Selma Björnsdóttir (born 13 June 1974), also known as simply Selma or Selma Björns, is an Icelandic actress and singer born in

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

, best known internationally for representing

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

in both 1999 and

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

Career

Áfram Latibær

In 1996, she played 'Solla Stirða' in the Icelandic stage play '' Áfram Latibær!''. This character later developed into

Stephanie Stephanie is a female name that comes from the Greek name Στέφανος (Stephanos) meaning "crown". The male form is Stephen. Forms of Stephanie in other languages include the German "Stefanie", the Italian, Czech, Polish, and Russian "St ...

in the children's television show LazyTown. She would later choreograph episodes of LazyTown.

Eurovision

Her first Eurovision experience occurred in 1999 contest in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, with the song ''

All Out of Luck All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All al ...

''. The song was the pre-contest favourite with bookmakers. During the voting, Selma shot into an early lead in the voting, but was gradually pegged back by Sweden, represented by

Charlotte Nilsson Anna Jenny Charlotte Perrelli (; ; born 7 October 1974) is a Swedish singer and television host. She was the winner of the 1999 Melodifestivalen and subsequently that year's Eurovision Song Contest with the song " Take Me to Your Heaven". Sinc ...

. Despite trailing Nilsson only very narrowly before the penultimate set of votes were announced, Selma's hopes of victory came to an abrupt end when

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

awarded maximum points to Sweden and nothing at all to Iceland. Selma's second place in Jerusalem was Iceland's best showing in the contest until 2009, when singer Yohanna, also from Iceland, placed second in the contest. In 2005, Selma was again selected to represent Iceland in the

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

. However, despite being one of the favourites to win the contest, her song ''If I Had Your Love'' did not make it to the final. This was Iceland's worst result in the contest at the time. hen? Selma also was one of the main attractions at the Eurovision gala concert during Europride 2005 in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, performing both of her Eurovision entries. Other celebrities included

Baccara Baccara was a female vocal duo formed in 1977 by Spanish artists Mayte Mateos (born 7 February 1951) and María Mendiola (4 April 1952 – 11 September 2021). The duo rapidly achieved international success with their debut single " Yes Sir, I C ...

, Nanne,

Bobbysocks Bobbysocks is a Norwegian pop duo consisting of Norwegian Hanne Krogh and Swedish-Norwegian Elisabeth Andreassen. They won the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 with the song " La det swinge" ("Let it swing"). Elisabeth went by the surname Andreass ...

and

Nora Brockstedt Nora Brockstedt (20 January 1923 – 5 November 2015) was a Norwegian singer. In her last years, she focused more on the jazz genre, with successful albums like ''As Time Goes By'' (JazzAvdelingen, 2004) and ''Christmas Songs'' (JazzAvdelin ...

. Later the same night she held an intimate concert at the popular nearby

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

Smuget, where another Icelandic Eurovision participant,

Paul Oscar Páll Óskar Hjálmtýsson (born 16 March 1970), known internationally as Páll Óskar and Paul Oscar, is an Icelandic pop singer, songwriter and disc jockey. He had a musical childhood, singing at private functions, with choirs and for media ...

and the Norwegian Eurovision commentator,

Jostein Pedersen Jostein Pedersen (born 11 August 1959 in Dønna) is a Norway, Norwegian musical journalist and reporter, television commentator and "music intelligencia". He was the Norwegian commentator to the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994, and from 1996 to 20 ...

, showed up.

Other work

Selma has dubbed several Disney princesses for the Icelandic Language, including: Belle, Tiana, Kayley, Tzipporah, Odette, Giselle, and Megara. In 2009, Selma became a jury member on

Idol Stjörnuleit Idol or Idols may refer to: Religion and philosophy * Cult image, a neutral term for a man-made object that is worshipped or venerated for the deity, spirit or demon that it embodies or represents * Murti, a point of focus for devotion or medi ...

, the Icelandic version of

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and par ...

References

External links