Sofie Gråbøl
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Sofie Gråbøl (; 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 Astrid Henning-Jensen (born Astrid Smahl; 10 December 1914 – 5 January 2002) was a Danes, Danish film director, actress, editor and screenwriter. Early life Henning-Jensen was born in the Copenhagen district of Frederiksberg in 1914, to pare ...
, playing the lead role in the film version of
Tove Ditlevsen Tove Irma Margit Ditlevsen (14 December 1917 – 7 March 1976) was a Danish poet and author. With published works in a variety of genres, she was one of Denmark's best-known authors by the time of her death. Life Tove Ditlevsen was born ...
's novel ''Barndommens gade'' when she was 17 years old. On television she has starred in ''Taxa'' and ''Nikolaj og Julie''. Gråbøl has become known in Denmark for playing emotional roles, but she achieved international fame as a detectivethe cool and distant lead character Inspector Sarah Lund in all three series of '' The Killing'' ( da, Forbrydelsen). In the UK it was broadcast on
BBC4 BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002
with great success, winning a BAFTA award, and bringing Gråbøl celebrity status.


Personal life

Gråbøl resides in Copenhagen where she has lived all her life. Both her parents, father Kaj Fladhede Gråbøl and mother Mette Koustrup, were architects. She has an older brother Niels Gråbøl who is a director, and the ex-husband of actress
Ditte Gråbøl Ditte Gråbøl (born 22 June 1959 in Copenhagen) is a Danish actress. She trained at Aarhus Teater and graduated in 1984. Having worked at Jomfru Ane Teatret, she has appeared in a number of revues, among others the Cirkusrevyen more than once. S ...
. Gråbøl's father left her mother when her mother was pregnant with Gråbøl. She was brought up by her mother. Her mother remarried to a Maoist architect and for a time they lived in a commune. Gråbøl divorced her husband, the film director Jacob Thuesen, in 2006. They have two children; a son, Bror, and a daughter, Gudrun. In 2012 she was diagnosed with cancer and had surgery and chemotherapy and is now in remission.


Early career

In the early years of her career she studied theology and worked in a bookstore. Responding to a newspaper advertisement at the age of 17, she was given the role of an artist's nude model in ''
Oviri ''Oviri'' ( Tahitian for savage or wild) is an 1894 ceramic sculpture by the French artist Paul Gauguin. In Tahitian mythology, Oviri was the goddess of mourning and is shown with long pale hair and wild eyes, smothering a wolf with her feet ...
'', a 1986 film about
Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...
with
Donald Sutherland Donald McNichol Sutherland (born 17 July 1935) is a Canadian actor whose film career spans over six decades. He has been nominated for nine Golden Globe Awards, winning two for his performances in the television films ''Citizen X'' (1995) an ...
. Despite having had no formal training, and only entering acting on the encouragement of her mother, she has worked continuously since then. 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."" Her breakthrough role was in the 1986 Danish film directed by
Astrid Henning-Jensen Astrid Henning-Jensen (born Astrid Smahl; 10 December 1914 – 5 January 2002) was a Danes, Danish film director, actress, editor and screenwriter. Early life Henning-Jensen was born in the Copenhagen district of Frederiksberg in 1914, to pare ...
, '' Early Spring''. 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'' ( da, 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
Søren Sveistrup Søren Sveistrup (born 7 January 1968 in Kastrup) is a Danish screenwriter and author. His credits include '' The Killing'' and ''Nikolaj og Julie''. His first novel, ''The Chestnut Man'', was published in 2019 and adapted into a television seri ...
. 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 Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...
, and it was removed. It was originally intended that Sarah Lund should die but this was changed halfway through the series. 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 ''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its fict ...
'' in the ratings. Gråbøl had been a famous actress in Denmark for twenty five years when she suddenly, to her surprise, achieved cult status in Britain. 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 ''Absolutely Fabulous'' (also known as ''Ab Fab'') is a British television sitcom based on the ''French and Saunders'' sketch, "Modern Mother and Daughter", created by Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. The show was created and written by Saund ...
'' 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. The BAFTA was awarded to Gråbøl, creator and writer
Søren Sveistrup Søren Sveistrup (born 7 January 1968 in Kastrup) is a Danish screenwriter and author. His credits include '' The Killing'' and ''Nikolaj og Julie''. His first novel, ''The Chestnut Man'', was published in 2019 and adapted into a television seri ...
, producer Piv Bernth and director Birger Larsen. In Britain the series had subtitles 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 that American audiences would not accept shows with subtitles 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." In series two of the American version Gråbøl has a small part as a Seattle district attorney. In July 2012, the US remake was cancelled by the network. ''Forbrydelsen II'' was released on 2009, and ''Forbrydelsen III'' was released in 2012.


After ''The Killing''

Gråbøl was diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2012 for which she underwent surgery and chemotherapy. 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''.Billen, Andrew (10 January 2015
Sofie Gråbøl: How I survived my year of darkness
The Sunday Times (may require a subscription), Retrieved 10 January 2015
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 Rona Munro (born 7 September 1959) is a Scottish writer. She has written plays for theatre, radio, and television. Her film work includes Ken Loach's '' Ladybird, Ladybird'' (1994), ''Oranges and Sunshine'' (2010) for Jim Loach and ''Aimée & J ...
's historical trilogy ''The James Plays''. 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 Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...
band
a-Ha A-ha (usually stylised as ''a-''h''a''; ) is a Norwegian synth-pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. Founded by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (guitars and vocals), Magne Furuholmen (keyboards, guitars and vocals), and Morten Harket (lead vocals), the band ...
. It was released on 24 August 2015. In 2018 she was awarded the Nordic Language Prize 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 ...
,
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
for her contribution to positive attitudes between neighbouring Nordic languages.


Filmography


Film


Television


Awards and nominations


References


External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grabol, Sofie 1968 births Danish film actresses Living people Actresses from Copenhagen People from Frederiksberg Danish television actresses Recipients of the Crown Prince Couple's Culture Prize Best Actress Bodil Award winners Best Actress Robert Award winners Best Actress BAFTA Award (television) winners