South African film actor and poet
Gérard Rudolf is a South African actor. He has starred in many TV series and films since 1992, including the 2013 Bengali film Chander Pahar and the SABC 3 soap Isidingo. He stars as Boef Beukes in the 2023 M-Net series Devil's Peak, based on the novel of the same name by Deon Meyer.
Early life and education
Gérard Rudolf was born in Pretoria, South Africa, but spent most of his younger years in Cape Town and then his teenage years in Johannesburg.[2]
After completing high school he did two years of compulsory military service, and was sent to fight in the Angolan War.[2] In 1987 he joined the drama school at the University of Pretoria, where he graduated in 1989.[3][citation needed]
Career
Rudolf joined the CAPAB (Cape Performing Arts Board) drama company for a year, during which he performed on stage in Shakespeare plays, comedies, and dramas.[citation needed]
He left the company in 1991 to start his own theatre company called Makeshift Moon, specialising in original South African works.[citation needed] In the same year, he developed an interest in film and appeared in several roles over the following decade, beginning in 1992 with the series Arende II.[citation needed] He received some notoriety as an outspoken opponent to the Apartheid regime at the time, and he also campaigned against forced military conscription.[citation needed]
In 2013, Rudolf played Diego Alvarez in the award-winning Bengali film Chander Pahar, opposite Bengali star Dev (Bengali. Based on the 1937 adventure novel of the same name, which was filmed in South Africa.[4][5] He described the role as "the most challenging and beautiful character I have ever played".[6]
From 2017 until mid-2019, Rudolf played Hendrik Lategan in the SABC 3 soap Isidingo, before his character suddenly dies of a brain aneurysm.[7]
In 2018, he starred in Kanarie, a "coming-of-age musical war drama" set in South Africa in the 1980s.[8]
Rudolf played Boef Beukes in the 2023 crime drama series Devil's Peak.[9][10]
Other roles and activities
In 1998, he started his own acting school in Cape Town, but left after feeling burnt out in 2002.[2]
Rudolf published a collection of poetic writings in 2009, titled Orphaned Latitudes.[2]
Personal life
Rudolf divorced his wife after quitting his acting school in 2002 and moved to the United Kingdom, returning in 2010 to Johannesburg.[2]
Publications
| Year
|
Book
|
Publisher
|
Type
|
| 2009
|
Orphaned Latitudes
|
Red Squirrel Press
|
Poetry
|
Filmography
Selected Filmography :
References
External links
Gérard Rudolf at IMDb
