Today, Dutch media personality and former Luv' singer Chimène van Oosterhout is blowing out 60 candles!! We wish her a happy birthday!!!
Chimène is a mulitalented power woman. Her CV is impressive (including a long career on Dutch TV and a brief experience as a Luv' member between January 2019 and February 2020). She is a cancer and heart failure survivor, actress, yoga instructor, author, and vlogger. She is the mother of a charismatic twenty-year-old son, Lyam.
Chimène was born on February 11, 1964 at the Princess Margriet clinic in Willemstad, Curaçao to a Dutch father (Jan van Oosterhout) and an Antillean mother of Indian and Surinamese Creole descent (Conchita van Oosterhout-Fränkel).
At age seven, she moved with her family to the Netherlands. As a teenager, she modelled occasionally. After her A-level, she studied communication and psychology. From 1987 to 1989, she was a PR manager at Club Med. Over the years, she has learned foreign languages (English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Swedish).
Television: Chimène's Promised Land
In 1996, Chimène sent a videotape to TROS for an audition and rapidly became a continuity announcer on this channel. In 1999, she moved to Veronica TV and its sister channel Yorin. She was active as a continuity announcer until 2003.
She later presented programs on SBS6, Net5 and RTL 4. In 2004, she was filmed with Marga Scheide and Patty Brard as they had a health cure in Ibiza on Patty's Fort (a reality show on Yorin).
From 1999 to 2018, she was involved in the following TV shows:
Veronica goes back to the US of A (Veronica, 1999)
Car Wars (Veronica, 1999)
Demolition Cars (Veronica, 2000)
Motor TV (Veronica, 2000 – 2002)
Go Travel (Veronica, 2001)
Yorin Travel (Yorin, 2001–2003)
Gordons Lifestyle (Yorin, 2001)
City Report (Veronica, 2002)
Sterrenbeurs (SBS 6, 2003)
Patty's Fort (Yorin, 2004)
Televisiedokter (RTL 4/Yorin, 2005)
Snowmagazine VIPS (SBS 6, 2006)
Grumpy Old Women (Net 5, 2007)
Trends & Shopping (RTL 7, 2007)
Best in Business (RTL 7, 2008)
Health Angels (RTL 4, 2008-2009)
4ME (RTL 4, 2010–2014)
Medicaltravel (RTL 4, 2013)
House Vision (RTL 4, 2013–2014)
Sunny Side Up (RTL 4, 2016)
Life Is Beautiful (RTL 4, 2016–2018)
She participated in celebrity TV competitions and even won some of them:
Peking Express VIPS (NET 5, 2006 winner with Bart Veldkamp)
Wildebeesten (NET 5, 2006, winner)
Top Chef VIPS (RTL 4, 2009, winner)
Vliegende Hollanders: Sterren van de Schans (SBS 6, 2013, winner)
De Alleskunner VIPS (SBS6, 2022)
Chimène: proud winner of Vliegende Hollanders: Sterren van de Schans (2013)
Acting
Chimène appeared in Dutch TV series (Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden, Onderweg naar morgen, Mijn dochter en ik, Het zonnetje in huis and Duo B&B).
In 2000, she played one of the leading parts in the American movie "X- Patriots". Darien Sills-Evans wrote, directed and starred in this romantic comedy about two black American men who travelled to the Netherlands – a place where no one looked like them – in search of self-identity. X-Patriots premiered on June 23rd, 2001, in Chicago at the AngelCiti Film Festival, where it won "Best Film" and be noted in the Chicago Reader as the "Critic's Choice". A successful film festival run followed, with the film picking up usually good reviews and awards that included the LA Weekly Award Best for Screenplay 2002, CCI Digital Award for Best Ensemble Cast 2002, Film Finders Maverick Award for Quality Low-Budget Film 2002 (Method Fest), Best Feature Angelciti Chicago 2001, and nominated for the Gordon Parks Award IFP 2001. The last public showing of X-Patriots was in New York City at DCTV's 24-Hour Film Festival, where it won the "Audience Award".
Darien Sills-Evans & Chimène van Oosterhout in "X-Patriots"
Luv'
On January 4th, 2019, Luv' announced an unexpected line-up change in De Telegraaf: Chimène van Oosterhout replaced Ria Thielsch. Her nomination as a Luv' singer boosted the girl group and drew the Dutch national media's attention.
De Telegraaf - January 4th, 2019
The female pop trio successfully toured the nostalgia circuit in the Netherlands and Belgium. In July 2019, Luv' released a Latin pop-reggaeton single entitled "With Him Tonight" with Latin Grammy-nominated producers Keith Morrison and Manuel Garrido-Lecca. On February 7th, 2020, Luv' (which had not performed since September 2019 due to José Hoebee's ill health) informed the media and the public about the interruption of their activities.
Luv' in 2019
A survivor
In 2021, the larger-than-life media personality revealed she was diagnosed with breast cancer for the third time. She showed her life as a cancer patient in the documentary series "K*T Kanker" broadcast on social media (YouTube and Instagram). Since the summer of 2021, Chimène has been writing columns about breast cancer and other women's issues for Wendy van Dijk's magazine and online platform.
Chimène has frequently been involved in public events and interviews in the Dutch media to raise public awareness about cancer.
Chimène announced her remission on her Instagram account on November 23rd, 2021. This victory was overshadowed by bad news: the death of her father, who died of leukaemia on Christmas 2021, and her mother in the summer of 2022.
In July 2023, Chimène scared everyone when she was urgently admitted to a hospital in Athens, Greece, due to heart failure. The courageous lady survived this illness and bounced back.
PR activities and fundraising galas
Since the 2000s, with her own company, this larger-than-life lady has been involved in PR activities and corporate events for several companies (including Man Trucks en Bussen, 2009 Dakar Rally, Coty Inc Prestige, Oral B, Feenstra and Visma). She also hosted fundraising galas for charities.
Chimène with the Account Manager of the Year Jos van Willegen (eServiceware) and Ivo Bodenstaff (of Visma) at the Visma Partner Awards on February 6th, 2020
Chimène at the fundraising gala for the Breast Care Foundation at Hart van Holland in Nijkerk on October 9th, 2023
Source: Luvgirlgroup archives, Luv' weblog archives, YouTube, Wikipedia, Chimène van Oosterhout on social media...