Louw Venter

Louw Venter (born 16 August 1975), is a South African actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his directorial and writing roles in the popular films The Tree, Konfetti and Swartwater.

Personal life He was born on 16 August 1975 in Cape Town, South Africa.

Career In 2001, he made his film debut with Final Solution where he made a minor role as a 'Paramilitary member'. In 2002, he played a supportive role 'Marco' in the Italian film The Piano Player directed by Jean-Pierre Roux. In 2003, he starred in two films: Adrenaline and Citizen Verdict.

Apart from acting, he is also a scriptwriter who wrote the critically acclaimed award-winning film Konfetti which was directed by Zaheer Goodman-Bhyat. Apart from that, he was the writer of television serials: Rugby Motors and Vinkel & Koljander. In 2015, he made directorial debut with the short film Leemte. After the success of the film, he made the television serial Vinkel & Koljander in 2016. In 2016, he became famous with the feature film Kalushi: The Story of Solomon Mahlangu, which was based on a true story. In the film, he played a supportive role of 'Van Heerden'. The film was a critical success and awarded at several film festivals.

Venter also formed a comedy duo with fellow South African comedian Rob van Vuuren. The two appeared as characters Corne (Venter) and Twakkie (Van Vuuren) in a series of YouTube videos and a program called The Most Amazing Show. Venter also played Van Vuuren's brother in the comedy Van der Merwe in 2017.

In 2018 Venter was participating in a film in which the actor Odwa Shweni died. Venter was acting out a fight scene with Shweni when he was swept over a waterfall to his death. Early accounts blamed the directors, but they later implicated Venter in Shweni's death. According to one account, Venter called the scene without the authority to do so and failed to follow the instructions for the scene.

In 2020, he directed and wrote his maiden feature film Stam which was released on DStv's BoxOffice in October. The film had its worldwide premiere at the Durban International Film Festival in September 2020. It also premiered at the 18th Tofifest International Film Festival 2020 in Poland. The film won the Best South African Film Award at the 2020 Durban International Festival (DIFF).

Partial filmography

Year Film Role Genre Ref. 2007 Big Fellas Bullseye Film 2012 Semi-Soet Hertjie Greyling Film 2014 Konfetti Lukas Film 2016 Die Boekklub Altus TV series 2016 Vinkel & Koljander Erik Combrink TV series 2016 Kalushi: The Story of Solomon Mahlangu Van Heerden Film 2016 The Discovery of Fire The Man Short film 2016 Twee Grade van Moord Jan Rademeyer Film 2016 Hotel Charlie Hobo TV series 2017 Hoener met die Rooi Skoene Captain Hendrik Greyling Film 2017 Kampterrein Jan Fouché Film 2017 Van der Merwe Willem van der Merwe Film 2018 Swartwater Francois le Roux TV series 2018 Kloof Short film 2019 Swaaibraai Anton Short film 2021 Seal Team Harbor Seal Film TBD Indemnity Ernst Viljoen Film