Douglas Vermeeren is a unique celebrity among the actors of today. He started as an actor at a young age appearing for the first time of a children’s show at the age of 5. While his first acting opportunity would come a few years later on a television show for CBC in Canada, this first TV appearance was his first introduction to to media.
“Form the beginning,” Vermeeren shared, “I was always attracted to film and television. I knew that somehow I would have a career in this industry.” And he had quite the career. While his primary role has always been actor he has also been a writer, producer, director and stuntman.
Some of the most remarkable stunts he has performed has included hanging out of helicopters, jumping from high speed motorcycles, falling and jumping from high buildings and bridges, running through the midst of fire and explosions and incredible gun play. Perhaps what makes these activities so remarkable is that there are so few actors today who actually do they own stunts.
As a producer and director Douglas Vermeeren is behind five of the top personal development documentaries and several mainstream action, horror and thriller films. Definitely considered one of the more diverse producers today Vermeeren confessed, “I don’t consider myself limited to just one genre. There are just too many things that interest me to stick to one genre. It would be like asking me to listen to one song for my entire life. The world is just too full of wonder to stop at just one.”
One could certainly say the same thing about the roles that Douglas Vermeeren has chosen to portray over the years. He has played a variety in a genres and equally as diverse a number of roles. He has truly demonstrated his range as a actor portraying deeply emotional and profound characters to action heroes.
Most recently Douglas Vermeeren is the lead in an experimental film called “Recreating 1912.” The goal of this film was to recreate the look and feel of a vintage silent film from the early days of movies. “In those early days they had to be highly innovative and imaginative,” Vermeeren states, “They were very much inventing the film industry. Even still photography was so new – motion picture was cutting edge.”
One of the most intriguing elements to Douglas Vermeeren was the recreation of some of the stunt sequences in this project. “I have always been a fan of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. They did some incredible things without the safety equipment we have today. We had to be very clever in how we recreated some of these daring moments.”
In addition to recreating the past, Vermeeren has his eye on the future and the present. He will b starring in several action films shooting in Europe, North America and the Philippines. He will be in the Philippines this March working on the upcoming A Bullet with her name on it and Bullets, Blades and Blood. These two films are also full of dramatic stunt sequences, fast chases, explosions and beautiful women. Some might say that they are in a very similar vein to James Bond. Vermeeren confesses he is quite excited about this as it was the James Bond movies that are among his favourites and a role he always wanted to play.
Recently Douglas Vermeeren was also cast in one his first villain roles in The Awakening – The Orb’s Archive. In this Apocalyptic future earth Vermeeren plays Alexander – a crazed villain bent on recruiting a devilish army with super human abilities and powers. “I am excited for this role,” Vermeeren confesses, “I haven’t done a lot of villains before and Alexander is really fun.” This project will be appearing at film festivals later this year.
What’s next for Douglas Vermeeren? Vermeeren answers this best: “This year is going to be quite busy. Now that the pause on production that the pandemic created is somewhat past I have almost a dozen projects lined up. It’s going to be a busy year.”
Keep your eyes out for this rising star, he definitely destined to become a celebrity to remember for this generation.
