Early work in Belgium and Netherlands (1992–2011) At the age of 13, Schoenaerts made his film debut with a small role in the 1992 Belgian film
Daens, which was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. His father starred in the film but they did not share any scenes together. After completing studies at The Academy of Dramatic Arts in Antwerp, he featured in several shorts and feature films. In 2002, he starred in Dorothée Van Den Berghe's
Meisje (
Girl);
Tom Barman's
Any Way the Wind Blows in 2003; Rudolf Mestdagh's
Ellektra and Roel Mondelaers and Raf Reyntjens's sci-fi short film
A Message from Outer Space, which Schoenaerts also produced in 2004. In 2003, Schoenaerts was named one of "
Europe's Shooting Stars" by the
European Film Promotion. In 2006, Schoenaerts played Dennis in Hilde Van Mieghem's
Love Belongs to Everyone. He had a small role as a member of the
Dutch resistance in
Paul Verhoeven's
Black Book. In 2007, he starred in Ben van Lieshout's film
De Muze, and in Erik Bruyn's
Nadine. In 2008, he played Bob in Pieter van Hees's horror film
Left Bank, and most notably played the role of Filip in
Erik Van Looy's
Loft, which became the most successful
Flemish film at the Belgian box-office, earning over $7,075,161. In the same year, Schoenaerts starred in the mini-series
The Emperor of Taste (
De smaak van De Keyser), playing a Belgian soldier in World War II. In 2009, he starred in Dorothée Van Den Berghe's
My Queen Karo, in which he played the hippie Raven in 1970s
Amsterdam. In 2010, he played the lead role in Alex Stockman's
techno-thriller Pulsar, and had a cameo in Franck Richard's
La Meute (
The Pack). In 2011, Schoenaerts starred in the Dutch films
The Gang of Oss (
De Bende van Oss) and
The President (
De President).
Breakthrough: Bullhead and Rust and Bone (2011–2013) In 2011, Schoenaerts played Jacky Vanmarsenille, the lead role in
Bullhead, directed by
Michaël R. Roskam, which was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar. His performance in the film was well received and won him the FIPRESCI Award for best actor at the
Palm Springs International Film Festival in January 2012. The jury praised the actor's "superb portrayal of an innocent and sensitive man trapped in a truculent body." He also won the
Magritte Award for Best Actor. , Armand Verdure and
Jacques Audiard during the premiere of
Rust and Bone at the
Cannes Film Festival in 2012. In 2012, he starred in
Jacques Audiard's
Rust and Bone (''De rouille et d'os
) alongside Marion Cotillard. The film premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and was a critical and box office hit in France. On 22 February 2013, Matthias won the César Award for Most Promising Actor for his role in Rust and Bone''. Schoenaerts produced and starred in the Belgian short film
Death of a Shadow (
Dood van een Schaduw), directed by Tom Van Avermaet. On 10 January 2013, the short film was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.
The New York Times described Schoenaerts as "the most versatile beefcake actor of our time" in 2012. In 2013, he narrated the
Flemish version of the
Disneynature documentary
Chimpanzee.
International success (2014-present) In 2014, Schoenaerts appeared alongside
Clive Owen,
Billy Crudup and again Marion Cotillard in the thriller
Blood Ties, in which he played Anthony Scarfo. The film premiered at the
2013 Cannes Film Festival. He played Eric Deeds in
The Drop, his second film with Michael R. Roskam, starring opposite
Tom Hardy,
Noomi Rapace and
James Gandolfini. In 2015, Schoenaerts appeared in seven films:
The Loft, the American remake of the Belgian film
Loft, in which he played the same character and which was his first English-language film; in
Saul Dibb's
Suite Française, playing the German officer Bruno von Falk opposite
Michelle Williams and
Kristin Scott Thomas; in
Thomas Vinterberg's
Far from the Madding Crowd as Gabriel Oak, one of
Carey Mulligan's three love interests; in
Alan Rickman's period drama
A Little Chaos, as French landscape architect
André Le Nôtre, opposite
Kate Winslet. In the same year, Schoenaerts was announced as
William Clark on
HBO's miniseries
Lewis and Clark, co-starring
Casey Affleck as
Meriwether Lewis. Production got shut down in August 2015 due to "internal and external, weather-related factors". Schoenaerts starred in
Alice Winocour's French thriller
Disorder (
Maryland), as an ex-soldier suffering from
post traumatic stress disorder, for which his performance was highly praised. He played Paul in
Luca Guadagnino's erotic thriller
A Bigger Splash, starring opposite
Tilda Swinton,
Ralph Fiennes and
Dakota Johnson, and played the art-dealer Hans Axgil in
Tom Hooper's
The Danish Girl.
A Bigger Splash and
The Danish Girl made their world premieres at the
2015 Venice Film Festival, both were screened in the official competition. On 28 July 2015, Schoenaerts was named a
Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in France. In January 2016, it was announced that Schoenaerts would play a drummer who begins to lose his hearing in Darius Marder's
Sound of Metal. After a couple of years in development, Schoenaerts was replaced by
Riz Ahmed. In 2017, Schoenaerts reteamed with
Michaël R. Roskam in the Belgian film
Racer and the Jailbird (
Le Fidèle), in the role of a gangster named Gigi. The film was Roskam and Schoenaerts's first film in Belgium since 2011's
Bullhead. In the same year, Schoenaerts played Gene,
Jane Fonda's son on the
Netflix film
Our Souls at Night, also starring
Robert Redford and directed by
Ritesh Batra. He worked again with director
Thomas Vinterberg in 2018's
Kursk, a film about the
Kursk submarine disaster of 2000 in which Schoenaerts played Russian Navy captain-lieutenant Mikhail Kalekov. In 2018, Schoenaerts co-starred in
Francis Lawrence's spy thriller
Red Sparrow in the role of Uncle Vanya opposite
Jennifer Lawrence,
Joel Edgerton and
Jeremy Irons. He starred in the Belgian-French film
Close Enemies, directed by
David Oelhoffen. ceremony. In 2019, Schoenaerts appeared as Captain Herder in
Terrence Malick's
A Hidden Life, as Maywood in
Steven Soderbergh's
The Laundromat, and as Roman Coleman, an inmate who participates in a rehabilitation program centered around training of wild horses in Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre's
The Mustang. In 2020, he appeared in
Gina Prince-Bythewood's
The Old Guard as Booker / Sébastien le Livre, once a French soldier who fought under
Napoleon. In 2021, Schoenaerts starred as Peter Flood in Jeremie Guez's
Brothers by Blood and as Jurgen in the Flemish TV anthology
Lockdown episode "Zuur" alongside him was
Veerle Baetens. His upcoming works include
Terrence Malick's
The Way of the Wind,
Justin Kurzel's
Ruin alongside
Margot Robbie, and
David O. Russell's
Amsterdam. In 2023, He starred in the TV series
Django as
the title character. In September 2024 Schoenaerts was cast in the
DC Universe film
Supergirl as the villain Krem of the Yellow Hills, with
Milly Alcock starring as the title character.
Other ventures Schoenaerts was the face of
Louis Vuitton Menswear Spring/Summer 2014.
Directorial debut His directorial debut,
Franky, is a documentary about a one-legged childhood friend of his who became an
MMA fighter, Franky van Hove. The documentary is currently in post-production.
Hakuna Casting On 24 August 2015, it was reported that Schoenaerts became the co-owner of the Belgian casting agency Hakuna Casting, which focuses on people of ethnic origin. The agency has collaborated on the casting of films like
Black by
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, and
Belgica by
Felix Van Groeningen. ==Legal issues==