Steinunn Ólína Þorsteinsdóttir
Encyclopedia
Steinunn Ólina Þorsteinsdóttir (born 2 July 1969 in Reykjavík
, Iceland
) is an Iceland
ic actress, TV show host, writer and producer.
, England
to study drama at the Drama Centre London, from which she graduated in 1990 along with contemporaries like Helen McCrory
and Tara FitzGerald
. She subsequently moved back to Iceland to re-launch a career on the stage and television as a mature artist, making her debut at the National Theatre of Iceland in the role of Solveig in Henrik Ibsen
's Peer Gynt
.
Eventually Steinunn Ólina was hired as a contracted star player at the National Theatre of Iceland where she spent the next fourteen years, appearing in over 50 productions and portraying a range of leading characters in contemporary and classical plays alike. Her many significant roles at the National include Eliza Doolittle
in My Fair Lady
by Lerner and Loewe
and Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof
, also contributing to several stage productions of comedy and farce, such Ray Cooney
’s Two for One and in Michael Frayn
's Noises Off as the misfortunate actress Dotty Otley. She has also interpreted many classical characters such as Irena, in Chekhov’s Three Sisters
, Aglaja in a dramatization of The Idiot
by Dostoyevsky and Queen Margaret in Shakespeare
’s Richard III
for which she garnered the prestigious “Grima awards” (The Mask) in 2004.
Steinunn Ólina has also been featured in numerous high profile stage productions with several different acting companies, tackling leading roles in plays by masters of the absurd such as in Eugene Ionesco
's The Lesson, her portrayal of Roxy Hart in Chicago by Kander and Ebb as a guest star with the Reykjavík Theatre Ensemble.
Steinunn Ólina produced, wrote, directed and hosted her own live talk show Over My Dead Body - with Steinunn Ólina on the Icelandic State Broadcasting Television Channel 1.
Steinunn Ólina has also contributed to other television shows as a comedienne and writer, such as the RUV-TV's “New Years Eve Comedy Hour Variety Show” the most preeminent annual event on National Television in Iceland, to which she has rendered her services on several occasions. Steinunn has also appeared in a handful of television plays, sitcoms and feature films, including Beowulf and Grendel, starring Gerard Butler
in 2005.
She broke in to the stratum of novelists with the publishing of her semi-autobiographical novella “Parental Guidance” which made number one bestseller in Iceland 2006. Steinunn Ólina's career and her offerings to theatre, film, and television continues to soar and in 2004 she moved to the United States. Steinunn Ólina currently resides in Los Angeles
with her actor husband Stefán Karl Stefánsson
of LazyTown
fame, three daughters and a son.
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...
, Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
) is an Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
ic actress, TV show host, writer and producer.
Early life
Steinunn Ólina grew up in Reykjavik with her mother, the actress Bríet Héðinsdóttir, and her father Þorsteinn Þorsteinsson, a writer and translator of dramatic literature, and first found fame with a starring stage role at the age of fifteen. At seventeen she moved to LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to study drama at the Drama Centre London, from which she graduated in 1990 along with contemporaries like Helen McCrory
Helen McCrory
Helen Elizabeth McCrory is a British actress. She portrayed Cherie Blair in both the 2006 film The Queen and the 2010 film The Special Relationship. She also portrayed Narcissa Malfoy in the final three Harry Potter films....
and Tara FitzGerald
Tara Fitzgerald
Tara Anne Cassandra Fitzgerald is an English actress who has appeared in feature films, television, radio and the stage....
. She subsequently moved back to Iceland to re-launch a career on the stage and television as a mature artist, making her debut at the National Theatre of Iceland in the role of Solveig in Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
's Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt is a five-act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, loosely based on the fairy tale Per Gynt. It is the most widely performed Norwegian play. According to Klaus Van Den Berg, the "cinematic script blends poetry with social satire and realistic scenes with surreal ones"...
.
National Theatre and elsewhere
Eventually Steinunn Ólina was hired as a contracted star player at the National Theatre of Iceland where she spent the next fourteen years, appearing in over 50 productions and portraying a range of leading characters in contemporary and classical plays alike. Her many significant roles at the National include Eliza Doolittle
Eliza Doolittle
Eliza Sophie Caird , better known by her stage name Eliza Doolittle, is an English singer–songwriter from London, who signed to the Parlophone record label in October 2008. Her debut self-titled album, Eliza Doolittle was released on 12 July 2010, where it debuted at number 3 in the UK...
in My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
by Lerner and Loewe
Lerner and Loewe
Lerner and Loewe are the duo of lyricist and librettist Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe, known primarily for the music and lyrics of some of Broadway's most successful musical shows, including My Fair Lady, Camelot, and Brigadoon....
and Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters by Sholem Aleichem...
, also contributing to several stage productions of comedy and farce, such Ray Cooney
Ray Cooney
Raymond George Alfred Cooney, OBE is an English playwright and actor. His biggest success, Run for Your Wife, lasted nine years in London's West End and is its longest-running comedy. He has had 17 of his plays performed there....
’s Two for One and in Michael Frayn
Michael Frayn
Michael J. Frayn is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce Noises Off and the dramas Copenhagen and Democracy...
's Noises Off as the misfortunate actress Dotty Otley. She has also interpreted many classical characters such as Irena, in Chekhov’s Three Sisters
Three Sisters (play)
Three Sisters is a play by Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov, perhaps partially inspired by the situation of the three Brontë sisters, but most probably by the three Zimmermann sisters in Perm...
, Aglaja in a dramatization of The Idiot
The Idiot (novel)
The Idiot is a novel written by 19th century Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It was first published serially in The Russian Messenger between 1868 and 1869. The Idiot is ranked beside some of Dostoyevsky's other works as one of the most brilliant literary achievements of the "Golden Age" of...
by Dostoyevsky and Queen Margaret in Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
’s Richard III
Richard III (play)
Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified...
for which she garnered the prestigious “Grima awards” (The Mask) in 2004.
Steinunn Ólina has also been featured in numerous high profile stage productions with several different acting companies, tackling leading roles in plays by masters of the absurd such as in Eugene Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco was a Romanian and French playwright and dramatist, and one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd...
's The Lesson, her portrayal of Roxy Hart in Chicago by Kander and Ebb as a guest star with the Reykjavík Theatre Ensemble.
Television and film work
Steinunn Ólina produced, wrote, directed and hosted her own live talk show Over My Dead Body - with Steinunn Ólina on the Icelandic State Broadcasting Television Channel 1.
Steinunn Ólina has also contributed to other television shows as a comedienne and writer, such as the RUV-TV's “New Years Eve Comedy Hour Variety Show” the most preeminent annual event on National Television in Iceland, to which she has rendered her services on several occasions. Steinunn has also appeared in a handful of television plays, sitcoms and feature films, including Beowulf and Grendel, starring Gerard Butler
Gerard Butler
Gerard James Butler is a Scottish actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television. A trained lawyer, Butler turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies , which he followed with steady work on television, most notably in...
in 2005.
Personal life
She broke in to the stratum of novelists with the publishing of her semi-autobiographical novella “Parental Guidance” which made number one bestseller in Iceland 2006. Steinunn Ólina's career and her offerings to theatre, film, and television continues to soar and in 2004 she moved to the United States. Steinunn Ólina currently resides in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
with her actor husband Stefán Karl Stefánsson
Stefán Karl Stefánsson
Stefán Karl Stefánsson is an Icelandic film and stage actor who is best known for playing the character Robbie Rotten on the television show LazyTown....
of LazyTown
LazyTown
LazyTown is a children's television program that was produced in Iceland with a cast and crew from Iceland, the United Kingdom and the United States. It was created by Magnús Scheving, a gymnastics champion and CEO of LazyTown Entertainment, who also stars in the show...
fame, three daughters and a son.