The son of yesteryear Belgian actor Julien Schoenaerts, Matthias Schoenaerts initially intended to pursue a career as a soccer player before finding his true calling in acting. His debut came at the age of 13, in the Academy Award nominated Belgian film Daens (1992), and courtesy of his work in movies like Girl (2002) and Any Way the Wind Blows (2003), he was named as one of Europe`s Shooting Stars by European Film Promotion (EFP) in 2003. After starring in popular movies like Left Bank (2008), My Queen Karo (2009) and Pulsar (2010), Schoenaerts landed his breakout role when he portrayed a cattle farmer with a dark past in the crime film Bullhead (2011). The movie, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language, also earned its lead actor several international accolades.

In 2012, Schoenaerts starred alongside Marion Cotillard in the romantic drama Rust and Bone. The film was a critical and commercial success and won several accolades, including a Cesar Award for Most Promising Actor for Schoenaerts. Following this, the actor`s international career took an upward trajectory. The crime drama The Drop (2014), the erotic thriller The Loft (2014), the romantic drama Far from the Madding Crowd (2015) and the psychological thriller A Bigger Splash (2015) are some of the actor`s notable international movie credits. Other significant acting credits in recent times include The Danish Girl (2016) Racer and the Jailbird (2017), Our Souls at Night (2017), the spy thriller Red Sparrow (2018) and The Old Guard (2020) and The Mustang (2021)