Sofie Gråbøl

Sofie Gråbøl
Gråbøl at the Scandinavia Show in London in 2011
Born	(1968-07-30) 30 July 1968 (age 53) Frederiksberg, Denmark
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1986–present
Known for	Detective Sarah Lund in Forbrydelsen
Spouse(s)	Jacob Thuesen ​ (div. 2006)​
Children	2
Awards	5 Robert Awards 2 Bodil Awards BAFTA Award Nominated for International Emmy Award (2008) Nordic Language Prize (2018)

Sofie Gråbøl (Danish pronunciation: [soˈfiˀə ˈkʁʌpøl]; born 30 July 1968) is a Danish actress. She has starred in a number of films, with her breakthrough role in the 1986 Danish film Early Spring, directed by Astrid Henning-Jensen, playing the lead role in the film version of Tove Ditlevsen's novel Barndommens gade when she was 17 years old. On television she has starred in Taxa and Nikolaj og Julie.^[1]

Gråbøl has become known in Denmark for playing emotional roles, but she achieved international fame as a detective—the cool and distant lead character Inspector Sarah Lund in all three series of The Killing (Danish: Forbrydelsen). In the UK it was broadcast on BBC4 with great success, winning a BAFTA award, and bringing Gråbøl celebrity status.^[2][3]

Personal life[]

Gråbøl resides in Copenhagen where she has lived all her life.^[4] Both her parents, father Kaj Fladhede Gråbøl and mother Mette Koustrup, were architects. She has an older brother Niels Gråbøl who is a director,^[5] and the ex-husband of actress Ditte Gråbøl. Gråbøl's father left her mother when her mother was pregnant with Gråbøl and she was brought up by her mother.^[6] Her mother remarried to a Maoist architect and for a time they lived in a commune.^[5]

Gråbøl divorced her husband, the film director Jacob Thuesen, in 2006 and has two children with him; a son, Bror, and a daughter, Gudrun.^{[2][7][8][9][10]}

In 2012 she was diagnosed with cancer and had surgery and chemotherapy and is now in remission.^[11]

Early career[]

In the early years of her career she studied theology and worked in a bookstore.^[7] Responding to a newspaper advertisement at the age of 17, she was given the role of an artist's nude model in Oviri, a 1986 film about Paul Gauguin with Donald Sutherland.^[8][5] Despite having had no formal training, and only entering acting on the encouragement of her mother, she has worked continuously since then.^[9]

She said, "I thought it would be like a summer holiday job ...then one film led to another and suddenly I was an actor and I never really felt that I had made the decision ... I felt at home in the language of acting.""^[9] Her breakthrough role was in the 1986 Danish film directed by Astrid Henning-Jensen, Early Spring.^[12]

Gråbøl is famous in Denmark with a wide body of work from comedy to Shakespeare.

The Killing[]

In 2007, Gråbøl portrayed the role of police Detective Sarah Lund obsessed with solving the sadistic killing of a schoolgirl in the Danish television series The Killing (Danish: Forbrydelsen, literally "The Crime"). Producers of the show envisioned breaking the clichés of female characters usually portrayed on television and film. Lund was to be a driven and relentless detective without her primary concern being for her physical appearance or sexuality. Gråbøl was involved early on in the development process of the series and had numerous discussions with writer and series creator . Her input was integral to the creation of the character, from keeping the character's past a mystery to the choice of clothing and especially that the character was to be emotionally isolated. At one point, the writers were considering having Lund have an affair with one of the suspects. She fought this plot line, explaining that Lund was a female Clint Eastwood and it was removed. It was originally intended that Sarah Lund should die but this was changed halfway through the series.^[13] Gråbøl had become known in Denmark for playing emotional characters and the role of the cool and distant Lund was a stark departure.

The series was a huge success in Denmark with over half the population watching. Although already well known in Denmark, Gråbøl now found herself stopped on the street as fans of the show wanted to know the secret of the killer. The series was then played throughout Europe. With the show's success, it played in back-to-back weekend installments in the UK on BBC4. With no promotion, the show became a word-of-mouth success and even topped Mad Men in the ratings.^[14] She had been a famous actress in Denmark for twenty five years when she suddenly, to her surprise, achieved cult status in Britain.^[15] Even the shape-concealing jumper (sweater) she wore in the show became iconic. She received requests for interviews and offers to work in Britain, most of which she had to decline due to her busy work schedule. However, she had a cameo in the BBC comedy Absolutely Fabulous playing her character Detective Lund. In the UK, Gråbøl was named Best Actress at the Crime Thriller Awards and the show won the 2011 BAFTA for Best International TV Show.^[16] The BAFTA was awarded to Gråbøl, creator and writer , producer and director Birger Larsen.^[17]

In Britain the series had sub-titles but for the American audience it was remade. Commenting on the first series of The Killing remake, while saying she thought the American version was good, Gråbøl said it was unfortunate American audiences won't accept shows with sub-titles because with the success of the show in Britain, "there's a strong sense of a cultural exchange going on. By watching each other's stories you exchange something very valuable. It's about language and culture and the ways of looking at life."^[16][18] In series two of the American version Gråbøl has a small but important part as a Seattle district attorney.^[19] In July 2012 it was announced that this US remake was cancelled by the network.^[20]

Forbrydelsen II was released on 2009, and Forbrydelsen III was released in 2012.^[21]

After The Killing[]

Gråbøl was diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2012 for which she underwent surgery and chemotherapy.^[22] She temporarily retired from acting in 2013, but returned to work the next year, appearing as Hildur Odegard, a Norwegian mayor, in two series of the British TV series Fortitude.^[6][5] In August 2014 she made her English language début on stage in Edinburgh, appearing as Margaret of Denmark in James III: The True Mirror, the third of Rona Munro's historical trilogy The James Plays.^[8][23]

In 2015 she played a role, together with Swedish actress Frida Farrell, in the music video "Under the Make-up" for the song with the same title by the Norwegian band a-Ha. It was released on 24 August 2015.^[24]

In 2018 she was awarded the Nordic Language Prize in Oslo, Norway for her contribution to positive attitudes between neighbouring Nordic languages.^[25]

Filmography[]

Film[]

Key

Denotes productions that have not yet been released

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	The Wolf at the Door	Judith Molard	Original title: Oviri
	Early Spring	Ester	Original title: Barndommens gade
1987	Sorgagre	Ungfruen	TV film
	Pelle the Conqueror	Jomfru Sine
	Vi svarer ikke for bølgerne	Pedestrian	TV film
1988	Rami og Julie	Julie
	Jorden er giftig	Signe	Short
1991	Høfeber	Bankass
1992	The Silent Touch	Annette Berg	Original title: Dotkniecie reki
1993	De skrigende halse	Anita Schulz	TV film
	Black Harvest	Clara Uldahl-Ege	Original title: Sort høst
	Tvangsritualer	Sofie Gråbøl	Short
1994	Nightwatch	Kalinka	Original title: Nattevagten
1995	Carmen & Babyface	Carmen
	Pan	Edvarda Mack	Alternative title: Two Green Feathers
1996	Groovy days	Anne	Original title: Fede tider
	Den store Kul-Tur	Maibrit	TV film
1997	Sinan's Wedding	Cherie	Original title: Sinans bryllup
	Credo	Mona	Original title: "Sekten"
	Isle of Darkness	Julie	Original title: Mørkets øy
1998	H.C. Andersen's The Long Shadow	Louise	Voice role, Original title: H.C. Andersen og den skæve skygge
1999	Mifunes sidste sang	Claire
	The One and Only	Mulle	Original title: Den eneste ene
	En sjælden fugl	Astrid	Short
2000	Flickering Lights	Hanne	Original title: Blinkende Lygter
	Gengangere	Regine	TV film
2001	Grev Axel	Leonora Amalie
2002	The Life Insurance	Judith	Short, Original title: Livsforsikringen
2004	Aftermath	Britt Lehmann	Original title: Lad de små børn
2005	Accused	Nina	Original title: Anklaget
	True Spirit	Lærke	Original title: Den rette ånd
2006	The Boss of It All	Kisser	Original title: Direktøren for det hele
2007	The Substitute	Carls Mor	Original title: Vikaren
	Daisy Diamond	Sofie Gråbøl
2013	The Hour of the Lynx	Helen	Original title: I lossens time
	IRL: In Real Life	Mille	Original title: Det andet liv
2016	The Day Will Come	Lærer Lilian	Original title: Der kommer en dag
2018	The House That Jack Built	Lady 3
	That Time of Year	Barbara	Original title: Den tid på året
	X & Y	Sofie
2019	Resin	Maria Haarder	Original title: Harpiks
2021	Wild Men	Anne	Original title: Vildmænd
	Venuseffekten	Gitte	Completed
TBC	Rose	Inger	Post-production

Television[]

Key

Denotes productions that have not yet been released

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Kära farmor	Younger Dagmar	Miniseries
1999	Taxa	Anna Sander	7 episodes
2002-2003	Nikolaj og Julie	Julie Krogh Andersen	Series regular
2007-2012	The Killing	Sarah Lund	Series regular, Original title: "Forbrydelsen"
2011	Absolutely Fabulous	Sarah Lund	Episode: "Identity"
2012	The Killing	District Attorney Christina Nielsen	Episode: "My Lucky Day"
2015-2018	Fortitude	Governor Hildur Odegard	Series regular
2016	The Other World	Dronningen	Series regular, Original title: "Den anden verden"
2018	Liberty	Kirsten	Miniseries
	The Restaurant	Henriette Winter	4 episodes, Original title: "Vår tid är nu"
2019	Gentleman Jack	Queen Marie	Episode: "Are You Still Talking"
2020	Us	Freja	Miniseries
	The Undoing	Catherine Stamper	Miniseries
TBC	The Shift	Ella	Filming

Awards and nominations[]

References[]

External links[]

• Sofie Gråbøl at IMDb
• "Video of Camilla Duchess of Cornwall's visit to set of Forbrydelsen 3". UK: Guardian. Retrieved April 10, 2012.
• Sofie Gråbøl, Kirsti Wark (2011). Killing star on challenging feminist views. UK: BBC. Retrieved April 10, 2012.
• "Sophe Grabol on BBC Woman's Hour". BBC. 29 January 2015. Retrieved 30 January 2015.