Christiaan Van Vuuren (born 1982), known as The Fully Sick Rapper in his first video series, is an actor, writer, director and video blogger from Sydney, Australia. He often collaborates with his brother, Connor Van Vuuren, and their YouTube channel is called Van Vuuren Bros.
Christiaan Van Vuuren | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | Christiaan Van Vuuren 1982 (age 41–42) | ||||||
| Known for | Acting, writing, directing, musical comedy, Soul Mates | ||||||
| Relatives | Connor Van Vuuren (brother) | ||||||
YouTube information | |||||||
| Channel | |||||||
| Years active | 2009–present | ||||||
| Genre | Comedy | ||||||
| Subscribers | 128.00 thousand[1] | ||||||
| Total views | 34.11 million[1] | ||||||
| |||||||
Last updated: 10 Jul 2022 | |||||||
Early life
editVan Vuuren was born in 1982 at Sutherland Hospital in Caringbah and grew up in Cronulla. His parents met in London, his father a South African and his mother a Kiwi.[2]
Career
editWhile Van Vuuren was placed in quarantine in a Sydney hospital for tuberculosis for six months in 2010, he gained fame via videos posted under the name The Fully Sick Rapper.[3]
He collaborated with his brother Connor Van Vuuren and Nicholas Boshier on the web series Bondi Hipsters.[4] In 2014 and 2016, along with Connor, he co-wrote, co-directed and starred with Boshier in the ABC Television series Soul Mates.[3]
He has featured in television programs such as Stan's The Other Guy, BBC2's STAG and Foxtel's Top of the Lake: China Girl.[5] He directed the feature film A Sunburnt Christmas (released on Stan in time for Christmas 2020).[6]
Van Vuuren co-wrote and presented the two-part documentary series Big Deal, which was directed by Craig Reucassel and shown on ABC Television in 2021. It examined how political donations work in Australia and their influence on democracy.[7]
Filmography
editFilm
edit| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Sick | Self |
| Too Late | Director / Lead Actor | |
| Prick | Mate | |
| 2014 | Emu | Dan |
| 2016 | Down Under | Doof |
| 2017 | Three Summers | Dexter |
| 2019 | The Hitchhiker | Paul |
Television
edit| Year | Title | Role | Episodes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Bondi Hipsters | Writer / Director / Dom Nader | 70 |
| SICK! | Chris Van Heerden | 1 | |
| Event Zero | Gav | 1 | |
| Skit Box | Director / Actor | 5 | |
| 2013 | The Elegant Gentleman's Guide to Knife Fighting | Director / Actor | 3 |
| #7DaysLater | Actor | 3 | |
| 2014 | Soul Mates | Dom/Rocky/Roger/Dave/Director/Writer/Producer | 6 |
| 2016 | STAG | Christoph | 1 |
| Soul Mates (series 2) | Dom/Rocky/Roger/Amram/Director/Writer/Producer | 6 | |
| 2017 | Top of the Lake: China Girl | Stally | 5 |
| The Other Guy | Dezzy | 3 | |
| 2018 | Squinters | Director / Gav | 6 |
| 2019 | The Other Guy (series 2) | Dezzy | 5 |
| Squinters | Director / Gav | 3 | |
| Over and Out | Creator / Writer / Lewis | 5 | |
| Location Scouts | Creator / Writer / Director | 6 | |
| 2023 | Queen of Oz | Director / Сameo role in episode 5 | 6 |
Quarantine and The Fully Sick Rapper
editVan Vuuren's first quarantine period began when he started coughing up blood and an x-ray revealed a hole in his lung: he was admitted to hospital on 9 December 2009 and placed in isolation on 11 December 2009. This first period of quarantine ended on 2 January 2010. Van Vuuren was re-admitted on 18 January 2010 when his tuberculosis proved resistant to medication. He was finally released from quarantine on 28 June 2010 after producing videos about his experience in isolation. His videos recorded as The Fully Sick Rapper while quarantined received over two million hits and led to the World Health Organization (WHO) contacting him to help promote World Tuberculosis Day. During his time in quarantine, Christiaan and his brother Connor developed a 60-minute telemovie titled 'SICK!' which won the One80Project and was later produced and broadcast on MTV Australia.[8] As of April 2010, his Facebook page had attracted over 14,000 likes.[9]
Videos
editAs of 18 October 2019, Van Vuuren had 159 videos available on his YouTube channel. His web series Bondi Hipsters helped him reach over 31 million views.[10] His stuntman brother helps him to write webisodes.[11]
In 2010, he presented "Rap-Up" of the week's local news for New Zealand's Campbell Live current affairs show.[citation needed]
Television
editIn 2014, Van Vuuren starred with Nicholas Boshier in the ABC Television series Soul Mates. The two had previously collaborated on the web series Bondi Hipsters.[3][4] In September 2014 Van Vuuren was featured in an episode of the Australian Story documentary series.[12]
In 2016 he appeared in the BBC2 miniseries Stag, and starred in Jane Campion's Top of the Lake: China Girl in 2017.[5]
Van Vuuren was co-creator and co-star (with Adele Vuko) of the web series Over and Out, which won "Best Short Form Series" at CanneSeries 2019.[13][14]
In 2021 he presented Big Deal, a two-part documentary series on the political lobbying industry in Australia, directed by Craig Reucassel.[15]
Awards and nominations
editARIA Music Awards
editThe ARIA Music Awards are a set of annual ceremonies presented by Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), which recognise excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of the music of Australia. They commenced in 1987.
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | "Fuhck the Bahnks" (by Bondi Hipsters) | ARIA Award for Best Comedy Release | Nominated | [16] |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "About Van Vuuren Bros". YouTube.
- ^ Hutton, Dan (1 January 2015). "Christiaan Van Vuuren – The Fresh Face of Australian Comedy". The Beast. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
- ^ a b c Visentin, Lisa (15 October 2014). "From Bondi Hipsters to Soul Mates". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
- ^ a b Evans, Mel (2 November 2014). "The Hip List: Bondi Hipsters Christiaan Van Vuuren and Nick Boshier, aka Dom and Adrian, are Soul Mates". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
- ^ a b "'Top of the Lake: China Girl' has some pretty screwed up male characters. Does that matter?". The Washington Post. 13 September 2017.
- ^ "A Sunburnt Christmas stars on finally giving Aussies a local festive film". www.nine.com.au. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
- ^ "Is our democracy for sale?". Make It A Big Deal. 20 July 2021. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
- ^ Malkin, Bonnie (19 April 2010). "TB sufferer becomes YouTube sensation". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 19 April 2010.
- ^ Burnett, Thane (20 April 2010). "TB-infected salesman's raps go viral". Toronto Star. Retrieved 20 April 2010.
- ^ "Ever hear of Bondi Beach? You will soon thanks to these two hipsters"
- ^ "Sick Aussie rapper becomes global hit". CBC News. 17 April 2010. Retrieved 17 April 2010.
- ^ Forsythe, Abe (1 September 2014). "Out of the Shoebox". Australian Story. 1 September 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
- ^ "OVER AND OUT, the international award-winning short comedy series by Adele Vuko and Christiaan Van Vuuren debuts June 14". FilmInk. 3 June 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
- ^ "Over and Out". CANNESERIES (in French). Retrieved 28 March 2022.
- ^ "Airdate: Big Deal". TV Tonight. 20 December 2021. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
- ^ "ARIA Awards Best Comedy Release". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Retrieved 17 April 2022.