Alex van Warmerdam (born in Haarlem in 1952) is a Dutch painter, although he is best known to the public as a screenwriter, actor and film director. The available sources document his painting very little, so this biography focuses on the theatre and film career that made him known.
He co-founded the theatre group Hauser Orkater, which later became the music theatre group Orkater. In 1980 he founded De Mexicaanse Hond (The Mexican Dog) with his brother Marc van Warmerdam, the name under which all his shows have been released since 1989. He made his feature debut in 1986 with Abel, and since then has acted in nearly all of his films. His directing credits include De Noorderlingen (1992), De Jurk (1996), Little Tony (1998), Grimm (2003), Ober (2006) and Borgman (2013), which was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.
He won the Nederlands-Vlaamse Toneelschrijfprijs in 1990 and the Taalunie Toneelschrijfprijs in 2011. He is married to the actress Annet Malherbe, who appears in most of his films and also works as a casting director. Their son Mees is a musician who has composed pieces for shows by De Mexicaanse Hond.
His legacy is tied mainly to the Dutch theatre and film scene, where he combined writing, acting and directing within a single creative practice.