Connie Nielsen

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**Connie Inge-Lise Nielsen** (born 3 July 1965) is a Danish actress whose first major role in an English language film was a supporting role in *The Devil's Advocate* (1997). Her films include *Gladiator* (2000), *Mission to Mars* (2000), *One Hour Photo* (2002), *Basic* (2003), *The Hunted* (2003), *The Ice Harvest* (2005), and *Nymphomaniac* (2014). She starred as Meredith Kane on the Starz TV series *Boss* (2011–2012) and was a lead character in the second season of *The Following*. She has joined the DC Extended Universe, appearing as Hippolyta in its films *Wonder Woman* (2017), *Justice League* (2017) and *Wonder Woman 1984* (2020).

## Early life

Nielsen was born in Frederikshavn and grew up in the village of Elling, Denmark. Her father, Bent Nielsen, was a bus driver, and her mother was an insurance clerk, who also acted and wrote musical reviews. She was raised a Mormon. She began her acting career working alongside her mother on the local revue and variety scene. At 18, she traveled to Paris, France, where she worked as an actress and model, which led to further work and study in Italy—at drama school in Rome and in master classes with Lydia Styx, a teacher at *Piccolo Teatro di Milano* in Milan. She lived in Italy for many years before moving to the United States, where she still resides.

## Career

Nielsen's feature film debut was the Jerry Lewis French film *Par où t'es rentré ? On t'a pas vu sortir* in 1984, followed by a role in the Italian mini-series *Colletti Bianchi* in 1988. She appeared in the Italian film *Vacanze di Natale '91* (1991) and the French film *Le Paradis Absolument* (1993).

She moved to the United States in the mid-1990s and made her first appearance in a major English-language film in 1997 as Christabella Andreoli in *The Devil's Advocate*, starring opposite Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves. This first minor breakthrough led to roles in the films *Permanent Midnight* (1998), *Rushmore* (1998), and *Soldier* (1998).

In 2000, Nielsen appeared as Lucilla in Ridley Scott's *Gladiator*, starring opposite Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix. Since then, she has starred in American films including *Mission to Mars* (2000), *One Hour Photo* (2002), *The Hunted* (2003), and *Basic* (2003), for which she had to cut off most of her hair. She also starred in the French thriller *Demonlover* (2002), directed by Olivier Assayas. She played the Irish mother to an orphan in *A Shine of Rainbows* (2009).

In 2004, Nielsen made her Danish film debut in the drama, *Brødre* (also known as *Brothers*), for which she won the Danish Best Actress Award, the Bodil, as well as Best Actress at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. She was also nominated for Best Actress at the European Film Awards. In 2006, Nielsen appeared in several episodes of *Law & Order: Special Victims Unit* as Detective Dani Beck. She filled in for Mariska Hargitay, who was on maternity leave at the time of filming.

Alongside Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jamie Bell and Uma Thurman, Nielsen appeared in the 2014 Lars Von Trier film *Nymphomaniac*. Nielsen was featured in a series of promotional posters prior to the film's release, a campaign *The* *Independent* described as "shocking", writing, "Connie Nielsen appears somewhat moist in this poster for Nymphomaniac".

In 2015, she appeared on the TV-2 album *Det scont liv* where she sang along with Steffen Brandt on the track "Brev til Mona"
In September 2018 she appeared as a cast member of the CBS drama *FBI* with Jeremy Sisto and Missy Peregrym.

## Personal life

From 2004 to 2012, Nielsen dated Metallica drummer and fellow Dane Lars Ulrich. They have one son together, Bryce Thadeus Ulrich-Nielsen (born 21 May 2007, in San Francisco, California). She has an older son from her previous relationship with Fabio Sartor.

Nielsen is multilingual and speaks eight languages: Danish, English, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, and some Spanish.

## References

1. ↑ "Connie Nielsen". *Aniston.dk*. Archived on 21 February 2014. Template:Citation error. http://aniston.dk/connie-nielsen.2830.ahtml. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
2. ↑ "Connie Nielsen Biography (1965–)". Filmreference.com. http://www.filmreference.com/film/87/Connie-Nielsen.html. Retrieved 6 December 2009.
3. ↑ Stewart, Susan (9 March 2003). "Double Danish / Connie Nielson (sic)", Newsday, p. D7.
4. ↑ "Star Dentist Drilled for $20M", New York Post (7 August 2004), p. 6.
5. ↑ Cavagna, Carlo (December 2005). "Interview: Connie Nielsen". AboutFilm.com. http://www.aboutfilm.com/movies/i/iceharvest/nielsen.htm. Retrieved 6 December 2009.
6. ↑ "One Hour Photo: About The Cast". Cinema.com. http://cinema.com/articles/1293/one-hour-photo-about-the-cast.phtml. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
7. ↑ "Connie Nielsen biography". The New York Times. 2010. https://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/52655/Connie-Nielsen/biography. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
8. ↑ "Connie Nielsen on Reading the Script". Freestyle Releasing. 2010. http://www.traileraddict.com/a-shine-of-rainbows/featurette-script. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
9. ↑ "Connie Nielsen fills in for Mariska Hargitay on 'Law & Order: SVU'". Star Pulse. 2006-02-02. http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2006/02/02/connie\_nielsen\_fills\_in\_for\_mariska\_harg. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
10. ↑ Scott Roxborough (27 August 2012). "Jamie Bell, Connie Nielsen Join Lars von Trier's 'Nymphomaniac'". *The Hollywood Reporter*. The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jamie-bell-connie-nielsen-nymphomaniac-lars-von-trier-365512. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
11. ↑ Liam O'Brien (10 October 2013). "Nymphomaniac orgasm posters: Uma Thurman, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Shia LaBeouf star in shocking film campaign". Retrieved on 17 April 2014.
12. ↑ "METALLICA Drummer LARS ULRICH, Girlfriend CONNIE NIELSEN Expecting", Blabbermouth.net (6 December 2006). Retrieved on 18 November 2006. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007.
13. ↑ "A Woman We Love: Connie Nielsen" (1 March 2007).

## External links

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