Lena Olin
Also known as Lena Maria Jonna Olin
Career
Active 1976 – present
Biography
About Lena Olin
Lena Olin's path to Hollywood began far from it, on the stages of Stockholm. The Swedish actress was born in the city to actors Britta Holmberg and Stig Olin, and she trained at the Royal Theatre under the direction of Ingmar Bergman. As a young performer, she tackled the classic works of Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Strindberg before making her international film debut in Bergman's After the Rehearsal in 1984.
She gained wider recognition in Europe with a role in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, a political drama set during the Prague Spring. After moving to the United States, Olin often played intelligent, exotic, and sometimes dangerous women. Director Sydney Pollack rewrote the screenplay for Havana, a film that echoed the classic Casablanca, specifically for her. In 1989, she earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Enemies, A Love Story. She later appeared in Chocolat, which was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, and received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for her work.
On television, she took on the role of the delightfully sinister Irina Derevko in Alias, playing the mother of Jennifer Garner's character, and earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Olin stands 5'10" with a slim build, brown hair, and brown eyes. She has been active in the industry since 1976, a career spanning fifty years. She has two children, F. Auguste Rahmberg and Tora Hallstrom.
Record
Profile details
Personal
- Years Active
- 1976-present (started around 21 years old; 50 years active)
- Birthplace
- Stockholm, Sweden
- Ethnicity
- Caucasian
Body
- Hair Color
- Brown
- Eye Color
- Brown
- Weight
- 136 lbs (or 62 kg)
- Measurements
- 34–25–35 (B–W–H) · WHR 0.71
- Bra/Cup Size
- 34B show conversions - UK: 34B, EU: 75B, AU: 12B, JP: 75B
- Boobs
- Real/Natural
Extra
- Instagram Followers
- 34k (as of June 2026)
Frequently asked
How did Lena Olin's collaboration with Ingmar Bergman influence her career?
Bergman directed Lena Olin in After the Rehearsal, her international film debut, and also directed her at the Royal Theatre in Stockholm. Bergman helped develop her ability to express a range of human emotions subtly, a skill that carried into her later film and television work.
What role earned Lena Olin her Oscar nomination?
She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the 1989 film Enemies, A Love Story.
Why was the script for Havana rewritten for Lena Olin?
Director Sydney Pollack rewrote the screenplay for Havana especially for Lena Olin, which gave the film associations with the classic Casablanca, a movie that also starred another Swedish actress, Ingrid Bergman.
Did you know
- Her parents, Britta Holmberg and Stig Olin, were both actors, and her father appeared in six of Ingmar Bergman's films.
- In addition to her Oscar nomination, she received Emmy and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations during her career.
- She played the mother of Jennifer Garner's character in the television series Alias.
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