Berghmans's father was an independent diamond cutter, his mother worked as an assistant in her sister's butcher shop.

In the late 1950s he also appeared in several films directed by Flemish comic Jan Vanderheyden: They were all successful in Flanders and increased Gaston's reputation and work efforts.

From 1972 Gaston and Leo also appeared on the state-owned Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep (BRT) television network, including a 1980 police comedy sitcom De Kolderbrigade, and some New Year's Eve special broadcasts.

Through the years Gaston and Leo remained very popular in Flanders, but expanding their career to the French-speaking part of Belgium or the Netherlands was not an option, as they consciously used the Antwerp dialect.

In 1989, Berghmans and Martin left BRT for the brand new commercial broadcaster vtm (Vlaamse Televisie Maatschappij).

Although both in their sixties, they relaunched their career with De Gaston en Leo show, a weekly program that was built around short sketches.

In 2023, a musical Gaston and Leo, de hommage was announced, in addition to the release of a retrospective book about the lives of the two comedians.