Connie Nielsen

Early life

Nielsen was born in Frederikshavn and grew up in the village of Elling, Denmark. Her father, Bent Nielsen, was a bus driver, and her mother, Laila Inge-lise Matzigkeit (1945–2014), was an insurance clerk, who also acted and wrote musical reviews. She was raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a Mormon.

She began her acting career working alongside her mother on the local revue and variety scene. At 18, she traveled to Paris, where she worked as an actress and model, which led to further work and study in Italy—at drama school in Rome and in master classes with Lydia Styx, a teacher at Piccolo Teatro di Milano in Milan. She lived in Italy for many years before moving to the United States.

Career

Nielsen's feature-film debut was the Jerry Lewis French film Par où t'es rentré ? On t'a pas vu sortir in 1984, followed by a role in the Italian miniseries Colletti Bianchi in 1988. She appeared in the Italian film Vacanze di Natale '91 (1991) and the French film Le Paradis Absolument (1993).

She moved to the United States in the mid-1990s, and made her first appearance in a major English-language film in 1997 as Christabella Andreoli in The Devil's Advocate, starring opposite Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves. This first minor breakthrough led to roles in the films Permanent Midnight (1998), Rushmore (1998), and Soldier (1998). Nielsen later became proud of her roles as exotic femme fatales in The Devil's Advocate and Rushmore, saying: "I don't believe in a feminism that represses female sexuality, but there's a fine line between expression and exploitation".

In 2000, Nielsen appeared as Lucilla in Ridley Scott's Gladiator, starring opposite Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix. Since then, she has starred in American films, including Mission to Mars (2000), One Hour Photo (2002), The Hunted (2003), and Basic (2003), for which she had to cut off most of her hair. She also starred in the French thriller Demonlover (2002), directed by Olivier Assayas. She played the Irish mother to an orphan in A Shine of Rainbows (2009).

In 2004, Nielsen made her Danish film debut in the drama, Brødre (also known as Brothers), for which she won the Danish Best Actress Award, the Bodil, as well as Best Actress at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. She was also nominated for Best Actress at the European Film Awards. In 2006, Nielsen appeared in several episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Detective Dani Beck. She filled in for Mariska Hargitay, who was on maternity leave at the time of filming.

With Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jamie Bell, and Uma Thurman, Nielsen appeared in the 2014 Lars Von Trier film Nymphomaniac. She was featured in a series of promotional posters prior to the film's release, a campaign The Independent described as "shocking", observing, "Connie Nielsen appears somewhat moist in this poster for Nymphomaniac".

In 2015, she appeared on the TV-2 album Det gode liv in which she sang along with Steffen Brandt on the track "Brev til Mona". In September 2018, she appeared in the pilot episode of the CBS drama FBI with Jeremy Sisto and Missy Peregrym.

Nielsen is known as Queen Hippolyta in DC Extended Universe franchise, appearing in four films beginning with Wonder Woman (2017). She also starred in the action movie Nobody (2021) and its sequel Nobody 2 (2025).

Personal life

From 2004 to 2012, Nielsen dated Metallica drummer and fellow Dane, Lars Ulrich. They have one son together. Nielsen had a son from a previous marriage to fellow actor Fabio Sartor.

Nielsen is fluent in her native Danish, English, French, German, Italian, Norwegian and Swedish. She also knows some Spanish.

Filmography

Film

Television films

Television series

Music Videos

Awards

• Rungstedlund Prize (4 September 2023).

References

References

1. "Nielsen".
2. "Nielsen, Connie, 1965- - LC Linked Data Service: Authorities and Vocabularies". Library of Congress.
3. "Connie Nielsen - dansk film database".
4. "Connie Nielsen". Aniston.dk.
5. Stewart, Susan. (9 March 2003). "Double Danish / Connie Nielson [sic]". [[Newsday]].
6. (7 August 2004). "Star Dentist Drilled for $20M". [[New York Post]].
7. Cavagna, Carlo. (December 2005). "Interview: Connie Nielsen". AboutFilm.com.
8. "One Hour Photo: About The Cast". Cinema.com.
9. Lucia Bozzola. (2016). "Connie Nielsen biography". [[The New York Times]].
10. (8 June 2021). "Connie Nielsen: ‘I’ve been the token woman in so many films – it annoys the s**t outta me’". [[The Independent]].
11. (2010). "Connie Nielsen on Reading the Script". Freestyle Releasing.
12. Eising, Jesper. (27 February 2005). ""Kongekabale" årets film".
13. (27 February 2005). "Kongekabale årets bedste film. - Indland".
14. (20 November 2015). "2005".
15. (2006-02-02). "Connie Nielsen fills in for Mariska Hargitay on 'Law & Order: SVU'". Star Pulse.
16. Scott Roxborough. (27 August 2012). "Jamie Bell, Connie Nielsen Join Lars von Trier's 'Nymphomaniac'". The Hollywood Reporter.
17. Liam O'Brien. (10 October 2013). "Nymphomaniac orgasm posters: Uma Thurman, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Shia LaBeouf star in shocking film campaign". The Independent.
18. (21 November 2021). "An interview with Close to Me's Connie Nielsen".
19. (6 December 2006). "Metallica Drummer Lars Ulrich, Girlfriend Connie Nielsen Expecting". [[Blabbermouth.net]].
20. Filini, Elena. (November 7, 2024). "Fabio Sartor, la star hollywoodiana Connie Nielsen ricorda l'ex marito: "Un artista e un intellettuale, venuto a mancare troppo presto"". [[Il Gazzettino]].
21. (29 January 2007). "A Woman We Love: CoNielsen". [[Esquire (magazine).
22. [https://trustnordisk.com/movie/the-dreamer-becoming-karen-blixen Credits to "The Dreamer"] {{Webarchive. link. (8 December 2022 on its sales agent TrustNordisk website)
23. [https://epaimages.com/search.pp?pictureid=11694608 Epaimages]