Christiaan Westerveld is an actor and writer living in Vancouver. I first met Christiaan in the winter of 2012 when he auditioned for a play that I was producing. I’d never met him before or seen his work, and remember him being a standout throughout our audition process. He was by far one of the most intriguing, eccentric, and unique performers I’d ever witnessed.
Months later when we ran into each other again, it became clear that we thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company, not just as colleagues, and theatre and performing artists and enthusiasts, but as friends. Both a bit obsessive about our work – albeit in slightly different ways – we connected artistically and personally and have been the best of friends ever since. I remember the first time I saw him perform in a play that he had also written. I was utterly blown away at its freshness, its unpredictability, its bursting heart, and its smart, arresting humour.
Christiaan is one of the best humans I’ve ever met: kind, generous, fun, thoughtful. His outlook on life is filled with excitement, joy, and an overflowing sense of good humour. Grounded in a profound sense of self, Christiaan possesses an exceptional intelligence that shapes his artistic sensibility into something truly inspiring, peppered with a richness of personality, originality, and wonder.
-Written by Stefania Indelicato, Actor and Producer
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Which ‘hood are you in?
Am lucky to be living in the West End at the moment. This place and the community here have always been very kind to me. I like that if you go one way you end up in town and if you go the other you end up in Stanley Park.
What do you do?
I do acting and writing. The stuff I write generally tends to be dark comedies. Regarding acting, I mostly get cast as I suppose kind of wayward people. Like criminals, muggers, drug dealers that kind of thing. But once I was the King Of France and that was also fun.
What are you currently working on?
Am about to start rehearsals on a play called An Intervention by British writer Mike Bartlett. There is a lot in it, for the actors to work on and the audience to engage with and the text really moves along, so am just trying to keep up with it at this point.
Where can we find your work?
The play is being done at Performance Works on Granville Island. It runs March 8-17.
