Bio
Cherie van der Merwe is a South African actress best known for her role as Katrien Swanepoel in the feature film Bakgat (2008) and its sequel, Bakgat 2, in 2010.
Cherie was born on the in Johannesburg but when she was in standard one they moved from a small holding in Johannesburg to a farm in Hekpoort. It was a big adjustment as there was nothing in Hekpoort except for a doctor, a petrol station, a post office and a bottle store.
She attended Bekker Primary and later went to Bekker High, in Standard 6. To keep busy she started playing piano and at a very young age started writing stories.
In standard seven she represented South African in the USA as one of the competitors of the Arts World Championship which consisted of 30 different countries. She received two silver acknowledgements for her piano pieces.
Cherie always wanted to do drama or become a vet, and she had to make her choice of subjects at the end of standard 7 - and decided on drama. She had to attend school in Pretoria and went to the drama school Pro Arte in Alpen Park from standard 8 to matric.
She moved out of the house and started working on her acting. Cherie took part in several school productions and in matric got the part of an angel of death in Herman van Veen’s stage production, The First Lady, which she performed at Aardklop in 2003.
At the beginning of 2004, Cherie started at the Technikon in Pretoria as a first year drama student where she also took part in productions such as The Death of Joe Egg, The Hours and Sexual Perversity in Chicago. She also wrote her own play and directed it.
In 2006 she played Anna in Dis ek Anna and also performed at Aardklop. She also took part in the Sanlam Drama competition and won the prize for the best actor.
Cherie started at Agentskap Contractor in 2007 and moved from Pretoria to Johannesburg to fulfil her dream. Her very first work was the part as Katrien Swanepoel in the Afrikaans teenage comedy Bakgat.
In 2007 she appeared in the M-Net soapie Egoli as Jade. She also appeared in an episode of Solving It.
In 2010 she landed her first leading role in television, as Tascha in the SABC2 sitcom Die Uwe Pottie Potgieter. She was one of the five main credited cast members.