Acting busy
For actor Chris van Niekerk work is pouring like rain but this leads to very little time at home.
Rosendal actor Chris van Niekerk is a busy man of late.
He has just completed the shooting of the drama series Vlug na Egipte and thereafter was the lead character in the farce, My vrou se man se lyk se tas that played at the University of Johannesburg theatre.
“For seven weeks we were in Hanover in the Karoo where a part of Vlug na Egipte was shot,” he said. “A series of 26 episodes can take up to three months to complete.”
Van Niekerk has a full diary until April next year and by then he would have completed four stage productions. “Theatre is like a whale, it swallows everything, and if you are Jonah you need to handle it.”
The actor became a household name in the 1970s in series such as Nommer Asseblief, Hoggenheim (Edms.) Bpk. and more recently 7de Laan. He obtained an honours degree in drama from the University of Pretoria, but this was not something he ever expected to do. “I first studied law, but in my second year I dropped out. I am happy in my job, however it has its challenges and you need to be diverse. You need to be able to do many different things in acting.”
Owing to his success is the fact that Van Niekerk has been able to transform himself from stage and television productions to reading short stories on radio.
However, acting is his first love. “You just need to let your duty become your passion.”
