Swedish actress Lena Olin has successfully acted in both European and American cinema. In the eighties and nineties, she played in such films as After Rehearsal, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Havana, Romeo Bleeds, Mr. Jones, The Ninth Gate. And in the 21st century, Lena Olin also has successful roles, for example, the role of Irina Derevko in the popular TV series "The Spy" (2002-2006).
Early biography and first achievements
Lena Olin (full name - Lena Maria Yonna Olin) was born in 1955 in Stockholm, Sweden into an acting family. Her father (his name was Stig Olin) made a good career in Swedish cinema, and her mother, Britta Holmberg, was more of a theater actress.
It is worth noting that Lena was not the first child of Britta and Stig, she also has a brother, Mats Olin, who was born in 1947.
The future star showed an early interest in dramatic art. After leaving school, she worked for a short time as a nurse and teacher, but then she still entered the Royal Drama Theater - the main theater in Stockholm and throughout Sweden.
And in October 1974 (she was then 19 years old), Olin participated in the Miss Scandinavia contest and won it.
She began performing on the Swedish theater stage in the second half of the seventies. In particular, during this period she played Cordelia in the play "King Lear", which was staged by the great Ingmar Bergman himself (and in general, this director greatly appreciated Lena's talent). She also played Margarita in the stage adaptation of The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, Anne in the play Summer by Edward Bond, the title role in the production of Frocken Julie based on the drama by August Strindberg of the same name, etc.
And one more interesting fact: during these years Lena tried herself as a singer - on the Polar Music label she recorded the song "Människors glädje", composed by her father, as well as the song "Sommarbrevet", the author of which was the Swedish performer Mats Paulson.
Film career
Since the late 1970s, Lena has started appearing in Swedish films. Moreover, most often she got the role of seductive beauties (and her appearance, of course, disposed to this). In 1982, she starred in a small role in Ingmar Bergman's "Fanny and Alexandra". And in the next film of the Scandinavian master "After the rehearsal" (1984), she played one of the main roles, and this brought her, in fact, international fame.
Lena played her first leading role in an English-language film in 1988 - it is about the role in the film by Philip Kaufman "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", based on the novel of the same name by Milan Kundera. This film takes place in Soviet Czechoslovakia. Here Lena played the mistress of the main character of the doctor Thomas (played by Daniel Day-Lewis) - a young artist Sabina, who adheres to very free morals and does not accept puritanical prohibitions.
In 1989, Lena Olin took part in Paul Mazursky's film Enemies. Love Stories”. Here she embodied on the screen the image of the Jewish beauty Masha, and this role was highly appreciated - for her Lena Olin was nominated for an Oscar. Moreover, she became only the fourth Swedish actress to receive such an honor. The other three are Greta Garbo, Anne-Margret Ohlsson and Ingrid Bergman.
Olin's next striking film is the 1990 film Havana directed by Sidney Pollack. The film is set in Cuba in the last months of the rule of the dictator Batista. American professional poker player Jack White (played by Robert Redford) comes to Havana to play big. Here he meets the revolutionary Roberta Duran (Lena Olin just got this role), and a short but passionate romance arises between them …
In 1994, the Swedish actress starred in the action drama Romeo Bleeds Out. Here she played the sexy and merciless killer Mona Demarkova, who kills several people during the film. By the way, Lena Olin performed all the stunts for this film on her own.
In 1999, Lena Olin starred in Roman Polanski's The Ninth Gate, and in 2000 in Lasse Hallström's Chocolate. Both films were very well received by critics ("Chocolate" received 5 Oscar nominations altogether). But they are also united by something else: in both cases, actor Johnny Depp was Olin's filming partner.
From 2002 to 2006, the Swedish actress played the villainess Irina Derevko in the TV series The Spy. Irina Derevko is a former KGB agent, in addition to this, according to the script, she is the mother of the main character of the series. She appeared at the end of the first season and intrigued the protagonists until her death in the very finale of the series "Spy". Irina Derevko really liked the audience as a character - she was distinguished by her unpredictability, unprincipledness, a tendency to betray those closest to her, and at the same time, the ability to arouse sympathy for herself. For this role, Olin was well deservedly nominated for an Emmy in the category "Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series."
But even after that, the Swedish actress had successful roles - she starred in such well-known films as "Narcosis" (2007), "The Reader" (2008), "Remember Me" (2010), "The Hypnotist" (2012).
Lena Olin's last big work in cinema is the main role in the independent Polish-American film Maya Dardel (Russian title - Endangered Species). Here Lena Olin plays Maya Dardel, a famous poet and writer who leads a reclusive lifestyle in her home located high in the mountains. One day, Maya announced on the radio that she intended to commit suicide. In addition, she said that among young male poets she wants to find a worthy executor for herself. Ultimately, Maya Dardel decides to make her choice according to two criteria - in addition to her literary talent, she is also interested in the candidate's sexuality …
Personal information
Since the mid-seventies, Lena had an affair with the Swedish actor and colleague at the Royal Drama Theater, Erjan Ramberg. In 1986, they had a son, Auguste Ramberg. However, already at the end of the eighties, this relationship came to an end.
She also had a short romance with actor Richard Gere, with whom she worked together in the film "Mr. Jones" (1993).
In 1994, Lena Olin became the wife of director Lasse Hallström, and in 1995 they moved together for permanent residence in the United States, in the town of Bedford (New York State). This, however, does not prevent them from visiting their native Sweden quite often - here the spouses have a summer house, as well as an apartment in Stockholm.
It should be added that in the same 1995, Lasse and Lena had a daughter, who was named Tora.
