Lena Olin

Lena Maria Jonna Olin ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}; 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 traumatized Holocaust survivor in the dramedy Enemies, A Love Story (1989), based on the novel by Isaac Bashevis Singer, 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).

Early life and education

Lena Maria Jonna Olin was born on 22 March 1955, in Stockholm, Sweden, the youngest of three children of actors Britta Holmberg and Stig Olin.<ref name =encyc/> Olin worked as a nursing assistant and as a substitute teacher before starting drama school.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She studied at Sweden's National Academy of Dramatic Art from 1976 to 1979.<ref name="encyc">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In October 1974, at age 19, Olin was crowned Miss Scandinavia in Helsinki, Finland.<ref>Lena Olin :: Press Archive. Template:Webarchive.</ref>

Career

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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Ingmar Bergman cast Olin in Face to Face (1976). A year later,<ref name="Post 1990-01-18">Template:Cite news</ref> she began acting on the national stage in Stockholm in productions directed by Bergman. She toured internationally with Bergman's production of King Lear (in which Olin played Cordelia), 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 the neurotic Charlotte in the contemporary drama Nattvarden (The Last Supper) by Lars Norén.<ref name =encyc/>

In 1980, Olin was one of the earliest winners of the Ingmar Bergman Award at the Guldbagge Awards,<ref name="16thGuldbagge">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> initiated in 1978 by the director himself, who was also one of the two judges.<ref>Ingmar Bergman Prize Template:Webarchive. Retrieved 18 October 2011</ref>

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).Template:Citation needed In 1988, Olin starred with Daniel Day-Lewis and Juliette Binoche in her first major role in an English-speaking and internationally produced film, The Unbearable Lightness of Being.<ref name=morris2025>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She also appeared in Sydney Pollack's Havana (1990) and Roman Polanski's The Ninth Gate (1999).<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1989, Olin was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for Enemies: A Love Story, in which she portrayed the survivor of a Nazi death camp.<ref name=":0" />

She starred in the 1993 thriller Romeo Is Bleeding, and in the 1999 American superhero comedy film Mystery Men.<ref name=morris2025/>

Olin and director Lasse Hallström collaborated on the film Chocolat (2000),<ref name=morris2025/> which received five Academy Award nominations. She worked with him again on Casanova (2005) and in the 2024 TV series The Darkness.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=morris2025/>

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=morris2025/>

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.Template:Citation needed 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=morris2025/>

Between 2014 and 2015, Olin starred in Swedish sitcom Welcome to Sweden.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2017 she starred in the American-Polish independent drama film Maya Dardel, which screened at SXSW.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

From 2020 to 2023 she played Eva Braun-Hitler / The Colonel, leader of the Fourth Reich and Hitler's wife, in Hunters, an American conspiracy drama television series.<ref name=morris2025/> In 2024 she played the lead role as Detective Hulda Hermannsdóttir in the Icelandic/American Nordic Noir TV series The Darkness, directed by Lasse Hallström, with whom she had previously collaborated.<ref name=morris2025/>

Personal life

Olin has a son, August, from a relationship with actor Örjan Ramberg.<ref name="Post 1990-01-18" /> Since 1994, she has been married to filmmaker Lasse Hallström, with whom she has a daughter, Tora. They reside in Bedford, New York.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1976	Face to Face	Shop Assistant
1977	Friaren som inte ville gifta sig	Gypsy Woman	TV movie
	Taboo	Girl (uncredited)
1978	The Adventures of Picasso	Dolores
1980	Love	Lena
1982	Som ni behagar		TV movie
	Gräsänklingar	Nina
	Fanny and Alexander	Rosa (The Ekdahl house)
1983	After the Rehearsal	Anna Egerman (older)	TV movie
1985	Wallenberg: A Hero's Story	Marta	TV movie
1986	Glasmästarna	Lady with Dog	TV movie
	Flight North	Karin
	A Matter of Life and Death	Nadja Melander
1987	Komedianter	Ann	TV movie
1988	The Unbearable Lightness of Being	Sabina	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated—National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
	Friends	Sue
1989	S/Y Glädjen	Annika Larsson
	Enemies, A Love Story	Masha	New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated—National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
1990	Hebriana	Lena	TV movie
	Havana	Bobby Duran
1993	Romeo Is Bleeding	Mona Demarkov	Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
	Mr. Jones	Dr. Elizabeth Bowen
1995	The Night and the Moment	The Marquise
1996	Night Falls on Manhattan	Peggy Lindstrom
1998	Polish Wedding	Jadzia
	Hamilton	Tessie
1999	Mystery Men	Dr. Anabel Leek
	The Ninth Gate	Liana Telfer
2000	Chocolat	Josephine Muscat	Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Nominated—European Film Award for Best Actress Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2001	Ignition	Judge Faith Mattis
2002	Queen of the Damned	Maharet
	Darkness	Maria
2003	The United States of Leland	Marybeth Fitzgerald
	Hollywood Homicide	Ruby
2005	Casanova	Andrea
	Bang Bang Orangutang	Nina
2007	Awake	Lilith Beresford
2008	The Reader	Rose Mather / Ilana Mather
2010	Remember Me	Diane Hirsch
2012	The Hypnotist	Simone Bark
2013	The Devil You Know	Kathryn Vale
	Night Train to Lisbon	Older Estefânia
2017	Maya Dardel	Maya Dardel	Best Actress Award at the Prague Independent Film Festival<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2019	The Artist's Wife<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Claire Smythson
2020	Adam	Yevgeina
2022	Hilma	Hilma
2023	One Life	Grete Winton
2024	Upgraded	Catherine Laroche
	Spaceman	Zdena

Television

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	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	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
2024	The Darkness	Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2025	Nine Perfect Strangers	Helena	Main cast (season 2)

External links

• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if:

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