Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė

Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė (born 20 January 1963) is а Lithuanian actress and television presenter. Known for her screen and stage performances, she has gained recognition for films such as Burnt by the Sun and Katya Ismailova (1994), which won her the Nika Award for Best Actress. Dapkūnaitė was also credited in Mission: Impossible (1996), Seven Years in Tibet (1997), Kiss of Life (2003), and Okkupert (2015–2019).

Dapkūnaitė has performed in theaters in Lithuania, the United Kingdom, United States, and Russia, including Steppenwolf Theatre, Shaftesbury Theatre, The Old Vic, Hampstead Theatre, Theatre of Nations, and more. She has a long-lasting professional partnership with John Malkovich - they have worked together on numerous theatre productions.

Early life Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė was born in Vilnius, then in the Lithuanian SSR of the Soviet Union, on 20 January 1963. Her father, Petras Edmundas Dapkūnas, was a diplomat, while her mother, Ingeborga Dapkūnienė (Sabalytė), was a meteorologist. Because of work, her parents spent most of their time away from their hometown, in particular in Moscow, while Ingeborga remained in Vilnius. She was cared for by her grandmother Genovaitė Sabliene, the manager of the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, and her aunt and uncle, who held positions at the symphony orchestra.

Dapkūnaitė made her theatrical debut at the age of four as Dolore in the Puccini opera Madama Butterfly. Later, she also played in Faust, The Demon, and The Queen of Spades. Dapkūnaitė attended theatrical school at the local House of Unions and practiced sports, such as figure skating and basketball (quite popular in Lithuania by that time). After school, she enrolled in the Department of Theater Arts of the Lithuanian State Conservatory and studied under Jonas Vaitkus.

Career Stage After the Conservatory, Dapkūnaitė joined Kaunas State Drama Theatre. In two years, she had played seven leading roles in the productions by her master, Jonas Vaitkus. played Shelly in the Buried Child, and several Shakespearean roles. Later, she was invited to the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre. Dapkunaite played in Malkovich's Steppenwolf production Libra, acted alongside him in The Giacomo Variations in Ronacher (Vienna) and Sydney Opera,

Dapkūnaitė also worked in other theaters in the UK, U.S.,, and Europe. In London, she appeared in Cloaca, directed by Kevin Spacey, at The Old Vic, in Moonlight, and in After Darwin at the Hampstead Theatre, and in The Vagina Monologues at Ambassadors Theatre. She also had a lead play in Touchables , the first-ever theatrical production with deaf-blind actors.

Screen Lithuania Dapkūnaitė debuted on screen in 1984 (as a fourth-grade student) as Aukse in Raimundas Banionis's first feature film Mano mazyte žmona (. In 1986, she performed together with Igor Kostolevsky in Isaak Fridbergas's Nakties paklydeliai (. In 1987, she starred in the television film based on Ray Bradbury's short story I Sing the Body Electric.

Russia Dapkūnaitė became widely popular in the Soviet Union after the role of the young prostitute Kisulya in Pyotr Todorovsky's 1989 drama Intergirl. In 1991, she starred in Dmitry Meskhiev's Cynics, in which she received the 1992 Golden Aries Actress of the Year award. In 1994, the leading role in Valery Todorovsky's 1994 drama film Katya Ismailova won Dapkūnaitė the Nika Award for Best Actress. The same year, Dapkūnaitė portrayed Marussia in Nikita Mikhalkov's Burnt by the Sun, which received the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the Grand Prix at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival.

Her other roles in the Soviet and Russian movies included Vija Beinerte's Stecheniye obstoyatel'stv (1988), Igor Talankin's Osen, Chertanovo... (1989), Her leading roles included Orange Juice by Andrey Proshkin and Winter Will not Come by Ilia Demichev. On TV, she appeared as Morpheya in the Sky Court (2011), Mrs Hudson in the adaptation of Sherlock Holmes (2012), Alexandra Feodorovna in the Grigoriy R mini-series (2014), and Maria Feodorovna in Alexei Uchitel's 2017 Matilda.

On TV, Dapkūnaitė was the co-host of the Russian edition of the Big Brother reality show (2005) and the spokesperson at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 finals in Moscow. She also took part in the Stars on Ice (2006) and The new songs about the most important things (2007) TV shows. She was invited to play the role of IMF (Impossible Missions Force) agent Hannah Williams in Brian De Palma’s Mission: Impossible and in 2007, she played the mother of Hannibal Lecter in Hannibal Rising, directed by Peter Webber. She also acted together with Emir Kusturica in the espionage thriller L'affaire Farewell (2009) by Christian Carion and played in Alexis Lloyd's romantic comedy 30 Beats (2012).

Dapkūnaitė's roles on TV included Alexandra Feodorovna in the TV mini-series The Lost Prince (2003); nurse Katya Bredova in Season 1 of the medical drama series Bodies (2004); and Baiba Liepa in Wallander, episodes "The Dogs of Riga" and "A Lesson in Love".

Dapkūnaite played top Russian diplomat Irina Sidorova, one of the key roles in the Norwegian series Okkupert , first aired in 2015. In the 2018 Russian-Estonian remake of the 2011 Swedish/Danish crime drama The Bridge she played the lead role of Estonian detective Inga Veerma.

Awards The Honored Artist of the Lithuanian SSR title (was the last person to receive that honor)

Other roles Dapkūnaitė served on the jury of the 23rd Moscow International Film Festival (2001), the 56th Cannes Film Festival Cinéfondation program (2003), the 55th Berlin International Film Festival (2005), the 20th Mar del Plata International Film Festival (2005), the 33rd Cairo International Film Festival (2009), and the 67th Venice Film Festival (2010).

Dapkūnaitė was the Longines Ambassador of Elegance (since 2005) and L'Oréal Ambassador of Beauty (since 2014).

Dapkūnaitė was the head of the Cinemotion acting school, and curated the acting department of the Moscow Film School.

From 2013 to 2018, Dapkūnaitė was married to Russian lawyer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Dmitry Yampolsky. They have a son.

At different points of her life she lived in Lithuania, the United Kingdom, Russia, and Belgium. In February 2022, she denounced the Russian invasion of Ukraine and left Russia.

She holds Lithuanian and British citizenship.

Philanthropy For years, Dapkūnaitė had been the chairperson of the board of trustees of the Hospice Charity Foundation Vera and a member of the board of trustees of the Friends Foundation. Since 2015, she had produced a Touchables theatrical project in the Theatre of Nations, which aims to integrate deafblind people into the acting community.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes 1984 My Little Wife Aukse 1985 Zodiac TV 1985 Night Whispers Inga 1986 Game chameleon Veronica 1987 The mysterious heir Asya Tikhonova The confluence of circumstances Veronica Bergs The 13th Apostle Mariya 1988 Autumn, Chertanovo ... Mariya Zavarzina Crossing Kama-Basia Zalevskaya 1989 Intergirl Kisulya F minor Katya 1990 Nikolai Vavilov Natalia Karlovna Lemke Mini-series 1991 Cynics Olga 1992–1993 The Good Guys Sanda TV series 1993 Fatal Deception: Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald Lubya TV The Alaska Kid Salli TV series 1994 Katya Ismailova (russian title: Near Moscow Nights) Katya Ismailova Burnt by the Sun Maroussia 1995 Thief Takers TV series 1996 On Dangerous Ground Asta TV Mission: Impossible Hannah Williams Letters from the East Marie / Mother 1997 Seven Years in Tibet Ingrid Harrer 1998 CI5: The New Professionals Elkie TV series 1999–2001 Big Bad World Natalia TV series 1999 Sunburn Carolyn Kramer 2000 Moscow Masha Rostov-dad Elya TV series Shadow of the Vampire Micheline 2002 War Margaret 2002 Stereoblood Mariya 2003 The Lost Prince Tsaritsa Alexandra Feodorovna TV The Suit Asya Kiss of Life Helen Coming Up Olesya Muratseva TV series Prime Suspect S6: The Last Witness Jasmina Blekic Mini-series 2004 25 Degrees in Winter Sonia 2004–2006 Bodies Katya Bredova TV series 2005 Graveyard Shift wife of the owner 2006 Silent Witness Dr. Caroline Anscombe TV series 2007 Hannibal Rising Mother Lecter In Transit Vera 2008 Morphine Anna Terra Nova Marta 2009 L'affaire Farewell Natasha Jolly Fellows Margo Volunteer Lena Mini-series Katya: Military history Mariya Barsukova TV series 2010 Orange Juice Dasha Cadenzas Liza 2011 Heavenly Court Morpheus Mini-series 2012 30 Beats The Call-Girl - Alice Branded Guru's Associate Dubcek Wallander – s.3.02, "The Dogs of Riga" Baiba Liepa TV series Heavenly Court Morpheus Film 2013 Antalya Sherlock Holmes Mrs. Hudson TV series 2014 Express "Moscow-Russia" conductor Anna Gregory R. Empress Alexandra Feodorovna TV series Heavenly Court. Continued Morpheus Mini-series 2015–2019 Occupied Irina Sidorova TV series 2015 Men's Life in Autumn 2016 Wallander – "A Lesson in Love" Baiba Liepa TV series Artist Kills Self Clarissa Stearn 2017 Jeanne Jeanne Matilda Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar of Denmark) 2018–2020 The Bridge Inga Veermaa, Estonian detective TV series 2019 Union of Salvation Princess Belskaya Dark like the Night. Karenina-2019 journalist short film 2022 Generation of Evil Rasa Kymantaite, the mayor 2025 Heads of State Farmer