Meet the Ensemble Cast Bringing Netflix’s Dutch Thriller ‘The Perfect Lie’ to Life

‘The Perfect Lie’ arrived on Netflix on September 10, 2026, and quickly became one of the platform’s more talked about non English language releases. The Dutch language psychological thriller is adapted from Saskia Noort’s bestselling novel and follows a tight knit friend group whose lives unravel after a suspicious death. The series comes from creator Dorien Goertzen, working from Noort’s book, with direction handled by Dana Nechushtan and Margien Rogaar.

The show runs seven episodes, with the first six clocking in between 47 and 52 minutes and the finale stretching to roughly 62 minutes. Behind that runtime is a deep bench of Dutch performers who anchor the show’s central dinner club, and viewers curious about the faces behind Karen, Michel, and the rest of the group have plenty to learn. Below is a complete rundown of the cast members bringing ‘The Perfect Lie’ to life.

Loes Haverkort

Loes Haverkort plays Karen, the newcomer whose move to the affluent town of Bergen sets the story in motion. The Dutch actress was born in Almelo and trained at the Maastricht Academy of Dramatic Arts, graduating in 2004 before building a career across Dutch theater, film, and television. In ‘The Perfect Lie’, Karen relocates with her husband and daughter and is quickly welcomed into a wealthy local dinner club, even as she privately deals with a professional scandal back home.

Teun Luijkx

Teun Luijkx takes on the role of Michel, Karen’s supportive husband in ‘The Perfect Lie’. Michel is a tax accountant by trade, and the show frames him as an ordinary, non confrontational man who shoulders the family’s finances when Karen is suspended from her job. He is happy to have relocated to Bergen and throws himself into renovating the family’s new home, even as his low key nature sometimes puts him at odds with the more brash personalities in the friend group.

Edwin Jonker

Edwin Jonker plays Evert, whose death in a house fire is the event that fractures the dinner club and drives the entire mystery. Jonker is a veteran Dutch actor and singer with a long career spanning television, film, and musical theater. His character Evert, married to Babette, is deeply embedded in the group’s tangled web of secrets even before his death pulls every relationship into question.

Rifka Lodeizen

Rifka Lodeizen portrays Hanneke, an old friend of Karen’s who welcomes her into the Bergen social circle. Lodeizen was born in Amsterdam in 1972 and trained at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York, and her career includes three Golden Calf wins for her work in ‘Can Go Through Skin’, ‘Overspel’, and ‘Judas’. In the series, Hanneke is one of the most outspoken members of the group and becomes fiercely determined to uncover the truth behind Evert’s death, a pursuit that eventually puts her own safety at risk.

Remko Vrijdag

Remko Vrijdag plays Ivo, Hanneke’s husband, in ‘The Perfect Lie’. Vrijdag first built his reputation in Dutch entertainment as a founding member of the cabaret group De Vliegende Panters and through his long running work on the children’s series ‘Het Klokhuis’. In the show, Ivo grows distant from Hanneke, and his unexplained withdrawal from their marriage becomes one of the season’s simmering subplots.

Noortje Herlaar

Noortje Herlaar stars as Babette, Evert’s wife and the mother who survives the fire that kills her husband. Herlaar first became a national name in the Netherlands after winning the televised talent competition ‘Op zoek naar Mary Poppins’, which led to her landing the title role in the Dutch stage production of ‘Mary Poppins’. Babette takes refuge with Karen’s family after losing her home, and over the course of the series she reveals increasingly unsettling details about her marriage to Evert.

Matthijs van de Sande Bakhuyzen

Matthijs van de Sande Bakhuyzen plays Simon, another member of the dinner club whose presence adds friction to the group’s social dynamics. He first gained wide recognition for his leading role in the box office comedy ‘Het Schnitzelparadijs’ and has since built a resume that includes the series ‘Bloedverwanten’ and ‘Zwarte Tulp’ along with the international co-production ‘The Spiral’. His film credits also include the science fiction thriller ‘Boy 7’ and the drama ‘Daglicht’.

Together, this ensemble carries a story that trades on the gap between appearances and reality, and reviewers have pointed to the cast’s collective chemistry as one of the show’s strongest assets. With ‘The Perfect Lie’ based on the first book in a planned trilogy by Saskia Noort, there is room for these actors to return if Netflix decides to continue Karen’s story. Which member of the Bergen dinner club left the strongest impression on you, and who do you think deserves a bigger role if the show comes back for a second season.