Lena Olin (born March 22, 1956) is a Swedish-born actress. She was born in Stockholm, Sweden. Her father was also actor and had appeared in several of Ingmar Bergman's films. After studying acting at the drama school of the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, Olin performed on stage classic plays of Shakespeare and Ibsen and appeared in smaller roles of several Swedish films directed by Bergman. It was he who casted her for the first time, after she had not passed her first audition because of her shyness. Later she acted at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, directed by Bergman.

Olin's international debut in an English-spoken film, again directed by Bergman, was in 1984 in After the Rehearsal. The year before she had appeared in the Swedish film Fanny and Alexander, also directed by Bergman. In 1988, she played in her first American film opposite Daniel Day-Lewis, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and became a well-known and respected actress. In 1989, she earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress Enemies: A Love Story, in which she portrayed the survivor of a Nazi camp.

Olin is today a prominent member of the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, where she began her career as young actress. She appears in many different plays, from classic to contemporary.

Olin married twice. Her first spouse was Örjan Ramberg, from whom she divorced. In 1994, she married Lasse Hallström, a film director with whom she worked in 2000 in Chocolat, giving one of the best perfomances of her career. She also appeared in the American television series Alias from 2002 to 2003. She lives in New York with her husband and her two children.

Filmography

  • Hollywood Homicide (2003)
  • The United States of Leland (2003)
  • Darkness (2002)
  • Anne Rice's Queen of the Damned (2002)
  • Ignition (2001)
  • Chocolat (2000)
  • The Ninth Gate (1999)
  • Mystery Men (1999)
  • Hamilton (1998)
  • Polish Wedding (1998)
  • Night Falls on Manhattan (1997)
  • The Night and the Moment (1995)
  • Mr. Jones (1993)
  • Romeo Is Bleeding (1993)
  • Havana (1990)
  • Enemies: A Love Story (1989)
  • S/Y Joy (1989)
  • Friends (1988)
  • The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)
  • A Matter of Life and Death (1986)
  • Flight North (1986) ]]''
  • ''After the Rehearsal (1984).
  • Fanny and Alexander (1983)
  • One Week Bachelors (1982)
  • Love (1980)
  • The Adventures of Picasso (1978)
  • Face to Face (1976)

External links