[1] Etienne Debel was born in Izegem, a small city in the Flemish part of Belgium.

at the age of 16 with the support of a priest-teacher who understood him and persuaded his parents, Etienne moved to a drama school in Ghent and graduated summa cum laude from a drama academy in Antwerp.

For a while after his graduation Etienne played lead roles in a local theatre.

Etienne was influenced by the works of Jean Vilar who founded The Théâtre National Populaire (People's National Theatre) in France and like Vilar, Etienne wanted to take theatre out of the big city.

In 1962 Debel was forced to shut down his theatre for economic reasons and started working as a director for Flemish TV.