Barbara Sarafian

Barbara Sarafian, born in Ghent in '68, grew up with art in her veins—her dad’s half-Armenian, a painter, and her mom juggled brushes and teaching gigs at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. She picked up both French and Flemish at home and then hit the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Antwerp before a stint at Parallax in Brussels. Early days? She popped up on the radio as “Sonja Duplex” on Studio Brussel’s "De Lieve Lust". Her film debut happened with the short “Pasta!”, but she really broke out internationally in stuff like Roman Coppola’s “CQ” and “Fortress 2 - Re-Entry”. In ’99, Peter Greenaway cast her as Clothilde in “8 ½ Women”—her first major gig. Sarafian hit pause for a few years to focus on being a mom, but jumped right back with a bang in "Moscow, Belgium" (2008), winning a ton of awards for her lead role as Matty, including two Best Actress nods. Even US critics called her work Oscar-worthy. She kept the momentum, showing up in “SM-rechter”, “Saint”, “Zot van A.”, and “Marieke, Marieke” (nabbing another nomination). Later, she joined Matthias Schoenaerts in “Rundskop” (Bullhead) and grabbed more awards with “Brasserie Romantiek”. More recently, she starred in “Everybody Happy” and “Vincent”, winning a Boccalino d’Oro for the latter. TV-wise, she’s all over the place—main roles in “Clan”, “Dubbelleven”, and “In Vlaamse Velden” (which won her Best Actress). She’s done loads of theater, too, and keeps landing big roles in new projects like “Cargo” and “Beau Séjour”.