It was not an everyday place for an actress of world fame to settle down: afour-lane road, in the middle of The Hague. Nor was it everyday work: KatjaHerbers (42) took place on the A12 at the end of September, next to twentyfellow activists, to protest against government subsidies for fossil fuels.Some activists glued themselves to the road surface.
In the weeks that followed, Herbers, who is currently conquering America withher role in the hit series, told me Evil , at length about her activism. Sheis no longer ‘just’ a vegetarian who neatly separates her waste and buys aslittle new clothes as possible – no, she joined the protest movementExtinction Rebellion.
In a recent interview with NRC the actress tells how she got there: theconcerns about the climate – in her words: a ‘climate depression’ – became sogreat that she became determined to turn it into protest, which she believesis badly needed: petitions: it doesn’t help. If you want to keep a livableplanet, you have to escalate until there’s goddamn, excuse me someone islistening.’
She was also there, with the same Extinction Rebellion, at the end of Junewhen the activists occupied the office of the Tax Authorities in The Hague.The demand was the same as on the A12: the government must stop subsidizingthe fossil industry with billions of euros every year.
‘Hypocrisy at its peak’
The reactions on social media are not tender: a successful actress who dividesher time between Los Angeles, New York and the Netherlands, and thereforeoften takes a plane, is hypocrisy at its peak, according to many. Herbersknows she’s not a perfect role model, but thinks the message, no matter howradically presented, is more important than the messenger. Those who are’radical’ in her eyes are those who do nothing about climate change, while theearth continues to warm up at a rapid pace according to science and UNSecretary-General Guterres declares that we are heading for ‘climate hell’.
As a child of oboist Werner Herbers and violinist Vera Beths, Herbers alreadyspent some time in the United States, for example during tours of her mother’sensemble L’Archibudelli. America also attracted her as a young actress; duringher training at the Amsterdamse Toneelschool she made her appearance onAmerican television with the film Brush with Fate (with Glenn Glose, amongothers). But after graduating, she first focused on the Dutch theater and filmworld. With success: at Toneelgroep Amsterdam she worked with the famousdirector Ivo van Hove and in the film industry she caused a furore in theEmmy-winning feature film The chosen one (2006).
In the past decade she made a successful move to the US, just like hercontemporaries Michiel Huisman and Carice van Houten. Currently, Herbers istriumphant with the supernatural drama Evil , in which demons terrorize anAmerican town. The leading American culture magazine Vulture calls Herbers’role in the third season one of the best television performances of 2022:”Katja Herbers has to show the complete spectrum of emotions as the level-headed forensic psychologist Kristen Bouchard, and she is fully up to thatchallenge.”
What Herbers also does with dedication is to raise all kinds of abuses. On_Fidelity_ she said that as a child she raised money for Greenpeace and thatshe has always stood against injustice. On Twitter, she is not only upsetabout the climate and government leaders who fail to do so, but also abouthuman rights, the refugee problem and misogyny. Then the Americanentertainment magazine variety on Twitter commenting on actress RenéeZellweger’s “changing” appearance, she responded with: ‘ This article issexist and terrible. stop it.’
Conservative Hollywood bosses
Although she operates in a billion-dollar industry, with conservativeHollywood executives who don’t always favor outspoken stars, Herbers seemspretty dauntless. She therefore fits in the row of actresses such as DarylHannah (62, known for Kill Bill ), who was arrested in 2011 while protestingan oil pipeline, and Jane Fonda, 85, who was boycotted by movie theaters for awhile in the 1970s because of her protests against the Vietnam War – exactlywhat Hollywood executives fear. But times are changing and Fonda, who wasarrested during climate protests in Washington in 2019, is still not short ofwork.
Herbers is somewhat careful in her host country: in America she could beexpelled from the country due to radical actions. And when she is summoned bythe police to leave in the Netherlands during Extinction Rebellion actions,she complies (because otherwise she risks arrest and could lose her Americanwork visa).
On the other side of the Atlantic, Herbers seems to be unaffected by internettrolls. Also from her boss Robert King, the writer and producer with whom sheis currently on the fourth season of Evil works, she has nothing to fear. Afew days ago he announced that his series cannot be made without Herbers, socalling for a boycott of the activist actress does not make much sense,according to him. And over a video of one of Herbers’ protests, the faithfulKing tweeted: ‘ You’re doing God’s work.’