Age: 74
Birthplace: The Hague, Netherlands

Carel Struycken (born 30 July 1948) is a Dutch film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for playing the Giant/Fireman in Twin Peaks (1990-1991, 2017), Mr. Homn in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1992), and Lurch in the films The Addams Family (1991), Addams Family Values (1993), and Addams Family Reunion (1998).
Struycken was born in The Hague, Netherlands. When he was four years old, his family moved to Curaçao in the Netherlands Antilles. There, at age 15, he composed several Caribbean waltzes. At 16, he returned to his home country, where he finished secondary school. He graduated from the directing program at the film school in Amsterdam. After that, he spent a year at the American Film Institute, in Los Angeles. His distinctive facial features and height—he is 7 feet tall—are due to acromegaly.[1]Struycken collaborated on several projects with writer and director Rene Daalder, including the 1986 punk rock musical Population: 1, which featured Tomata du Plenty, of The Screamers, and which was released on DVD in October 2008.[2]
In 1978, Struycken was "discovered" as an actor at the corner of Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles by a woman who had abandoned her car in the middle of the street, calling after him: "We need you for a movie!".[3] The film was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Struycken played Terak in the 1985 TV film Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, a spinoff to the original Star Wars trilogy.
Struycken appeared as Fidel in the 1987 film The Witches of Eastwick. That same year, he appeared as Mr. Homn in "Haven", an episode of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, a role he would reprise in four more episodes until 1992.
In 1991, he starred as Lurch in the feature film The Addams Family. He reprised the role in the 1993 sequel, Addams Family Values.
He portrayed the mystical guide-character "The Giant" in David Lynch and Mark Frost's hit 1990-91 ABC television series Twin Peaks. He also appears in the 2017 Twin Peaks: The Return series. He appears as the “Moonlight Man” in the 2017 Netflix original movie “Gerald’s Game.”
Struycken is a vegetarian and likes gardening. He is married to an American woman and has two children. He lives in the Los Angeles area. His brother Peter Struycken, a noted Dutch artist, has won the 2012 Heineken Prize for Arts of the Royal Netherlands Academy for Sciences.[4]
Struycken is also an avid photographer. He maintains a website devoted to his spherical panoramas[5] and shares a photography blog with Josh Korwin.[6]
Year | Title | Role |
---|---|---|
1978[7] | Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | The Brute |
1980 | Die Laughing | Gregor the Giant |
1980 | Go West, Young Man | Dr. Struycken |
1984 | The Prey | The Monster |
1985 | Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (TV Movie) | Terak |
1987 | The Witches of Eastwick | Fidel |
1988 | Night of the Kickfighters | Ponti |
1990 | Framed (TV Movie) | Jinx |
1991 | Servants of Twilight | Kyle Barlow |
1991 | The Addams Family | Lurch |
1993 | Journey to the Center of the Earth (TV Movie) | Dallas |
1993 | Addams Family Values | Lurch |
1994 | Oblivion | Gaunt |
1995 | Under the Hula Moon | Clyde |
1995 | Out There (TV Movie) | Mr. Burke |
1996 | Oblivion 2: Backlash | Gaunt |
1997 | Men in Black | Arquillian |
1998 | I Woke Up Early The Day I Died | Undertaker |
1998 | Addams Family Reunion (TV Movie) | Lurch |
1999 | Enemy Action | Eyepatch |
2000 | Tinnef (Video short) | Kran |
2001 | The Vampire Hunters Club (Video short) | Host Vampire |
2002 | Science Fiction | Strange man |
2002 | Fatal Kiss (TV Movie) | Mortician |
2003 | The War of the Starfighters | (voice) |
2004 | Agavé | J.C / Cowboy |
2005 | The Fallen Ones (TV Movie) | High Priest #1 |
2008 | Sinterklaas en het Geheim van het Grote Boek | Dr. Ferdinand |
2014 | Trophy Heads | Brother Humphrey |
2016 | Another Brick in the Wall | Roy |
2017 | Gerald's Game | Moonlight Man |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1988 | St. Elsewhere | The Giant | Season 6, Episode "Fairytale Theater" |
1990-1991 | Twin Peaks | The Giant | |
1987-1992 | Star Trek: The Next Generation | Mr. Homn | |
1994 | Babylon 5 | Trader | Season 2, Episode "Soul Mates" |
1996 | Star Trek: Voyager | Spectre | Season 2, Episode "The Thaw" |
2002 | Charmed | Tall Man | Season 4, Episode "Womb Raider" |
2006 | My Name Is Earl | Paul | Season 2, Episode "Sticks & Stones" |
2010 | Cold Case | Lester 'Gargantuan' Smith | Season 7, Episode 14 "Metamorphisis" |
2014 | The Blacklist | Matthew Kincaid | Season 2, Episode 6 "The Mombasa Cartel (No. 114)" |
2017 | Twin Peaks: The Return | The Fireman |
[ Source: Wikipedia ]