Gert Tony Hubert Verhulst (born 24 January 1968 in Berchem) is a Belgian presenter,

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

, singer, director,

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

, film producer, and

business magnate A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...

. As a prominent figure within the children's entertainment industry in the

Benelux The Benelux Union (; ; ; ) or Benelux is a politico-economic union, alliance and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighbouring states in Western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The name is a portma ...

, he is regarded as a Flemish cultural icon, known for his influence and contributions to children's entertainment in the

and founder of

Studio 100 Studio 100 N.V. is a Belgian children's entertainment production & distribution company that specialized in high quality kids & family entertainment content and operated their in-house animation studios such as their Australian animation compa ...

Life and career

Verhulst claims he knew at very early age that he wanted to become famous. In 1987 he applied at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp where he was rejected, he would recall this as a gift from Heaven. Later that year he got his first job at the former BRTN (now VRT) as

continuity announcer In broadcasting, continuity or presentation (or station break in the U.S. and Canada) is announcements, messages and graphics played by the broadcaster between specific programmes. It typically includes programme schedules, announcement of the ...

Samson en Gert

Samson & Gert is a Flemish children's television series produced by Eline van Noppen, centered on the talking dog Samson and his owner Gert. In its entire run, the show was originally aired on TV1 from Christmas Day 1989 until 1 December 1997, where it moved to

Ketnet Ketnet is a Flemish public children's television channel in Belgium owned and operated by the Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie, VRT, Flemish public broadcaster. It broadcasts a mix of locally produced and imported productions on the VR ...

and continues airing all of its episodes to this day. As a

Verhulst wanted to make the announcements before children's television programmes more appealing by having an animal puppet next to him. He got in touch with

puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object called a puppet to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the ...

, who created the puppet dog Samson. Samson, an Old English Sheepdog, made his screen debut on 2 September 1989. The pair's popularity grew very rapidly in

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

and they were given their own television series in 1990. The show, named ''Samson'', premiered on 2 September 1990. During the show, Samson and Gert and their friends would encounter many funny and chaotic situations. The plot would be interrupted for contests, fan mail and a variety of cartoons, such as The Smurfs, Ovide and the Gang, and Mrs. Pepper Pot.

Zeg eens Euh!

Verhulst presented the language game (translated: Say Uh!) It was a game that was broadcast on Friday between 1992 and 1997 and whose concept was clearly inspired by the British radio game, ''

Just a Minute ''Just a Minute'' is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game. For more than 50 years, with a few exceptions, it was hosted by Nicholas Parsons. Following Parsons' death in 2020, Sue Perkins became the permanent host, starting with the 87th ser ...

''. The panelists alternately were given a theme that they had to talk about for one minute. Together with the theme they got a banned word that they could not use. In the panel were four Flemish celebrities including: , Margriet Hermans, Koen Crucke and . Occasionally one of these panelists was replaced by , , Walter Baele and . During the summer months, the viewer share rose from 700,000 to 800,000 viewers. When Verhulst moved to Vtm, took over the game but after a scandal involving one of the panel members, Emiel Goelen, the show was dismissed.

Move to VTM

In 1997 Verhulst moved to Vtm where he presented ''Wat zegt u?'' (translated: What do you say ?). This was followed by ''Linx'' and in the summer of 1998 Verhulst presented ''Sterrenslag'' (translated: Star battle) for several weeks because presenter 'Herbert Bruynseels' had had to withdraw due to illness. In the summer of 1999, the dialect game ''Watte?'' (translated What?) started with the panel members: Walter De Donder, Koen Crucke and .

Studio 100

Verhulst founded

in 1996 together with Danny Verbiest, and . They came together in 1989, when the programme '' Samson en Gert'' (translated Samson and Gert) was first produced. Studio 100 started in 1996 with one program Samson en Gert. They immediately decided to create a new program to be able to advertise themselves more. They chose Kabouter Plop (translated Gnome Plop). It has been broadcast on VTM since 1997. In 1999, Studio 100 expanded significantly with four new projects, all launched in

: a musical, a film, and two new television programmes. For both the musical and the film, Vtm was asked to provide financial support. In October of '99, Studio 100 and the VMMa (Vlaamse Media Maatschappij, founded in 1987 as Vlaamse Televisie Maatschappij by nine publishers each with an 11.1% share), announced that they would incorporate Meli Park. Right now

features

Amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...

s in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Plopsaland, Mayaland Indoor , , Plopsa Coo and Plopsaqua, , Netherlands and Holiday Park in Germany The headquarters of Studio 100 are located in Schelle. Studio 100 has access to the largest recording studios in all of Belgium. Frequently, big events are hosted there, such as the preselections for the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

. The Dutch department of Studio 100 resides in the Mediapark in

Hilversum Hilversum () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is ...

. They also operate animation studios in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

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, 2 TV stations. Studio 100 bought Flying Bark Productions, so they could create '' Master Raindrop'' and is continuously doing business with more than 160 broadcasters on average, operate on a regular base in 110 territories worldwide through selling TV, video on demand and home video licenses. For example,

Maya the Bee Maya the Bee () is the main character in ''The Adventures of Maya the Bee'', a German book written by Waldemar Bonsels and published in 1912. The book has been published in many other languages and adapted into different media. The first Ameri ...

has been sold to broadcasters covering even more than 150 countries.

Personal life

In 1998 he married Valerie Calliau with whom he had a son (Victor Verhulst, 1993) and a daughter , 1995), before splitting up in 2003. His daughter, Marie Verhulst, is also an actress. At the time of the musical ''"

Sleeping Beauty "Sleeping Beauty" (, or ''The Beauty Sleeping in the Wood''; , or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess curse, cursed by an evil fairy to suspended animation in fi ...

"'' there were rumours that Verhulst was in a relationship with Karen Damen from the popular

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring two or more women in music, female singers who generally vocal harmony, harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female p ...

, K3. Verhulst always denied the relationship, but in February 2005, pictures of the couple appeared in a Dutch newspaper. In April the couple broke up, after a relationship of four years. From 2008 to 2011, Verhulst had a relationship with Ellen Callebout, a restaurant owner from Blankenberge. In 2012 Verhulst had a very short relationship with Josje Huisman, also a singer from K3, but after a few months they split up. Since then, he has gotten back together with Callebout and the couple married in 2019. In 1999, Verhulst bought an institution for poor children "Villa Zonnelicht" (“villa sunlight”) in Kapellen, Belgium for BF7.100.000 or €176,000 and made it his private home.

Discography

Albums

*"Samson & Gert 1" 1991 *"Samson & Gert 2" 1992 *"Samson & Gert 3" 1993 *"Samson & Gert 4" 1995 *"Samson & Gert 5" 1995 *"Samson & Gert 6" 1996 *"Samson & Gert 7" 1997 *"Samson & Gert 8" 1998 *"Samson & Gert 9" 1999 *"Samson & Gert 10 – Het beste uit 10 jaar Samson en Gert" 2000 *"Samson & Gert 11 – De wereld is mooi" 2001 *"Samson & Gert 12 – Oh la la la" 2002 *"Samson & Gert 13 – Jiepie ja hee" 2003 *"Hotel op stelten" 2008 *"20 jaar Samson & Gert" 2010

Singles

*"Samsonrock" (Samson & Gert) 1991 *"Verliefd zijn" (Samson & Gert) 1991 *"Wij gaan naar de maan" (Samson & Gert) 1992 *"10 Miljoen" (Samson & Gert) 1992 *"Samen delen" (Samson & Gert) 1992 *"Samen op de moto" (Samson & Gert) 1992 *"Wij komen naar jou" (Samson & Gert) 1992 *"De snijdersbank" (Samson & Gert) 1992 *"De bel doet 't niet" (Samson & Gert) 1993 *"Repeteren" (Samson & Gert) 1993 *"Piraten-Potpourri" (Samson & Gert) 1993 *"Samson toch!" (Samson & Gert) 1994 *"Wat ben ik blij" (Samson & Gert) 1994 *"Wij zijn bij de brandweer" (Samson & Gert) 1994 *"Als je heel erg veel verliefd bent" 1994 (Samson & Gert) *"Bij Heidi in Tirol" (Samson & Gert) 1995 *"In de disco" (Samson & Gert) 1995 *"Druk" (Samson & Gert) 1995 *"Wereldberoemd" (Samson & Gert) 1995 *"Wie gaat er mee?" (Samson & Gert) 1996 *"Aap in Huis" (Samson & Gert) 1996 *"De mooiste dag" (Samson & Gert) 1996 *"Wij weten wat liefde is" (Samson & Gert) 1996 *"Het spook van de opera" (Samson & Gert) 1997 *"Jimmy de cowboy" (Samson & Gert) 1997 *"Mannetjes van Mars" (Samson & Gert) 1998 *"Wakker worden" (Samson & Gert) 1998 *"Wij willen voetballen" (Samson & Gert) 1998 *"Roeien" (Samson & Gert) 1998 *"S.O.S." (Samson & Gert) 1998 *"Piloot" (Samson & Gert) 1999 *"Storm op zee" (Samson & Gert) 1999 *"Bim bam bom" (Samson & Gert) 2000 *"De mooiste dromen" (Samson & Gert) 2000 *"Vooruit" (Samson & Gert) 2000 *"Yeah yeah yeah" (Samson & Gert) 2001 *"De wereld is mooi!" (Samson & Gert) 2001 *"We zijn op elkaar" (Samson & Gert) 2001 *"Oh la la la!" (Samson & Gert en de 6 Teens) 2002 *"Olé pistolé" (Samson & Gert en de 6 Teens) 2002 *"Radio" (Samson & Gert) 2003 *"Lieve Samson" (Samson & Gert) 2006 *"Naar zee" (Samson & Gert) 2007 *"Heet" (Samson & Gert) 2008 *"Vrede op aarde" (Samson & Gert) 2008 *"Vrienden voor het leven" (Samson & Gert) 2008 *"Vrolijk liedje" (Samson & Gert) 2008 *"Ik ben verliefd" (Samson & Gert) 2008 *"Alles is op" (Samson & Gert) 2008 *"Oh lalala" (Samson & Gert) 2008 *"Sinterklaas en Zwarte Piet" (Samson & Gert) 2009 *"Springen in de zee" (Samson & Gert) 2009 *"Kerstmis Kerstmis" (Samson & Gert) 2013 *"Wij gaan vliegen" (Samson & Gert) 2013 *"Tingelingeling" (Samson & Gert) 2014 *"Zwaaien" (Samson & Gert) 2014 *"Hiep hiep hiep hoera!" (Samson & Gert) 2015

Filmography

Filmography (Producer)

Filmography (Director)

All Credits here :*

References

External links

Gert Verhulst at Studio 100 Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Verhulst, Gert Belgian film producers 1968 births Living people Belgian cinematographers 21st-century Belgian screenwriters Belgian film directors Belgian chief executives People from Berchem Entertainers from Antwerp Belgian company founders Belgian children's television presenters Belgian children's musicians Belgian singer-songwriters Belgian male singer-songwriters 20th-century Belgian male singers 20th-century Belgian singers 20th-century Belgian male actors Dutch-language singers of Belgium Belgian male composers Musicians from Antwerp Belgian pop singers 21st-century Belgian male singers 21st-century Belgian singers Royal Warrant holders Belgian male film actors 20th-century Belgian businesspeople 21st-century Belgian businesspeople Businesspeople from Antwerp Belgian television presenters Flemish television presenters Belgian game show hosts Belgian television talk show hosts Belgian television show creators Belgian male screenwriters