Herman van Veen grew up as the only boy in a working-class family. He studied violin, singing and music pedagogy at the Utrecht Conservatory.
In 1965 he made his theater debut with the musical-clownesque solo program 'Harlekijn'. Since then he has traveled around the world and performed his performances in four languages.
After a request from Unicef Netherlands and the Hague Residentie Orchestra, Van Veen wrote a theater performance in 1976 about the courageous duck Alfred Jodocus Kwak. A picture book of this performance was published in 1979, and in 1987 Alfred J. Kwak became a cartoon character, which was turned into a cult 52-part animated series in Japan in 1989 that was shown worldwide.
Van Veen is also active in Germany, including as a television presenter. For example, in 1987 he presented the youth/Christmas program Ich steh an deiner Krippe hier and in 1990 the making of Alfred J. Kwak. That same year he presented the Children for Children Festival in the Netherlands.
To date, he has published 150 CDs, 12 DVDs, about sixty books, dozens of screenplays for, among others, the feature films Uit Tussen and Nachtvlinder and for the musical theater performances Jukebox, the Kamerrevue, Lune, The First Lady (together with Lori Spee), Chanson the Daniël, Mata Hari and Windekind. Van Veen now wrote Een Dag in September and is working on Margot. These latest two performances will be shown in 2009.
He was a volunteer, board member and goodwill ambassador for Unicef Netherlands for many years. He also founded several organizations, including the Colombine Foundation, the Alfred Jodocus Kwak Foundation, the Roos Foundation and the Herman van Veen Foundation. All these organizations are committed to and draw attention to the rights of the child through knowledge transfer and modest projects in developing countries and Europe.
Herman van Veen has been an ambassador for the Music in the Middle East foundation since 2005. At the beginning of 2006, Van Veen presented the World Cup show together with Jan de Man.
After the death of his parents, Herman van Veen started painting. He mainly creates monochrome abstract work, which can now be seen in a number of European galleries and museums. In February 2008, a Dutch postage stamp of his was released, a milestone that, he says, marks half of his life.
Herman van Veen is married to dancer Gaëtane Bouchez and lives in Soest. He has four children from his previous marriages to Marijke Hoffman and Marlous Fluitsma respectively, including actress Babette van Veen and Anne van Veen, who is active as a singer and has had her own theater show for several years.
