Reijn's acting as "whose performance is remarkable in any language". up until her retirement from acting in December 2019. It was also performed at the
Next Wave Festival in 2011. The overall reception to it was mostly positive, although it was generally considered inferior to the original film. Her next project was the Antonioni Project, an adaption that combines the three films,
L’Avventura,
La Notte and
L'Eclisse, of
Michelangelo Antonioni into a single script.
2010-2012: Established actress and the Theo d'Or With the start of the decade, she returned to the silver screen with
Win/Win, a telefilm about the
2008 financial crisis that takes place in Amsterdam
Zuidas. Reijn gravitated to the script due to it engagement with current events, and joined the cast despite the fact that her role as receptionist Deniz, described as a "cold formal type", was only secondary. The film has had its debut at
IFFR and was later shown in Dutch theaters in April. She would also come back to television with the first season of ''
alongside van Houten, the Dutch version of the Israelian BeTipul, In the show she plays Lara, a doctor, who falls for her therapist. She also starred in the music short film Great Lengths
featuring music from Martyn. After a four-year hiatus she reprised her leading role in Hedda Gabler
, and would return for another season in the second half of 2011, followed-up by a final show at the Munich Kammerspiele in July 2012. Alongside other famous Dutch actors, she had a cameo appearance in Sterke verhalen''. Reijn provided her voice for another short film, titled
Sintel. The English-language animated short was made in
Blender in collaboration with the
Blender Foundation. The 15 minute long short revolves around a girl named Sintel, voiced by Reijn, and her pet dragon that is voiced by
Thom Hoffman. With a budget of four thousand euros, the short was the second-most expensive Dutch animated film at the time and had its debut at the Netherlands Film Festival, before it was released online for free. It was viewed over a million times in less than a week. Her final film role of the year was in
The Dinner Club, directed by
Robert Jan Westdijk. The movie revolves around an
eating club set in the affluent neighbourhood of het
Gooi. Reijn was considered one of the few highlights, in a movie that was mostly panned. It earned significant acclaim from critics, with particular mentions towards the cast.
Volkskrant's Karin Veraart called Reijn performance as the neurotic sister Lisa "fantastic". The original season ran until February 2011, with a follow-up season in early 2013. In 2011, she was part of the ensemble cast for
De Russen! (The Russians), an adaptation written by
Tom Lanoye that rewrites Anton Chekhov's
Platonov and
Ivanov into a five hour long tragicomedy set in the modern day, that involved the entire emsemble of the company. On television she starred in the episode called "Kortsluiting" of the crime drama
anthology series,
Van God Los, which were inspired by real events. Her single film release in 2011, was in the
psychological thriller Isabelle as the titular character, a famous and beautiful actress who is abducted and held captive by a disfigured artist. In preparation for the role, Reijn lost nine kilos (18lbs) by sticking to strict diet for nine weeks. The film based on the eponymous novel received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics, and although her effort was commended she was largely viewed as a miscast. Despite this, Reijn was nominated for best Dutch actress for the role at the 2012's
Rembrandt Awards. Reijn began 2012 with a supporting role in the television film,
De Overloper, that bridges the fifth and sixth season of the
police drama Flikken Maastricht. In it she plays the temporary detective partner of
Angela Schijf's character. The premiere was watched by 1.6 million people, Subsequently, she starred in a stage adaptation of
John Cassavetes'
Husbands, in it she took on the role of every female character in the play with seven roles in total. The project was created in partnership with the European Union under the Prospero initiative, that made its debut in
Rennes and would being played across seven European cities in 2012. It gained a mixed reception with Dutch critics. Husbands was the subject of a
NPO Doc documentary,
Bloot - een film over acteren, where their rehearsals were recorded and the cast was interviewed about their profession. For the Netherlands Film Festival, Reijn was one of a handful actors involved in a thriller short which was based on suggestions and feedback from
Twitter users with only the basic premise prewritten. Following a years long hiatus, she returned as Katharina for the last season of "The Taming of the Shrew", Coinciding with it, Reijn was tasked with guiding eight girls with criminal backgrounds, who wanted to clean up their acts by auditioning for a
rock musical version of the aforementioned "The Taming of the Shrew" in a
television special that was part of a television program called,
TV Lab, that was broadcast on
NPO 3. Reijn appeared in the ensemble cast of 2012's
Goltzius & The Pelican Company, written and directed by
Peter Greenaway. In the film about the Dutch printmaker
Hendrick Goltzius, she portrayed Portia. She next played the titular character in a restaging of
Henrik Ibsen's
Nora with director Thibaud Delpeut. This would mark her having played both Ibsen's most well known heroines,
Nora and Hedda Gabler. Reijn initially wished to direct the play herself with
Karina Smulders in the lead, directing her own play was long held dream for her but she backed down and when Delpeut wanted to direct it she was cast as Nora. In the beginning, she was hesitant to take on the project, nevertheless she accepted due her desire to work with Delpeut. although Reijn's performance received universal acclaim. Simon van den Berg of the
Parool called her performance as Nora, "one of her most beautiful and intense roles so far". She was awarded a
Theo d'Or by
VSCD for her portrayal of Nora.
2013-2018: Continued theater work and final film roles 2020 In 2013, she was bestowed with the Courbois-pearl by the namesake of the award,
Kitty Courbois, at the Toneelgroep Amsterdam 25th anniversary event. The award was created in 2010 by Toneelgroep Amsterdam and
Stadsschouwburg in order to honor the careers of actresses who have made an indelible impression on the public on theater, and in the world television and film with Courbois being the inaugural recipient. Unlike other awards, The pearl can only given by the previous recipient to another actress. She then starred as the title character in the ten-part television series
Charlie, the Dutch remake of the
medical comedy-drama Nurse Jackie. In the show, she played a married ER nurse who leads a double life who struggles with a drug addiction and commits adultery. After reading the scripts she quickely signed on, relishing the opportunity to play a different, more cynical character. On the ten-year anniversary, she came back as Lavinia in
Mourning Becomes Electra for the 2013/2014 theater season. Over the years, they staged it over 100 times with at least 35.000 visitors worldwide. She also had a minor part in the
Feuten: Het Feestje, a stand-alone sequel film to the
Feuten television series. In collaboration with theatre director Adelheid Roosen and
De oversteek project, this new version incorporated hundred of local regular folks in their own clothing that are inserted in select scenes. Loek Zonneveld writing for
De Groene, noted Reijn's acting as the three women a "strong one-woman choir commentator", but adding, St. Just, Robespierre alter ego, a "strange directerial choice" that "doesn't hold up". In the summer she was in back in theatres with an adaptation of
The Fountainhead with her taking on the role of Dominique Francon. In his positive review for
The Guardian, Andrew Todd proclaimed Reijn as a "superb Francon" who is the "beating heart of the story". It was staged across Europe in Amsterdam,
Festival d'Avignon,
Festival Grec de Barcelona among others. including appearances in
Paris,
Seoul,
Taiwan,
New York City, and
Manchester. Further in 2014, she was in the box office hit
Gift from the Heart, a romantic comedy for the holiday season set around
Sinterklaas. The movie was awarded a
Platinum Film. The story revolves around Julia (
Chantal Janzen), a marketer send to the Netherlands to create a marketing campaign around
Santa Claus during Sinterklaas, where she comes in contact with two brothers (
Benja Bruijning and
Fedja van Huêt). In it she plays the estranged partner of van Huêt's character. Critics expressed their disapproval with the film, calling it a poor replica of
Love Actually and
Love Is All.
De Telegraaf criticized the lack of chemistry between the leads. In the winter of 2014/2015, she starred in
Maria Stuart as the
titular character opposite of Chris Nietvelt as
Elizabeth I. A
historical drama written by
Friedrich Schiller that chronicles the final days of Mary, Queen of Scots. The play was coproduced with Toneelhuis
Antwerp, it received a mixed response from Dutch-language critics, and a more favorable reception from French commentators at the Exit Festival. For her performance she nominated for her third Theo d'Or. Set in a future police state in the Netherlands, she played one of three teachers at a re-education institute. as it was unable to overcome mediocre audience ratings. Secondly, she starred in
De leerling, a mid-length drama film that explores the attraction and complicated relationship between a 40-year old teacher and her new student at a
VMBO school. It was part of the
One Night Stand series. Reijn closed out the year of 2015 on stage with an adaptation of
Louis Couperus's famous novel,
The Hidden Force. Set on
Java in the backdrop of
Dutch East Indies, the narrative explores cultural differences and clashes between Dutch colonizers and the indigenous indonesians. Reijn's role in the play was as Leonie van Oudijck, who she described as a
femme fatale. She followed in the footsteps of
Pleuni Touw, who played the character in the
De Stille Kracht mini-series, which was noted for having the first nude scene on Dutch television. It was met a moderately positive response from Dutch reviewers on its opening at
Ruhrtriennale, who praised the special effects but on the opposite side, the writing and some of the acting received criticism. After Ruhrtriennale, it was restaged at the Stadsschouwburg and
DeSingel until February 2016. Besides an appearance at the Chekhov Festival in 2017, the play returned at the end of both 2017 and 2018. Reijn already made known previously, the duo's ambitions to collaborate more and move into producing their own projects. Reijn was slated to appear in Marleen Jonkman's directorial debut,
La Holandesa, as a childless woman trying to get her life together, but was replaced by
Rifka Lodeizen as she had to drop out for other obligations. In the summer of 2016, Reijn and TGA debut a faithful reworking of
Woody Allen's
Husbands and Wives at the
Holland Festival, directed by
Simon Stone. In it she took on the role of Judy, played by
Mia Farrow in the film. It was met with significant acclaim from critics. Reijn's Judy earned her considerable praise. They would go on tour with
Husbands and Wives starting in September up to March 2017. On stage in the play
Obsession next to
Jude Law, this play was a coproduction between
Toneelgroep Amsterdam and the
Barbican Centre London and was performed in English. Although the play quickly sold out, it was unable to meet the high expections and was greeted with a lukewarm response. In the fall, she had a supporting role in the romantic drama film
Love Revisited. In 2018, she guest starred in two television shows. She was one of the Dutch celebrities that played as herself in
Linda de Mol's comedy series Family Kruys. She also starred in the Swedish thriller
Conspiracy of Silence, an eight part series about the international arms trade. In it she played as Maggie van Haal, a CEO of a Swedish-Belgian weapons factory. She described the experience of filming as making her feel like a "
freshman", as every scene was in Swedish except hers, and the rest of the cast already knew each other and didn't who she was. Although she enjoyed the adventure, she stated at the time that her work with
Internationaal Theater Amsterdam and her burgeoning directorial career would take priority.
2019–present: Filmmaking and retirement from acting 2019 marked the year Reijn moved into
filmmaking and officially announced her retirement from acting with
Red Light being her last official project. Reijn made her
directorial debut with the 2019's
Instinct, with Carice van Houten and
Marwan Kenzari in leading roles. Development of the film started in 2015, Reijn co-wrote the script with Esther Gerritsen, they did extensive research for the project. The film premiered at the
Locarno Film Festival, winning the Variety Piazza Grande Award and received a special mention for best first feature. It received generally positive reviews from critics and was awarded a
Golden Film for having sold 100.000 tickets. 2020 saw the release of
Red Light, a Belgian-Dutch television series starring Reijn that follows three women who become entangled in matters of human trafficking after one of their husbands goes missing. Reijn co-created the series alongside
Carice van Houten, writing and producing the show through her and van Houten's production company, Man Up. and had its premiere at the
Cannes Series festival where it won the Canneseries Student Prize and Special Interpretation Prize. Van Houten left Man Up in 2023 to start her own production company, Birdcat, leaving Reijn the sole principal of Man Up. and had its U.S. theatrical release in August, where it had the second-highest-grossing opening weekend of any limited-release film that year. It was met a positive critical reception and achieved solid success at the box office. The film was nominated for two
Independent Spirit Awards in 2022, for best director and best screenplay. Shortly after the release of
Bodies Bodies Bodies, A24, the film's distributor, also acquired the North American rights for Reijn's debut feature
Instinct. Reijn next wrote, produced, and directed the
erotic thriller,
Babygirl, with
Nicole Kidman in the lead role; it follows Kidman as a CEO who starts an affair with a young intern, played by
Harris Dickinson. The film, which marks her second direct collaboration with A24, began filming in December 2023. The film premiered at the
81st Venice International Film Festival, while it competed for the prestigious
Golden Lion. It was released by A24 in the United States on December 25, 2024. In 2025, she was involved as the director and photographer for
Sarah Burton's debut collection at the
Givenchy fashion house. The campaign starred model and actress
Kaia Gerber, the subject of the campaign was the
female gaze, female collaboration, and was meant to explore the friendship between the director and actress. Reijn also appeared together with Gerber in some of the photographs and videos. She also co-wrote and co-directed a commercial short film with
Spike Jonze for fashion house
Gucci. == Other works ==