Bio
Gys de Villiers is a South African actor, voice artist and sculptor best known for his role as Zieg Combrink in the M-Net soapie Binnelanders, from 2005-2006.
He was born in Roodepoort in 1960, matriculating at Hoërskool Linden.
After school he began his national service in Kimberley. During his second year he met Lochner de Kock and Marie Human in Windhoek – it was there that he did his first professional acting, in Die Drie van der Walts.
After that he enrolled for a Performer's Diploma in Speech and Drama at UCT, but only completed the first year of the three-year course.
In 1983 he joined PACT at a time when actors like Marius Weyers, Sandra Prinsloo and Tobie Cronjé were in the company.
For the first 10 years of his career he only did theatre work. He appeared in numerous theatre productions during this time, including Die Spinner (with its anti-war sentiment), as well as Diepe Grond and Sing Jy Van Bomme, which truly delved into the Afrikaner psyche.
His first big TV role came in 1993, when he played Barry McGregor in Triptiek 1.
Since then he has performed in numerous television productions, including Die Vierde Kabinet (1998), Binnelanders, Jozi H and the SABC2 soapie 7de Laan (2000-2001).
De Villiers has also acted in numerous feature films, including City of Blood (1983), The Stick (1987), On the Wire (1990), Dangerous Ground (1997), Tarzan and the Lost City (1998), Inside Out (2000) and Zoop in Afrika (2005).
In April 2008 he played the lead role of Malan in the SABC2 mini-series Malan en Kie.
He lives in Johannesburg with his life partner, Jaci Smith. He enjoys the simple pleasures of home life... and rugby.
Gys was one of the celebrity contestants on M-Net's Survivor South Africa: Santa Carolina, in 2010.
Gys as Malan in Malan en Kie (2008)