| Lena Olin | |
| Birth Name: | Lena Maria Jonna Olin |
| Birth Date: | 22 March 1955 |
| Birth Place: | Stockholm, Sweden |
| Education: | Swedish National Academy of Mime and Acting |
| Occupation: | Actress |
| Years Active: | 1976–present |
| Children: | 2 |
| Parents: | Britta Holmberg Stig Olin |
Lena Maria Jonna Olin (in Swedish pronounced as /ˈlêːna ʊˈliːn/; born 22 March 1955) is a Swedish actress. She has received nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Mentored by filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, she made her screen debut with a small role in his film Face to Face (1976). After graduating from drama school, Olin joined the Royal Dramatic Theatre, followed by roles in Bergman's films Fanny and Alexander (1982) and After the Rehearsal (1984). She made her international breakthrough in the role of a free-spirited artist in The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), which earned her a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture.
Olin garnered further critical acclaim for her portrayals of a Jewish survivor in the comedy-drama Enemies, A Love Story (1989), for which she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and an abused wife in the comedy-drama Chocolat (2000), for which she received a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Her other film roles include The Adventures of Picasso (1978), Havana (1990), Romeo Is Bleeding (1993), Mr. Jones (1993), The Ninth Gate (1999), Queen of the Damned (2002), Casanova (2005), The Reader (2008), Remember Me (2010), Maya Dardel (2017), and The Artist's Wife (2019).
On television, Olin starred as KGB agent Irina Derevko on the spy thriller Alias (2002–2006), which earned her a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Her other television roles include the sitcom Welcome to Sweden (2014–2015), the drama series Riviera (2017–2020), and the drama series Hunters (2020–2023).
Olin was born March 22, 1955, in Stockholm, Sweden, the youngest of three children of actors Britta Holmberg (1921–2004) and Stig Olin (1920–2008). She studied acting at Sweden's National Academy of Dramatic Art from 1976 to 1979.[1]
In October 1974, at age 19, Olin was crowned Miss Scandinavia in Helsinki, Finland.[2]
Olin worked as a substitute teacher, and as a hospital nurse, before becoming an actress.
Olin performed for over a decade with Sweden's Royal Dramatic Theatre-ensemble (1980–1994) in plays by William Shakespeare and August Strindberg, and appeared in smaller roles of several Swedish films directed by Bergman and in productions of Swedish Television's TV-Theatre Company.[3]
Ingmar Bergman cast Olin in Face to Face (1976). A year later,[4] she began acting at the national stage in Stockholm in productions directed by Bergman, and with Bergman's production of King Lear (in which Olin played Cordelia) she toured the world, including Paris, Berlin, New York, Copenhagen, Moscow, and Oslo. Critically acclaimed stage performances by Olin at Sweden's Royal Dramatic Theatre included the leading part as The Daughter in A Dream Play by Strindberg, Margarita in the stage adaptation of The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, Carlo Goldoni's The Servant of Two Masters, Ann in Edward Bond's Summer, Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare, Ben Jonson's The Alchemist, the title role in Ingmar Bergman's rendition of Strindberg's Miss Julie, and her neurotic Charlotte in the contemporary drama Nattvarden (The Last Supper) by Lars Norén.[5]
In 1980, Olin was one of the earliest winners of the Ingmar Bergman Award,[6] initiated in 1978 by the director himself, who was also one of the two judges.[7]
Olin's international debut in film was a small role in Bergman's Fanny and Alexander (1980), with Bergman later casting her in her first international lead role, After the Rehearsal (1984). In 1988, Olin starred with Daniel Day-Lewis in her first major part in an English speaking and internationally produced film, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, followed by Sydney Pollack's Havana (1990), Roman Polanski's The Ninth Gate (1999), and others.
In 1989, Olin nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for her work in Enemies: A Love Story, in which she portrayed the survivor of a Nazi death camp. In 1994 Olin starred in Romeo Is Bleeding.
Olin and director Lasse Hallström collaborated on the film Chocolat (2000), which received five Academy Award nominations, and worked together again on Casanova (2005).
In 2002, Olin appeared in her first American television role, joining the main cast of Alias for its second season, playing the role of Irina Derevko. For her work on the series, Olin was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2003.[8] She left the show after one season, reprising Derevko for the season four two-part finale, returned for two season five mid-season appearances and again for the season five series finale.
In 2005, Olin returned to Sweden for a brief period of filming and starred in a supporting role in Danish director Simon Staho's film, Bang Bang Orangutang.
In 2008, Olin appeared in the Oscar-nominated film The Reader, playing a Jewish survivor of the Auschwitz death march at a trial in the 1960s, and as the woman's daughter twenty years later.[9] [10]
Between 2014 and 2015, Olin starred in Swedish sitcom Welcome to Sweden.[11]
Olin starred in the US-Polish independent drama film Maya Dardel in the year 2017.[12] [13]
Olin has a son, August, from a relationship with actor Örjan Ramberg. Since 1992, she has been married to filmmaker Lasse Hallström, with whom she has a daughter, Tora. They reside in Bedford, New York.[14] [15] [16]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Hamilton | Tessie | ||
| 2002–2006 | Alias | Irina Derevko | Main cast (season 2), guest 5 episodes (seasons 4–5) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (2003) Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Television Series (2003, 2004) | |
| 2010 | Ingrid Block | Episode: "Confidential" | ||
| 2014–2015 | Welcome to Sweden | Viveka Börjesson | Main cast | |
| 2016 | Vinyl | Mrs. Fineman | 3 episodes | |
| 2017–2020 | Riviera | Irina Atman | Main cast | |
| 2017 | Mindhunter | Annaliese Stilman | 1 episode | |
| 2020–2023 | Hunters | Eva Braun-Hitler / The Colonel | Main cast | |
| TBA | The Darkness | Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir | Lead role[20] |