Regardt van den Bergh

Regardt was born and bred in Johannesburg, South Africa, attending school at Louw Geldenhuis primary and matriculating at Linden High. Regardt grew up in an acting family with his father Gert (still a celebrated actor, years after his death in 1968) and his mother Dulsie. Gert was well known for his role in the classic film Zulu as Adendorf, and as Man Two in Paramount's The Naked Prey. During Regardts’ school career he acted in several films, most notable is Die Kandidaat. His performance as a juvenile delinquent won him recognition as an actor, serious about his craft.

After school Regardt worked as a trenching foreman for the South African Railways, to earn the money for his studies. In 1972 he went to the University of Cape Town obtaining a BA degree and a Performers Diploma in Speech and Drama. Before the end of his second year, Regardt won a part in an Afrikaans film, Ongewenste Vreemdeling. He decided to do the film and leave the University. He joined Jans Rautenbach (an acclaimed film director and producer in SA) as a general gofer, assistant editor and actor. Regardt worked and acted for two years after which he landed a lead in the first Afrikaans TV series, Dokter, Dokter.

For four years Regardt acted in many TV dramas and several films until he made his directing debut in 1980. Vyfster, an eight part mini-series won Regardt many awards and great acclaim in the industry. From then on he spent most of his time directing television programs for South Africa companies on a freelance basis.

In 1983 Regardt became the resident film director for Philo Pieterse Productions. His first feature film, Boetie Gaan Border Toe, broke all box office records in South Africa. Subsequent films ensured Regardts’ status as one of South Africa’s foremost film directors. Regardt made several films and won many nominations and awards. Most notable of these are Circles in a Forest, nominated as best picture and The Sheltering Desert for which Regardt received the Africa Mnet award for best director in 1990.
In 1993 Regardt directed a docu-drama called The Gospel According to Matthew. This four-hour word-for-word biblical series soon became the top selling Christian video in the United States and is still selling thousands, fifteen years later. This project inspired Regardt to take a look at the films depicting Jesus Christ as a character. He was immediately stirred to make a film showing Jesus as a likable, approachable non-religious man. Regardt has spent the past ten years developing a project called the Lamb, which will go into pre-production towards the end of this year.