Great Swedish Actresses
Great Swedish Actresses
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Greta Garbo was born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson on September 18, 1905, in Stockholm, Sweden, to Anna Lovisa (Johansdotter), who worked at a jam factory, and Karl Alfred Gustafsson, a laborer. She was fourteen when her father died, which left the family destitute. Greta was forced to leave school and go to work in a department store. The store used her as a model in its newspaper ads. She had no film aspirations until she appeared in short advertising film at that same department store while she was still a teenager. Erik A. Petschler, a comedy director, saw the film and gave her a small part in his Luffar-Petter (1922). Encouraged by her own performance, she applied for and won a scholarship to a Swedish drama school. While there she appeared in at least one film, En lyckoriddare (1921). Both were small parts, but it was a start. Finally famed Swedish director Mauritz Stiller pulled her from the drama school for the lead role in The Saga of Gösta Berling (1924). At 18 Greta was on a roll.
Following The Joyless Street (1925) both Greta and Stiller were offered contracts with MGM, and her first film for the studio was the American-made Torrent (1926), a silent film in which she didn't have to speak a word of English. After a few more films, including The Temptress (1926), Love (1927) and A Woman of Affairs (1928), Greta starred in Anna Christie (1930) (her first "talkie"), which not only gave her a powerful screen presence but also garnered her an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress (she didn't win). Later that year she filmed Romance (1930), which was somewhat of a letdown, but she bounced back in 1931, landing another lead role in Mata Hari (1931), which turned out to be a major hit.
Greta continued to give intense performances in whatever was handed her. The next year she was cast in what turned out to be yet another hit, Grand Hotel (1932). However, it was in MGM's Anna Karenina (1935) that she gave what some consider the performance of her life. She was absolutely breathtaking in the role as a woman torn between two lovers and her son. Shortly afterwards, she starred in the historical drama Queen Christina (1933) playing the title character to great acclaim. She earned an Oscar nomination for her role in the romantic drama Camille (1936), again playing the title character. Her career suffered a setback the following year in Conquest (1937), which was a box office disaster. She later made a comeback when she starred in Ninotchka (1939), which showcased her comedic side. It wasn't until two years later she made what was to be her last film, Two-Faced Woman (1941), another comedy. But the film drew controversy and was condemned by the Catholic Church and other groups and was a box office failure, which left Garbo shaken.
After World War II Greta, by her own admission, felt that the world had changed perhaps forever and she retired, never again to face the camera. She would work for the rest of her life to perpetuate the Garbo mystique. Her films, she felt, had their proper place in history and would gain in value. She abandoned Hollywood and moved to New York City. She would jet-set with some of the world's best-known personalities such as Aristotle Onassis and others. She spent time gardening and raising flowers and vegetables. In 1954 Greta was given a special Oscar for past unforgettable performances. She even penned her biography in 1990.
On April 15, 1990, Greta died of natural causes in New York and with her went the "Garbo Mystique". She was 84.- Actress
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Ingrid Bergman was one of the greatest actresses from Hollywood's lamented Golden Era. Her natural and unpretentious beauty and her immense acting talent made her one of the most celebrated figures in the history of American cinema. Bergman is also one of the most Oscar-awarded actresses, tied with Meryl Streep and Frances McDormand, all three of them second only to Katharine Hepburn.
Ingrid Bergman was born on August 29, 1915 in Stockholm, Sweden, to a German mother, Frieda Henrietta (Adler), and a Swedish father, Justus Samuel Bergman, an artist and photographer. Her mother died when she was only two and her father died when she was 12. She went to live with an elderly uncle.
The woman who would be one of the top stars in Hollywood in the 1940s had decided to become an actress after finishing her formal schooling. She had had a taste of acting at age 17 when she played an uncredited role of a girl standing in line in the Swedish film Landskamp (1932) in 1932 - not much of a beginning for a girl who would be known as "Sweden's illustrious gift to Hollywood." Her parents died when she was just a girl and the uncle she lived with didn't want to stand in the way of Ingrid's dream. The next year she enrolled at the Royal Dramatic Theatre School in Stockholm but decided that stage acting was not for her. It would be three more years before she would have another chance at a film. When she did, it was more than just a bit part. The film in question was The Count of the Old Town (1935), where she had a speaking part as Elsa Edlund. After several films that year that established her as a class actress, Ingrid appeared in Intermezzo (1936) as Anita Hoffman. Luckily for her, American producer David O. Selznick saw it and sent a representative from Selznick International Pictures to gain rights to the story and have Ingrid signed to a contract. Once signed, she came to California and starred in United Artists' 1939 remake of her 1936 film, Intermezzo (1939), reprising her original role. The film was a hit and so was Ingrid.
Her beauty was unlike anything the movie industry had seen before and her acting was superb. Hollywood was about to find out that they had the most versatile actress the industry had ever seen. Here was a woman who truly cared about the craft she represented. The public fell in love with her. Ingrid was under contract to go back to Sweden to film Only One Night (1939) in 1939 and June Night (1940) in 1940. Back in the US she appeared in three films, all well-received. She made only one film in 1942, but it was the classic Casablanca (1942) opposite Humphrey Bogart.
Ingrid was choosing her roles well. In 1943 she was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), the only film she made that year. The critics and public didn't forget her when she made Gaslight (1944) the following year--her role of Paula Alquist got her the Oscar for Best Actress. In 1945 Ingrid played in Spellbound (1945), Saratoga Trunk (1945) and The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), for which she received her third Oscar nomination for her role of Sister Benedict. She made no films in 1947, but bounced back with a fourth nomination for Joan of Arc (1948). In 1949 she went to Italy to film Stromboli (1950), directed by Roberto Rossellini. She fell in love with him and left her husband, Dr. Peter Lindstrom, and daughter, Pia Lindström. America's "moral guardians" in the press and the pulpits were outraged. She was pregnant and decided to remain in Italy, where her son was born. In 1952 Ingrid had twins, Isotta and Isabella Rossellini, who became an outstanding actress in her own right, as did Pia.
Ingrid continued to make films in Italy and finally returned to Hollywood in 1956 in the title role in Anastasia (1956), which was filmed in England. For this she won her second Academy Award. She had scarcely missed a beat. Ingrid continued to bounce between Europe and the US making movies, and fine ones at that. A film with Ingrid Bergman was sure to be a quality production. In her final big-screen performance in 1978's Autumn Sonata (1978) she had her final Academy Award nomination. Though she didn't win, many felt it was the most sterling performance of her career. Ingrid retired, but not before she gave an outstanding performance in the mini-series A Woman Called Golda (1982), a film about Israeli prime minister Golda Meir. For this she won an Emmy Award as Best Actress, but, unfortunately, she did not live to see the fruits of her labor.
Ingrid died from cancer on August 29, 1982, her 67th birthday, in London, England.- Actress
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Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg was born on September 29, 1931 in Malmo, Sweden. Growing up with seven brothers and sisters was not an adventure, but Anita's adventure began when she was elected Miss Sweden in 1950. She did not win the Miss Universe contest but she got a modeling contract in the United States. She quickly got a film contract with Howard Hughes's RKO that did not lead anywhere (but Anita herself has said that Hughes wanted to marry her). Instead, she started making movies with Universal, small roles that more often than not only required her to look beautiful. After five years in Hollywood, she found herself in Rome, where Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960) meant her breakthrough. She stayed in Italy and made around 20 movies during the next ten years, some roles memorable, some to be forgotten. Her two marriages gave her a great deal of attention from the press. During the 1970s, the roles became less frequent, but she made a marvellous comeback with Fellini's Intervista (1987).
Anita Ekberg retired from acting in 2002 after 50 years in the motion picture industry. In December 2011, she was destitute following three months in a hospital with a broken thigh in Rimini, during which her home was robbed of jewelry and furniture, and her villa was badly damaged in a fire. Ekberg applied for help from the Fellini Foundation, which also found itself in difficult financial straits. She died at age 83 from complications of an enduring illness on January 11, 2015 at the clinic San Raffaele in Rocca di Papa, Italy. Ekberg had a new film project with exclusively female Italian producer "Le Bestevem", in which her character, as movie star, should have been recovered again as an icon of the silver screen, a project that was interrupted by her death.
Her funeral was held on January 14, 2015, at the Lutheran-Evangelical Christuskirche in Rome, after which her body was cremated and her remains were buried at the cemetery of Skanor Church in Sweden.- Actress
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Christina Schollin was born on 26 December 1937 in Stockholm, Sweden. She is an actress, known for Dear John (1964), Fanny and Alexander (1982) and Ormen (1966). She has been married to Hans Wahlgren since 22 December 1962. They have four children.- Actress
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Stunning Swedish born ex-model who broke into film in 1970, and quickly appeared in several high profile films including playing the ex-wife of James Caan in the futuristic Rollerball (1975) and the ill-fated lover of super-assassin Francisco Scaramanga played by Christopher Lee in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). To date, the beautiful Maud Adams has appeared in three James Bond films... the other two performances were as one of the lead villains in Octopussy (1983) and as an extra in A View to a Kill (1985). She has appeared in numerous television specials on the Bond series of films, and also played the love interest of crazy Bruce Dern in Tattoo (1981). In the late 1990s, Adams had a regular role on a Swedish soap opera; however, she has not been seen on cinema screens since late 1996.- Actress
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Although born in an acting family, she wanted work that included animals when she was young. At the age of 5, she was in a production of the play 'Klas Klättermus'. When she was a 15 she received a scholarship for studying in USA and moved to Mississippi for a year. During this year she became interested in acting and decided that this was her future. Back in Sweden, she got a role in a TV-series but her first application to become a student at the Royal Dramatic Theatre was rejected. Acting lessons for 'Margreth Weivers' made the third attempt successful. After her studies she worked both at the Royal Dramatic Theatre and Stockholm's City Theatre. She made her breakthrough with 1939 (1989). Colin Nutley saw her face on a poster for The Women on the Roof (1989) and cast her for his movie BlackJack (1990). She was also the obvious choice for his next movie, House of Angels (1992). Critics have called her 'the new Ingrid Bergman'- Actress
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Lena Endre was born on 8 July 1955 in Härnösand, Västernorrlands län, Sweden. She is an actress and writer, known for Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017), The Master (2012) and The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009). She was previously married to Richard Hobert, Thomas Hanzon, Vjeko Benzon and Malte Ekblom.- Actress
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Her artistic dreams came early in life and were further supported by her older sister Gerd Andersson who became a ballet dancer at the Royal Opera and made her acting debut in 1951. Bibi, on the other side, had to make do with bit parts and commercials. She debuted in Dum-Bom (1953), playing against Nils Poppe. Eventually, she was able to start at the Royal Dramatic Theatre's acting school in 1954. A brief relationship with Ingmar Bergman made her quit school and follow him to the Malmö city theatre, where he was a director, performing in plays by August Strindberg and Hjalmar Bergman. Bergman also gave her a small part in his comedy Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), and larger roles in his Wild Strawberries (1957) and The Seventh Seal (1957). From the the 1960s she got offers from abroad, with best result in I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977). During the civil war in Yugoslavia she has worked with several initiatives to give the people of Sarajevo theatre and other forms of culture.- Actress
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Discovered at age 20 by celebrated director Ingmar Bergman, she became part of Bergman's regular stable of performers; in fact, he wrote Summer with Monika (1953) especially for her breakthrough. Extraordinary and versatile as an actress, her roles have ranged from the naive young wife in Sawdust and Tinsel (1953) to the mad visionary in Through a Glass Darkly (1961). Andersson also appeared in Fanny and Alexander (1982), Bergman's last film. After that she has appeared in a number of feature films and TV series in Sweden. Her autobiography was published in 2005.- Actress
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Ingrid trained as a ballet dancer and attended Stockholm's Royal Dramatic Theatre. She came to fame thanks to Bergman's "Wild Strawberries". She acted in 9 Ingmar Bergman's films. Her fame allowed her to act in Luchino Visconti's "The Damned" in 1969. Ingrid Thulin lived in Rome since the 1960's. She came back to Sweden for her health treatment recently.- Actress
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After acting studies at the Gothenburg City Theatre from 1950-52, she made her breakthrough debut in Gustaf Molander's Kärlek (1952). When Ingmar Bergman became head of the Malmö City Theatre he asked her to join him there and with him as a director she played the role of Margareta in Goethe's 'Faust'. Bergman also gave her supporting roles in his movies, most notably the mute woman in The Seventh Seal (1957). She followed up on a few offers from abroad but the roles wasted her screen presence. Bergman once again gave her an offer she couldn't refuse, to direct a movie. Paradistorg (1977) received a lot of praise from all over the world. Time Magazine considered it one of the four best non-US movies of 1978. Her appearances in movies has been rare but she gave a wonderful appearance in the children's TV show Kaspar i Nudådalen (2001). Lindblom has for many years worked for The Royal Dramatic Theatre, appearing in plays by August Strindberg or William Shakespeare. In 2002 she received a Guldbagge award for her lifetime achievements in movies.- Actress
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Alicia Vikander is a Swedish actress, dancer and producer. She was born and raised in Gothenburg, Västra Götalands län, Sweden, to Maria Fahl, an actress of stage and screen, and Svante Vikander, a psychiatrist. Through her mother, she is one quarter Finnish, and had a maternal great aunt who moved from Finland to Sweden to escape World War 2. Alicia began acting as a child in minor stage productions at The Göteborg Opera, and trained as a ballet dancer at the Royal Swedish Ballet School in Stockholm, and the School of American Ballet in New York. She began her professional acting career by appearing in Swedish short films and television series, and first gained recognition in Northern Europe for her role as Josefin Björn-Tegebrandt in the TV drama Second Avenue (2007). Vikander made her feature film debut in Pure (2009), for which she won the Guldbagge Award for Best Actress. She attracted widespread recognition in 2012 for portraying Princess Ekaterina "Kitty" Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya in Joe Wright's film adaptation of Anna Karenina (2012), and Queen Caroline Mathilde in the acclaimed Danish film A Royal Affair (2012), receiving a BAFTA Rising Star Award nomination for her breakthrough. She went on to star in the 2013 Swedish drama film Hotel (2013)and appeared in the Julian Assange biopic The Fifth Estate (2013) that same year. In 2014 and 2015, Vikander achieved global recognition and acclaim for her roles as activist Vera Brittain in Testament of Youth (2014), an AI in Ex Machina (2014), for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe and BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress, and painter Gerda Wegener in The Danish Girl (2015), for which she received the Academy Award and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actress.- Actress
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After making the children's TV show 'Disneyklubben' she began to study acting at Teaterhögskolan in Stockholm. She graduated with a performance in Lars Norén's play 'Munich-Aten'. She has done a lot of roles for both radio and television. She is currently under contract with The Royal Dramatic Theatre, where she has starred in Bertolt Brecht's 'Puntila' and Tennessee Williams' 'This Property Is Condemned'.- Actress
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Pernilla August started acting as a child, performing in plays at Vår teater and at school. In 1979 she was accepted at the Statens scenskola to study acting professionally. Director Ingmar Bergman took note of her early and cast her as a nanny in his Fanny and Alexander (1982).
In 1982 she got married to author Klas Östergren and started work at the Folkteatern in Gävle, appearing in August Strindberg's A Dreamplay and Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters. She returned a few years later to the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm for roles in William Shakespeare's Hamlet and Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House (as Nora).
Until then she hadn't had any bigger experience of television or movies but Ingmar Bergman specifically asked for her to play his mother in the biographical The Best Intentions (1992) By then her marriage was over and she started a relationship with director Bille August whom she married in 1991 - and had her name changed for the second time. He offered her a role in his The House of the Spirits (1993), but due to her pregnancy the role went to Winona Ryder instead.
She has admirably managed an international career despite having three daughters. She is best known for her appearances in films like Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) or I Am Dina (2002).- Actress
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Mai Zetterling was born in Sweden in 1925, and lived briefly in Australia while still a child. She's known as a director and actor and trained on the Stockholm repertory stage, she began appearing in war-era films starting in her teens. Following her debut in Lasse Maja (1941), she made quite an impact in the terminally dark Ingmar Bergman-written film Torment (1944) [known as Torment in the US and Frenzy in the UK], who went on to direct her in his Music in Darkness (1948) [Music in Darkness].
The international attention she received from her Bergman association led her to England where she debuted in the title role of Frieda (1947), a war drama co-starring David Farrar, Glynis Johns and Flora Robson. Developing modest sex symbol success, she went on to co-star opposite a number of handsome leading men throughout the post-war years in primarily dramatic works, including Dennis Price in The Bad Lord Byron (1949), Dirk Bogarde in Blackmailed (1951), Herbert Lom in The Ringer (1952), Richard Widmark in A Prize of Gold (1955), Tyrone Power in Seven Days from Now (1957) (which was a variation on Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944)), John Gregson in Faces in the Dark (1960), William Sylvester in The Devil Inside (1961), and Stanley Baker in The Man Who Finally Died (1963). Along the way she proved just as adaptable and sexy in smart comedy when she came between husband and wife Peter Sellers and Virginia Maskell in Only Two Can Play (1962).
Mai abandoned acting in the mid-1960s and courted some controversy when she successfully began sitting in the director's chair. Divorced from Norwegian actor Tutte Lemkow in the early 1950s, she later wed writer David Hughes in 1958, who collaborated with her on a number of her directing ventures, which seemed ahead of their time. Obviously influenced by Bergman, the dark, sexy drama Loving Couples (1964) [Loving Couples] dealt with homosexual themes and featured nudity; Night Games (1966) [Night Games] revolved around sexual decadency and repression; and The Girls (1968) [The Girls], which had an all-star Swedish cast including Bibi Andersson and Harriet Andersson, expounded on women's liberation. She divorced her second husband in 1979. She had two children, Louis and Etienne, from her first marriage.
Toward the end of her life, Mai made a return to film acting and is best remembered at this late stage for her nurturing and resilient grandmother in the film The Witches (1990) wherein she is forced to tangle with a particularly virulent ringleader Anjelica Huston to save her grandson from her coven of hags. Mai died of cancer in 1994.- Actress
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Sissela Kyle was born on 17 March 1957 in Örgryte, Gothenburg, Västra Götalands län, Sweden. She is an actress and writer, known for Kopps (2003), Christmas party with Staffan & Bengt (1984) and Åsa-Nisse - Wälkom to Knohult (2011). She was previously married to Mårten Eriksson.- Actress
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Malin was born in Stockholm, Sweden and raised in Toronto, Canada. Her mother, Pia (Sundström), is a model and aerobics instructor, and her father, Magnus Åkerman, is an insurance broker. They moved to Toronto when she was age 2. At age 5, she began appearing in TV commercials. Her parents divorced when she was 6 and her father returned to Sweden.
At age 17, she won the Canadian title of Ford Supermodel. This enabled her to spend 3 years as a catwalk model in Europe. She decided to become a child psychologist and enrolled in York University but she was offered a guest role in Earth: Final Conflict (1997) so she turned her attention back to acting. She moved to Los Angeles in 2001 and won roles in both TV and film. Her breakthrough role came when she was cast as Silk Spectre II in Watchmen (2009).- Swedish-born Lena Olin already had a successful career as an actress before she came to Hollywood. She acted at the Royal Theatre in Stockholm and was directed by Ingmar Bergman. She was born in Stockholm, to actors Britta Holmberg and Stig Olin, who appeared in six of Bergman's films. Lena also belongs to the Bergman "family". As a young actress, she played in the great classics of William Shakespeare, Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg. She made her international debut as a movie actress in After the Rehearsal (1984) (aka "After the Rehearsal"), directed by Bergman. In western Europe, she became well-known in the political movie The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) as "Sabina", in a story about the Prague spring (1968). After coming to the US, she played mostly distinguished, exotic temptresses, intelligent women and crude vamps. Bergman had developed Lena's artistic gift to play different human emotions and express them in a subtle way. Sydney Pollack, director of Out of Africa (1985), rewrote the screenplay for Havana (1990) especially for her. This explains why this film recalls associations with the classic Casablanca (1942), starring Ingrid Bergman, also from Sweden. Olin received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Enemies, A Love Story (1989). She went on to have a choice role in Chocolat (2000), which received a Best Picture Oscar nomination, and received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. She made a move to the smaller screen and played the role for one season as the deliciously evil "Irina Derevko", the mother to Jennifer Garner's "Sydney Bristow" in the series Alias (2001). Olin received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.
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Liv Ullmann's father was a Norwegian engineer who used to work abroad, so as a child she lived in Tokyo, Canada, New York and Oslo. In the mid-1950s she made her stage debut and in 1957 made her film debut. She really became successful, however, when she began to work for Swedish director Ingmar Bergman in such films as Persona (1966), The Passion of Anna (1969) and Face to Face (1976). She also had a successful film career away from Bergman (The Abdication (1974), Dangerous Moves (1984).Technically Norwegian, but acted in many Swedish Movies.- Actress
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Rebecca Ferguson was born Rebecca Louisa Ferguson Sundström in Stockholm, Sweden, and grew up in its Vasastaden district. Her father is Swedish. Her mother, Rosemary Ferguson, is British, of Scottish and Northern Irish descent, and moved to Sweden at the age of 25. Rebecca attended an English-speaking school in Sweden and was raised bilingual, speaking Swedish and English. As a student, she attended the Adolf Fredrik's Music School in Stockholm and graduated in 1999.
She came into prominence with her breakout role of upper-class girl Anna Gripenhielm in the soap-opera Nya tider (1999), when she was 16 years old.
She lives in the seaside town of Simrishamn, on the Swedish south coast. Ferguson has said she wanted to get away from city life and the public spotlight following her soap opera success. Swedish director Richard Hobert, spotted her at the town market in 2011, which led to her starring in his film A One-Way Trip to Antibes (2011).
Ferguson taught Argentinian Tango at a dance company in Sweden for a few years.
In 2013, Rebecca played Queen Elizabeth Woodville in the BBC historical drama The White Queen (2013), for which she got a Golden Globe nomination.
In 2015, Ferguson played Ilsa Faust, the female lead in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015). Her co-star, Tom Cruise, chose her for the film after having seen her in the mini-series The White Queen (2013). Her performance in the movie was highly praised and Rebecca will reprise her role in the sixth Mission: Impossible film.
In 2016, she starred in Despite the Falling Snow (2016), Florence Foster Jenkins (2016) and The Girl on the Train (2016).
Her other projects are Dune, Life (2017), The Snowman (2017), The Greatest Showman (2017), The Lady and the Panda and Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018).- Actress
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Swedish actress Noomi Rapace was born in Hudiksvall, Gävleborgs län, Sweden to Swedish actress Nina Norén and Spanish Flamenco singer Rogelio de Badajoz (Rogelio Durán). Her parents did not stay together, and when she was five she moved to Iceland with her mother and stepfather, where she lived for three years. When she was eight she was cast in a small role in the Icelandic film 'Í skugga hrafnsins', and this sparked her love of acting. At 15 she left home and joined the Stockholm Theatre School.
Rapace won the recurring role of Lucinda Gonzales in the Swedish TV series Tre kronor (1994), and also became a respected stage performer. She won critical acclaim for playing the leading role in 2007's Daisy Diamond (2007). In 2009, Rapace came to the attention of international audiences for her portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009). Her performance was widely praised, and she won the Best Actress prize at Sweden's prestigious Guldbagge Awards. She went on to reprise the role in the sequels, The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009) and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (2009).
Rapace made her English-language film debut in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) alongside Robert Downey Jr. She was also cast as Elizabeth Shaw in Ridley Scott's Prometheus (2012).- Actress
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Tuva Novotny was born on 21 December 1979 in Stockholm, Sweden. She is an actress and director, known for Annihilation (2018), Eat Pray Love (2010) and Blindsone (2018).- Actress
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Britt Ekland was born in Sweden and grew up to be the poster girl for beautiful, big-eyed Scandinavian blondes. She attended a drama school and then joined a traveling theater group. With her looks as her passport, Britt entered films and became a star in Italy. When Peter Sellers met her in a hotel, he fell hard for her and they soon married. The combination of Sellers' stardom and her stunning beauty contributed to her fame (the fact that Sellers suffered a heart attack in bed on their wedding night did not hurt, either). She appeared in two films with her husband: After the Fox (1966), written by Neil Simon, and the forgettable The Bobo (1967). Her claim to fame would come as the young girl who invented the striptease in The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968). After that, she appeared in a string of movies that were built around her looks and not much else. She did appear in some first-rate productions over the years, though, two of them being Get Carter (1971) and the cult classic The Wicker Man (1973). The high point in her career would be her role as Bond girl Mary Goodnight in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). After her much publicized breakup with rocker Rod Stewart in 1977, Britt continued to make movies--both features and made-for-TV films--and tried the stage. By that time, the quality of her film projects had decreased markedly, and she was reduced to appearing in things like Fraternity Vacation (1985) and Beverly Hills Vamp (1989).- Director
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Josephine Bornebusch was born on 12 September 1981 in Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden. She is a director and writer, known for Love Me (2019), Orca (2020) and Harmonica (2022). She has been married to Erik Zetterberg since 4 December 2010. They have one child.- Ulla Jacobsson was an International Swedish Actress and became world-famous with the film One Summer of Happiness (1951) (English title: "One Summer of Happiness", German title: "Sie tanzte nur einen Sommer") and Smiles of a Summer Night (1955) ("Smiles of a Summer Night"), which Zarah Leander made as a musical in Vienna and also the Swedish version in Stockholm. She became better known in the UK for her part of the daughter of a missionary (played by Jack Hawkins) in Zulu (1964). She married an Austrian doctor and lived in Vienna, where she died of cancer in 1982.
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Alexandra Rapaport was born on 26 December 1971 in Bromma, Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden. She is an actress and producer, known for Gåsmamman (2015), The Hunt (2012) and Heder (2019). She is married to Joakim Eliasson. They have two children.- Actress
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Moa Gammel was born on 6 October 1980 in Sweden. She is an actress and director, known for Let the Right One In (2008), Tack för senast (2022) and Irene Huss (2007).- Actress
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Malin Crépin was born on 22 August 1978 in Stockholm, Sweden. She is an actress, known for Lulu (2014), Oslo, August 31st (2011) and Nobel's Last Will (2012). She is married to Markus Sundström. They have two children.- Actress
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Frida Hallgren was born on 16 December 1974 in Stockholm, Sweden. She is an actress and director, known for As It Is in Heaven (2004), 30:e november (1995) and The Searchers (1993).- Actress
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Helen Sjöholm was born on 10 July 1970 in Sundsvall, Västernorrlands län, Sweden. She is an actress, known for As It Is in Heaven (2004), Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018) and Simon och ekarna (2011). She has been married to David Granditsky since 26 August 2006. They have three children.- Actress
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Ingela Olsson was born on 28 February 1958 in Nybro, Kalmar län, Sweden. She is an actress, known for As It Is in Heaven (2004), Rederiet (1992) and Försvunna människor (2022).- Actress
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Elisabet Carlsson was born on 9 January 1968 in Kviinge, Skåne län, Sweden. She is an actress, known for Grabben i graven bredvid (2002), En decemberdröm (2005) and Beck (1997).- Actress
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Liv Mjönes was born on 18 September 1979 in Stockholm, Sweden. She is an actress, known for Kiss Me (2011), Midsommar (2019) and A Serious Game (2016).- Actress
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Sofia Helin was born on 25 April 1972 in Hovsta, Örebro län, Sweden. She is an actress and writer, known for The Bridge (2011), Arn: The Knight Templar (2007) and The Snowman (2017). She is married to Daniel Götschenhjelm. They have two children.- Actress
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Eva Dahlbeck was born on 8 March 1920 in Saltsjö-Duvnäs, Stockholms län, Sweden. She was an actress and writer, known for Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), Brink of Life (1958) and A Lesson in Love (1954). She was married to Sven Lampell. She died on 8 February 2008 in Hässelby, Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden.- Actress
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Maud Hansson, born in Stockholm 1937, was a Swedish stage and screen actress, probably best known for her role as the young witch in Ingmar Bergman's "The Seventh Seal" and as "Lina" in the Astrid Lindgren's "Emil in Lonneberga" - film series. Maud Hansson was accepted at Malmö City Theatre's dramatic school in 1955. She took part in Ingmar Bergman's "Trämålning/Wood Painting", the pilot study of "The Seventh Seal" while studying drama. Apart from her role in "The Seventh Seal" she also participated in Bergman's "Smultronstället/Wild Strawberries" and "Venetianskan/The Venetian". But Maud Hansson's ambition was to be on stage, work in an ensemble, which she did on the City Theatre's of Malmö, Gothenburg and Stockholm, with recognized directors Olof Molander, Hans Dahlin, Per Verner-Carlsson and Yngve Nordwall. In all she appeared in 25 feature films and television productions. In 1965 she married the Greek-Russian actor Petros Fissoun, and was occasionally resident in Greece. Maud Hansson passed away on October 1, 2020, i Stockholm.- Actress
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Inger Taube, born 1939 in Gothenburg, was a Swedish stage and screen actress, and model. She was discovered at 14 by an agent of Toni-Models, where she became a coveted international model. Her film debut was in "Det svänger på slottet / Swinging at the Castle" (1959) directed by Alf Kjellin. Two years earlier she appeared in "Ninotchka", directed by Sven Lindberg, at the Stockholm theatre Intiman. In 1963 she got her big breakthrough when she played against Thommy Bergren in Bo Widerberg's feature film debut "Barnvagnen / The Pram". In all Inger Taube appeared in 7 feature films, a couple of shorts and a number of plays. She was married to singer/actor Sven-Bertil Taube with whom she gave birth to their son Jesper in 1960. She died of a heart attack in 1996.- Director Bo Widerberg first spotted the teenage Pia Degermark in a newspaper photo, dancing at a party with the Swedish Crown Prince Carl Gustaf (later King Carl XVI Gustaf. Her career seemed assured after Widerberg cast her in the lead of Elvira Madigan (1967), which debuted at Cannes and garnered critical and commercial acclaim. Degermark was heralded as the "new Ingrid Bergman" and offers came flooding in. However, in 1971 she married producer Pier A. Caminnecci (in whose film The Vampire Happening (1971) she appeared). The marriage produced a son, Cesare, but ended two years later. Degermark then emigrated to the US, but returned to her native Sweden in 1979, by now gravely ill and suffering from anorexia. Her acting career now over, she founded the organization "Alfta", devoted to the aid of other women suffering from the disease. She was eventually taken to court, accused of false claims and the organization collapsed. It was at this time that Degermark became homeless and addicted to drugs--an addiction that led her to use fraudulent checks in a desperate attempt to get money. She was eventually arrested and committed to Stockholm's state prison.
- Kerstin Tidelius was born on 14 October 1934 in Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden. She was an actress, known for Fanny and Alexander (1982), Fröken Julie (1969) and Roseanna (1967). She died on 15 February 2023 in Sweden.
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Cecilia Frode was educated at Malmö Theatre Academy, Sweden, 1991-94. She got her breakthrough on stage in Shakespeare's "As you like it" 1996 at Göteborgs Stadsteater. Since then, Cecilia has played many different leading roles on stage in Sweden. Her most recent stage performances took place at the Playhouse Theater, Stockholm, where she portrayed the lead, Rosalind Franklin, in "Photograph 51" and Claire in "Apologia". She won Guldbaggen (the Swedish equivalent of the Academy Award) for best supporting actress for "Klassfesten" in 2003. In 2015, Cecilia received the Angela Award for outstanding acting at the European film festival Subtitles in Kilkenny, Ireland for her part in the movie "Stockholm Stories". Cecilia has played supporting roles and leading roles in feature films such as "Sthlm Rekviem", "Tårtgeneralen " and "Stockholm Stories" etc - and TV-series "Blå ögon", "Coacherna" & "God morgon alla barn" etc. Popular Swedish TV-series "Mäklarna", where Cecilia played the female lead as Vilma, it was a big hit in 2006 and she was nominated for the Golden Nymph at the Monte Carlo tv festival for Outstanding actress-comedy series. And the sequel of "Mäklarna" is recently made, Vilma fifteen years later, in 2021. Cecilia Frode has also written, composed music for, and produced one-woman-theater-shows "Ängelen" and "A tail in the sky". Both shows successfully went on national tours in Sweden. They were also adapted for broadcast on Swedish national TV. In 2017, miss Frode wrote and starred in the musical theatre show "From the blue cabinet" that went on tour produced for Musik i Syd, Sweden.- Writer
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Anna Odell was born on 3 October 1973 in Stockholm, Sweden. She is a writer and director, known for The Reunion (2013), X&Y (2018) and Okänd, kvinna 2009-349701 (2009).- Actress
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Her parents sang and played in amateur theatre. Growing up, she sang with her mother. Her father took her to Stockholm when she was 13 and got an offer to sing at a nightclub but had to reject the offer. But on the train back home she met a voice coach who promised to give her singing lessons. The lessons couldn't destroy her natural talent and she She got more and more attention and in 1939 she sang at nightclubs like Berns or China and got a record contract. She has performed with all the big names in Swedish music, people like Charlie Norman, Putte Wickman and Arne Domnérus. Together with Svend Asmussen and Ulrik Neumann she formed the group SweDanes who even went on tour to the U.S. In the 1960s she performed together with Duke Ellington. After having been retired for 18 years she released a new album in 1998.- Ewa Fröling was born on 9 August 1952 in Stockholm, Sweden. She is an actress, known for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009), Fanny and Alexander (1982) and Sally and Freedom (1981).
- Kristina Adolphson was born on 2 September 1937 in Stockholm, Sweden. She is an actress, known for Fanny and Alexander (1982), The Devil's Eye (1960) and Anna Sophie Hedvig (1963).
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Amanda Ooms was born on 5 September 1964 in Kalmar, Kalmar län, Sweden. She is an actress and casting director, known for The Expendables 2 (2012), Karachi (1989) and Sök (2006).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Stina Ekblad was born on 26 February 1954 in Solf, Finland. She is an actress, known for Fanny and Alexander (1982), The Serpent's Way (1986) and Amorosa (1986).- Actress
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- Music Department
Edda Karin Hjartardóttir Magnason (born on 22 August 1984) is a Swedish/Icelandic singer-songwriter, pianist and film actress. She has released two albums of her own, "Edda Magnason" (2010) and "Goods" (2011) and a soundtrack album, "Monica Z - Musiken från filmen" (2013). She made her debut as an actress in the film "Waltz for Monica", playing the leading role of the legendary Swedish jazz singer, Monica Zetterlund, for which she received a "Guldbagge", a national award from the Swedish Film Institute.- Actress
- Casting Department
Hanna Alström was born on 5 March 1981 in Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden. She is an actress, known for Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) and Sami Blood (2016). She was previously married to Gustaf Skarsgård.- Born in the northern Polish town of Bialystok, Izabella Scorupco moved to Sweden with her mother as a young child. She studied drama and music and, at 17, was discovered by a Swedish film director who cast her in the movie Ingen kan älska som vi (1988), which made her a local teen idol. She then became a successful model in Sweden and throughout Europe, where she made good use of her fluency in four languages.
In 1989, Scorupco displayed another facet of her talents, launching her career as a pop singer with her first single, Substitute. The single and subsequent album, IZA, both went gold, and she followed with another hit single, Shame, Shame, which she recorded in 1991. Returning to acting in 1994, she immediately won the lead role in the Swedish film The Tears of Saint Peter (1995). Scorupco stars as a woman who lives her life as a man in the medieval drama, which was released in August 1995.
Shortly after Izabella received international attention after landing the leading female role in the Bond movie "Goldeneye" starring against Pierce Brosnan. In 2000 she played one of the adventurers in "Vertical limit" and went on to the lead female in the science-fantasy movie "Reign of fire" against Matthew Mc Conaughey and Christian Bale. In 2004 Izabella acted against fellow Swede Stellan SkarsgÃ¥rd in the Renny Harlin film "The Exorcist- the beginning". After a couple of roles in American TV-series, Izabella decided to work on the Scandinavian market again, first in the crime/thriller story "Solstrom" against Michael Persbrandt and and then onto the drama "Guardian angel", a heartbreaking story opposite Michael Nyqvist. Izabella tried a whole different genre in 2014 when she starred the in the hit comedy movie "Micke and Veronica". Izabella resides in Los Angeles with her two teenage kids and three dogs. - Swedish actress and singer. Trained at Willy Koblanck's drama school in 1940s and worked at many of the private theatres in Stockholm in her career. During her marriage to actor and composer Stig Olin, she recorded many hits together with him in the 1950s, including "Resan till Paris" and "På söndag". The Olin family, with children Lena Olin and Mats Olin, also appeared in Swedish radio with their own show in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Later in life, in the 1970s, she played the popular part of "Pilgrenskan" in the two Swedish childrens film classics Anderssonskans Kalle (1972) and Anderssonskans Kalle i busform (1973). In the 1980s, she worked closely with film director Ingmar Bergman at The Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm as prompter for many of his theatre productions, including "King Lear" (1984), "Miss Julie" (1985) and "Hamlet" (1986)".
- Gertrud Fridh was born on 26 November 1921 in Gothenburg, Västra Götalands län, Sweden. She was an actress, known for Wild Strawberries (1957), The Magician (1958) and The Devil's Eye (1960). She died on 11 October 1984 in Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden.
- Emy Storm was born on 20 May 1925 in Alfta, Hälsingland, Sweden. She was an actress, known for Emil och griseknoen (1973), The Best Intentions (1992) and The Best Intentions (1991). She was married to Göte Fyhring. She died on 24 November 2014 in Malmö, Sweden.
- Viveka Seldahl was born on 15 March 1944 in Överammer, Jämtlands län, Sweden. She was an actress, known for En sång för Martin (2001), Änglagård - Andra sommaren (1994) and S/Y Joy (1989). She was married to Sven Wollter. She died on 3 November 2001 in Stockholm, Sweden.
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Ing-Marie Carlsson was born on 25 February 1957 in Jönköping, Jönköpings län, Sweden. She is an actress, known for My Life as a Dog (1985), Reine & Mimmi i fjällen! (1997) and Tre kronor (1994).- Eva was born in New York, USA, with a Norwegian father and a Swedish mother, Ragni. They divorced when Eva was 6 years old and Ragni remarried the actor Uno Henning.
Eva was accepted to the Royal Dramatic Theater's acting school in 1938. She had some minor roles both on the stage and in a few movies before she got a major breakthrough with Elvira Madigan (1943). When she met Hasse Ekman in 1944 it was the start of a reciprocally useful relationship, both artistically and personally. She was slim and beatiful but he gave her roles that demanded more than just a pretty face, perhaps most of all in Banketten (1948), where she is a subjugated wife of a sadistic husband who is in complete control of her. She had other memorable roles, notably the young actress Pia in _Vandring med månen (1945)_ or as Dagmar Brink in Girl with Hyacinths (1950).
After their divorce in 1953 she married the Norwegian actor Toralv Maurstad and did a lot of work at theaters in Norway. - Actress
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She debuted in Sven Jerring's radio show 'Barnens Brevlaada' together with her friend Sickan Carlsson at the age of 10. She studied at Royal Opera's ballet school 1926-31. Her first work for the movies was a small part in Mordbrännerskan (1926). She got a contract with Svensk Filmindustri (SF). Her most interesting movies are Ebberöds bank (1935), Rejoice While You're Young, Fellow Cadets (1939) and Mans kvinna (1945). After leaving the movie business in 1950, she became an author and journalist. Beacuse of sickness, she spent the last years of her life in total isolation.- Actress
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Yvonne Lombard was born on 28 May 1929 in Stockholm, Sweden. She is an actress, known for The Apple War (1971), A Lesson in Love (1954) and Drottning Christina (1981). She was previously married to Lennart Hellsing.- Actress
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Lena Söderblom was born on 24 October 1935 in Stockholm, Sweden. She is an actress, known for Flickan i regnet (1955), Stall-Erik och Snapphanarna and Linje Lusta (1981).