Benedikt Erlingsson (born 31 May 1969) is an Icelandic

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

and

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...

and

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

. He graduated from the

Iceland Academy of the Arts History Iceland University of the Arts ( is, Listaháskóli Íslands ) is an Icelandic institution of higher art education, located in Reykjavík, which offers the only university-level degrees in the arts in Iceland.Lisa Z. ValdimarsdottirIcel ...

in 1994 and has been with the National Theater of Iceland for most of his career. He has directed two feature-length films, both of which have won the

Nordic Council Film Prize The Nordic Council Film Prize is an annual film prize administered by the Nordic Council. The Nordisk Film & TV Fond is the funding body that administers the prize. History The first award was handed out in 2002 to celebrate the Nordic Council's 5 ...

Film and television career

Benedikt was a part of the locally renowned'''' sketch comedy television show ''

Fóstbræður ''Fóstbræður'' (English: ''Blood brothers'') was a comedy sketch show which premiered on the Icelandic Stöð 2 in October 1997. Writing The show was written by the stars themselves, Sigurjón Kjartansson, Jón Gnarr, Helga Braga Jónsdóttir, ...

.'' He played the interpreter in

Lars von Trier Lars von Trier (''né'' Trier; 30 April 1956) is a Danish filmmaker, actor, and lyricist. Having garnered a reputation as a highly ambitious, polarizing filmmaker, he has been the subject of several controversies: Cannes, in addition to nominat ...

s 2006 film ''

The Boss of It All ''The Boss of It All'' ( da, Direktøren for det hele) is a 2006 experimental comedy film written and directed by Lars von Trier. The film uses a cinematic technique invented by von Trier himself called Automavision, which automatically determin ...

'', about an owner of an IT company that wishes to sell it after having pretended for years that the real boss lives abroad and communicates with the staff only by e-mail. Benedikt's first feature-length film as director was ''

Of Horses and Men ''Of Horses and Men'' ( is, Hross í oss) is a 2013 Icelandic drama film written and directed by Benedikt Erlingsson and produced by fellow director Friðrik Þór Friðriksson. The film was selected as the Icelandic entry for the Best Foreign ...

'' in 2013. The film was selected as the Icelandic entry for the

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the

86th Academy Awards The 86th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2013 and took place on March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. ...

, but it was not nominated. The film won the 2014

. It also won the audience award at the 2014

Tromsø International Film Festival The Tromsø International Film Festival (TIFF) is an annual film festival held during the third week of January in Tromsø, Norway. The inaugural Tromsø International Film Festival was held in 1991. TIFF has 5 screening venues, including one ...

in Norway. His second film, ''

Woman at War ''Woman at War'' (''Kona fer í stríð'', literally ''Woman goes to battle'') is a 2018 Icelandic-Ukrainian comedy-drama film written, produced and directed by Benedikt Erlingsson, and starring Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir. Following a premi ...

'', an eco-terrorism drama, premiered in 2018. It too was selected as the Icelandic entry for the

at the Academy Awards for its release year, but it was likewise not nominated. In 2021, Benedikt appeared as

Steingrímur Hermannsson Steingrímur Hermannsson (pronounced ; 22 June 1928 – 1 February 2010) was an Icelandic politician who served as prime minister of Iceland from 1983 to 1987, and again from 1988 to 1991. Early childhood Steingrímur's father was Hermann Jó ...

in the Icelandic television drama miniseries

Blackport ''Blackport'' ( is, Verbúðin) is an Icelandic television drama miniseries, written by Gísli Örn Garðarsson, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson and Mikael Torfason and produced by Vesturport in association with RÚV. The first episode of the eight p ...

Theater career

Benedikt has directed four plays for the National Theater, including '' Iceland's Bell'' by

Halldór Laxness Halldór Kiljan Laxness (; born Halldór Guðjónsson; 23 April 1902 – 8 February 1998) was an Icelandic writer and winner of the 1955 Nobel Prize in Literature. He wrote novels, poetry, newspaper articles, essays, plays, travelogues and s ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erlingsson, Benedikt 1969 births Living people

Benedikt Erlingsson Benedikt Erlingsson (born 31 May 1969) is an Icelandic actor and theater director, theater and film director. He graduated from the Iceland Academy of the Arts in 1994 and has been with the National Theater of Iceland for most of his career. He h ...