Jacky Lafon (born 21 November 1946) is a Flemish actress known for playing one of the lead fictional charactersin the television series ''

Familie ''Familie'' (Dutch for Family) is a Flemish television soap opera set in Mechelen. Created by Herman Verbaet, ''Familie'' was first broadcast on 30 December 1991. It has been broadcast consistently for 5-6 evenings per week, with only 2-3 mon ...

'' that aired its first episode on the

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

television channel VTM, in the

Dutch language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-Europea ...

, on 30 December 1991. ''Familie'' remains a popular soap opera, airing its 1,000th episode in 1996 and is in its 25th year of production.

Early life and career

Lafon was born on 21 November 1946 in Dendermonde,

East Flanders , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of Oost-Vlaanderen.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van O ...

, Belgium. At age eight, she began her acting career with her first appearance in her school's play of ''

Sleeping Beauty ''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess cu ...

''. At age nineteen, she went on tour abroad with the Analog Roland Orchestra from

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the country by population. The area of the whole city a ...

. Yvonne Verbeeck and Gaston Berghmans offered her a platform in the variety theatre

Ancienne Belgique Ancienne Belgique (French for "Old Belgium") is a concert hall for contemporary music in Brussels, Belgium. Located in the historic heart of Brussels, it is one of the leading concert venues in Belgium, hosting a wide variety of international and l ...

in Antwerp, after which she was offered a contract by who was then the artistic director. In 1991, Lafon was cast to play the character Rita Van den Bossche on what would become Belgium's longest-running television soap opera, ''Familie''. Defibrillator monitor Lifepak 12

During a 2006 taping of this soap, Lafon was seriously injured while taping a scene in which her character Rita relapsed into alcoholism and had to be resuscitated. The

defibrillator Defibrillation is a treatment for life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, specifically ventricular fibrillation (V-Fib) and non-perfusing ventricular tachycardia (V-Tach). A defibrillator delivers a dose of electric current (often called a ''coun ...

used in the scene was mistakenly turned on, giving Lafon a real electric shock which caused burns to her chest and bruising on her ribs. In April 2014, Lafon reported that she was suffering from panic attacks and shortness of breath and that her hair was falling out. On 24 June, she announced that, after 23 years, she was leaving ''Familie'', stating "I cannot take it anymore". The announcement of Lafon's departure from ''Familie'' caused shock, with the soap's head writer Hugo Van Laere stating that "Rita does not die and will not be replaced. There is only one which Rita can play, and that is Jacky." In late 2015, Lafon made her first appearance on television since leaving ''Familie'' the prior year, in the popular tongue-in-cheek quiz show ' (''The Smartest Person in the World''). After this appearance, she denounced the salary she received on ''Familie'', which she said was less than that of her daughter Nathalie, who worked as an entertainer at the

Bobbejaanland Bobbejaanland is a theme park in Lichtaart, Belgium. The park was founded by Bobbejaan Schoepen, a Flemish singer, guitarist, and entertainer who enjoyed international success in the fifties and early sixties. In 1959, he bought a 30 hectare ma ...

theme park. By December of that year, Lafon said that she wished to return to the soap, stating "I miss it every day". The producers of ''Familie'' replied that she would not return in 2015 but could possibly be a guest during the 2016 season.

Private life

From 1989 to 1995, Lafon was married to the Belgian musician Ernest Adriaensen of the musical group . She is active in many civic activities and charity projects, such as aiding cancer patients, disadvantaged children and victims of various diseases. She lives in an up-scale apartment in Blankenberge.

References

External links

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Studios Amusement
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lafon, Jacky 20th-century Flemish actresses 21st-century Flemish actresses 1946 births Flemish television actresses Living people