Many children have big dreams for the future. They want to be singers, professional football players or astronauts. Milan from Zoetermeer dreamed of acting from an early age. And his dream came true!
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Zoetermeer in the passport
We speak to Milan van Weelden by phone. The 42-year-old Zoetermeer recently moved to The Hague, but still has warm ties with our city. ”Not only did I grow up in Zoetermeer, I am also one of the few who really has the place in their passport. My mother did not give birth in the hospital in Leidschendam-Voorburg – where many peers were born – but at home on the Van Leeuwenhoeklaan. I went to school at Pallas College and played with Storytellers, a theater company from Zoetermeer. I still play there, by the way, almost 26 years now!
Phantom of the Opera
Milan still knows exactly when his acting dream started. ”That was in 1993. A friend let me borrow a CD of the musical The Phantom of the Opera. I was completely captivated by that. Later my grandmother took me to the performance. I loved everything about it: the music, the way of singing, the sets… It was all magic!”
Because of that special experience, Milan decided to do everything he could to become a musical star, despite the fact that he was not a good singer at the time. ”Music and theater are not in our family either. My father used to be a market gardener and my mother worked in catering and administration. So a lot different. As a teenager I took very disciplined singing lessons. That eventually made me good enough for the conservatory.
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Great actor
His dream of becoming a great actor has already come true. Due to Milan’s remarkable height of 2.08 meters, he makes quite an impression on the public and colleagues. “My height is both an advantage and a disadvantage. If a casting director is looking for someone with a large build, there is only a small group of actors he can invite for an audition. Then I have a good chance. Unfortunately, the opposite also happens: sometimes I’ve done a really good audition for a part, but I don’t get it because I’m too big. Then I don’t fit in with the rest of the cast.” For this reason, for example, a role in the German implementation of Tarzan past Milan. “For years I have been trying to get the part of Kerchak, the gorilla. I almost had it once, but it turned out to be too big for my opponent.”
Grutte Pier
They were very happy with Milan’s height on the set of Grutte Pier. In this new feature film, in which Milan plays the leading role, he takes on the role of a Frisian folk hero. ”Dick van den Heuvel, writer of the film, had seen me before in a musical and remembered me. He tipped me off to director Steven de Jong. To get the role, I recorded a screen test here in Zoetermeer.” Milan got the role and it was shot in the space of three years. “The director was okay with us aging as actors, that suited the story. At the same time, I had to be very careful that my beard and hair didn’t change too much, because some scenes had to fit together.” It is not for nothing that Milan calls his regular hairdresser Barbers & HairSalon Seghwaert, when we ask him about his favorite hotspots later in the interview.
Playing with a star cast
Milan’s work can not only be seen in the Netherlands and surroundings, but all over the world! He played a small – but very memorable – role in a Netflix production. The film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga appeared in 2020 and could count Will Ferrell, Rachel McAdams, Pierce Brosnan and Demi Lovato among the cast. Milan was asked to audition through his then agency in London. “I just knew it was going to be a Netflix movie about the Eurovision Song Contest, that was all. I didn’t know that it would all be so big and that such stars would play with it.”
Milan was given just over a day to record a video on which he mimicked a song. “I thought: this should represent Eurovision, so I can exaggerate. I then clamped a hair dryer between my legs to let my hair flutter and acted very theatrically.
Recordings in London
Soon after, Milan was told he had been given the job. “My role was that of an artist who called himself the 21st Century Viking, apparently I fit the bill perfectly,” says Milan. Everything was very professional on set. Twelve performances were filmed that day, only two of which made it to the final film. I was one of them! It was also very nice to see that all the extras in the audience went so wild at my performance. They had been playing on the set for hours, so that they spontaneously responded so exuberantly, I thought it was a great compliment,” says Milan. Will Ferrell and Demi Lovato were on set that day. “Very bizarre to be on set with such stars. They were all very nice and down to earth, not arrogant at all.”
Future plans
Milan will soon be able to add some new performances to his extensive resume. He will soon perform roles in, among others A Christmas Carol and Sweeney Todd. In addition, he has just landed a nice supporting role in a major children’s film. It will probably hit theaters sometime next year. I play a henchman of the big bad guy. Unfortunately I can’t name the title yet.”
Furthermore, Milan is engaged in his work as a photographer and is a voice actor for various children’s series. For example, he plays panda bear Po in the series Kung Fu Panda. Enough beautiful things on the program! Fortunately, he never gets bored of working a lot. Milan: “Every day is different, I continue to love that.”
