Noël Sebastiaan Keulen is a human being born in a hospital in Heerlen on july 15th in the year 1978 of the christian calendar. Yes a hospital in the southern Dutch city of Heerlen, yet they would prefer to call the neighbouring village of Simpelveld (simple field) their birthplace, just because it sounds more poetic. They grew up quite solitary, mainly drawing and building alternate realities in felt pens, lego and playmobil. The need for creating these alternate realities instead of living and exploring the presented ‘real’ reality came from an inherent fear for the other. Where this fear itself came from, be it from their nature or nurture is still not, and will possibly never be (completely) discovered, despite years of therapy and the their own soul searching. Apparently not all searches lead to finds.
Also some finds are lost after being found.

Where it was possible to take in the presented reality in a safe way, it was devoured; in text, in images, in tones and notes and, all these combined, in television. If anything formed them, it was television. Looking, observing, analyzing, [being safely confused) from afar.

It took every second of their life to slowly, slowly, yes unnoticeably slow, move closer and closer towards the other, through the screen, past the tubes and outlets, stepping into the world. A conquest without warriors, only a big (unceasing) kid taking it one step at a time. Taking steps that seemed heroic to the ones closest to them. To them no heroism, merely carefull choices, often choices that kept them away from even scarier choices that seemed obligatory. Avoidance was no stranger.

It is the realization that these ways of conduct (it’s growing wide span of interests and the way of reproducing those perspectives in stories and things) was what máde them them, what brought them towards themself, and the other. At the same time knowing nothing is to be kept, all is just to be experienced and hopefully shared.

Noël went on to act from their truth and create from their own reality. These thruths may be considered (by the other) as lies. Even though lies, to them, were once considered bad, they started to become just another word for a story. The words one uses can be big or small, but a big word does not need to be considered intimidating, pompous, grandiose, pretentious, just going on its size. Yet soft and familiar. It’s just a word. A word that can feel very familiar to them who live more on the scale of the universe than that of a street, sounding to them of equal size. This is that human, that lump of unpredictable energy.

They died somewhere in the future.
Unlike their life, without loose ends,
Everything nicely tied up in knots.

     I      

                  ≠
          AN  
      ACT

          OR

Noël Sebastiaan Keulen is an actor, mainly in the Dutch language. Noël is also fluent in German.

een Nederlandse acteur, afgestudeerd in 2006 aan de acteursopleiding van ArtEZ Toneelschool Arnhem.


theater

Noël speelde in voorstellingen zoals Jan Rap en z’n Maat, regie: Peter de Baan, Karakter, regie: Peter Sonneveld, De Verlichting is Stuk, regie: Floris van Delft, Saltimbank, De Lankmoedigen, regie: Joeri Vos, De ondergang van regie: Isil Vos, Al Mijn Zonen, regie Thibaud Delpeut, Glengarry Glen Ross, Mightysociety8, regie: Eric de Vroedt, en de Oerolvoorstelling Home Sweet Home, regie: Ria Marks. Noël speelde 1,5 jaar de rol van Victor in Soldaat van Oranje, regie Theu Boermans en was te zien als transgender Hansje in de alom bejubelde voorstelling De Onrendabelen, regie Marcus Azzini. Noël kwam terug voor de centrale rol van Hansje in het laatste deel van het drieluik Goede Bedoelingen, De Lankmoedigen. Verder was Noël te zien als alternate voor de rol van Polonius in HAMLET, regie: Pieter Kramer, en speelde de monoloog Radio Rusland onder leiding van het befaamde Ragazze Quartet.


tv

Noël was te zien in o.a. Moordvrouw (RTL), Flikken Rotterdam én Maastricht (TROS), Bellicher : CEL (VPRO), Harkum  (BNNVARA), Hein (VPRO) en speelde de hoofdrol in de NTR KORT film WIL (2011) regie: Sander Burger.

U kunt Noël ook kennen van de Bolletje, Volkswagen, Toyota reclames en al meer dan een decennium als het tweede gezicht van Klene Drop.


film

In 2016 was Noël te zien als Anton in de familiefilm de Boskampi’s, regie: Arne Toonen. De Boskampi’s heeft vele buitenlandse nominaties en prijzen gewonnen en was ondermeer te zien op het prestigieuze Sundance Festival.

Als enige Nederlandse Film in de Tiger Competitie van het IFFR ging in 2017 Quality Time van Daan Bakker in premiere, waarin Noël één van de hoofdrollen speelde.  Deze ontving unaniem lovende recensies en won ondermeer de Youth Jury Award.


Noël ontwikkelde zich vanaf 2019 verder als beeldend kunstenaar en schrijver aan de Gerrit Rietveld Academie, DOGtime en studeerde in juli 2025 succesvol af als bachelor of visual arts, naast diens reeds behaalde bachelor of performing arts.  

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        ≠
            ART
              IS  
          T

Starting from the fear of the other and slowly learning to befriend that fear, the underlying desire surfaced, to share, to listen and in this practice of dialogue find new perspectives.

The stories we tell (ourselves) and share with others. The human inter-action that is most familiar to us Here I aim for dialogue with all that is around us.

Graduated July 2025 as Bachelor of Visual Arts at The Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Expanded Painting.

︎
som ran e so dom
   so an ra some ran 
 dome wor k 

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