CONNIE NIELSEN
Date of Birth: July 3, 1965
Birth Name: Connie Inge-Lise Nielsen
Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, Nielsen began her career at the age of 15, working alongside her
mother in local revues and variety shows. At 18, she headed to Paris to pursue her acting career.
"I went, at first, just with the intent to see it. Then I did Le Paradis Absolument in France and was
given the possibility of staying there. I realized that if I wanted to do this seriously, I'd have to
get some formal training." This led to further work and study in Rome, Milan, South Africa, and New York.
She eventually crossed the pond in the early '90s. "I attracted the interest of some American agents,
and they told me if I wanted to work over here, I had to live here. So, I decided to give it six months
just to see what happened. The month after I arrived, I got a part in a poorly reviewed TV movie with
Rutger Hauer and Eric Roberts called Voyage."
Despite the bad reviews, Nielsen went on to land a role as Satan's daughter in The Devil's Advocate (1997), which became her breakthrough performance. The following year she was in three films, including a co-starring role with Kurt Russell in Soldier (1998).
Nielsen has worked steadily since then, with roles in films such as Mission to Mars (2000) with Gary Sinise, the blockbuster Gladiator (2000) with Russell Crowe, One Hour Photo (2002) with Robin Williams and The Hunted (2003), starring alongside Benicio Del Toro. For her role in Brothers (2005), she won the Silver Seashell at the San Sebastian International Film Festival and the Best Actress award at the Bodil Awards.
A divorced mother, Nielsen does not allow her son, Sebastian, to see all of her movies.
In addition to acting, Nielsen is also a trained singer and dancer, and is fluent in English,
German, Danish, Swedish, French and Italian.
Filmography:
A Shine of Rainbows (2008)
Tonight at Noon (2008)
Battle in Seattle (2008)
The Situation (2006)
Ice Harvest (2005)
The Great Raid (2005)
Brothers (2005)
Return to Sender (2004)
Basic (2003)
The Hunted (2003)
One Hour Photo (2002)
Demonlover (2002)
Gladiator (2000)
Mission to Mars (2000)
Dark Summer (1999)
Soldier (1998)
Rushmore (1998)
Permanent Midnight (1998)
The Devil's Advocate (1997)
Vacanze di Natale '91 (1992)