I act.
I perform.
I tell stories.
If variety is the spice of life, then mine is well seasoned.
As a fulltime freelancer in the arts I am one of those fortunate souls who gets to make a living doing what they love. And I get to share that love with the people around me through the work that I do. It’s a pretty neat deal.
As a native speaker of Dutch and English I have acted in, directed, and supported international theater performances, films, series and commercials, and have lent my voice to video games, radio shows, and more.
Thanks to my experience as a performer and an academic background in Theater Science, I have taught courses in stage performance at different schools and venues, and continue to give workshops on communication and personal development using improv theater.
I began my career in 2009, as a founding castmember of improv comedy ensemble “Stranger Things Have Happened,” where I performed for over seven years. I left the ensemble in 2017 to explore more of the universe and dedicate more time to other projects as a creative.
In 2018, I teamed up with author and actrice Corina Onderstijn to launch tgEntropy, a new platform for English or multi-language performance arts in the Netherlands.
As of 2021, I have launched a career as an illustrator under the name DotTobi. I make illustrations for sci-fi and fantasy books, do some industry graphic design, and teach people the joy of using a 2-dimensional piece of paper to craft 3-dimensional worlds.
Improvisers look for a lot of things in their on-stage partners: wit, tact, smart scene choices, character work and solid physical acting. And it’s true that TJ excels at all of these things. But the improviser’s partner’s most desired attribute is a sense of connection: of being down there in the foxhole with you, of listening and responding to everything you do. That’s TJ in a nutshell – he’ll go to battle for you every time, and he’ll do it with such apparent ease that you’ll never realise how hard he’s working to make the scene great for you both.
Thomas Mook
Gideon has been (and hopefully will remain) a great and versatile voice actor in the studio for years. Native speaker in 2 languages (English and Dutch), with lots of characters and dialects on top. He’s fast, reliable, great sense of humour and always on time. First call material!
Peter van Rees
Top image courtesy Keef Williams Photography.