Noomi Rapace

Noomi Rapace (; born Hilda Noomi Norén, 28 December 1979) is a Swedish actress. She achieved international fame with her portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish film adaptations of the Millennium series: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest. For her performance in the Millennium series, Rapace won two Nymphe d'Ors, a Guldbagge Award, and a Satellite Award as Best Actress amongst others, and was nominated for a BAFTA Award, an International Emmy Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, and an European Film Award. Following the success of the Millennium series, Rapace has gone on to star in many international movies.

She has starred as Veronica in Bloodbrothers (2005), Anna in Daisy Diamond (2007), Leena in Beyond (2010), Anna in The Monitor (2011), Madame Simza Heron in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011), Elizabeth Shaw in Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017), Isabelle in Passion (2012), Beatrice in Dead Man Down (2013), Nadia in The Drop (2014), Raisa Demidova in Child 44 (2015), Renee in Rupture (2016), Alice Racine in Unlocked (2017), the seven lead roles in What Happened to Monday (2017), Leilah in Bright (2017), Bianca Lind in Stockholm (2018), Sam Carlson in Close (2019), Lizzie in Angel of Mine (2019), Harriet Bauman in Jack Ryan (TV series, 2019), Maja in The Secrets We Keep (2020), Maria in Lamb (2021), Lisa in The Trip (2021), Bosilka in You Won't Be Alone (2022), Caroline Edh in Black Crab (2022), Elizabeth Thurman in Django (TV series, 2023), Falk in Assassin Club (2023), Jo Ericsson in Constellation (TV series, 2024), and Mother Teresa in Mother (2025).

Early life Rapace was born in Hudiksvall, Sweden. Her mother, Kristina "Nina" Norén (born 1954), is a Swedish actress, and her father, Rogelio Durán (10 November 1953 – 4 November 2006), was a Spanish flamenco singer from Badajoz. She has said her father may have been of partly Roma descent, and though she is "not sure if it is true," she has "always been interested in the culture." Rapace's sister, Særún Norén, is a photographer.

Rapace has said she saw her father only occasionally before his death. "He was not around. The first time I saw him or I met him, I was fifteen and I saw him on stage," Rapace said about her father. At age five, she moved from her native Sweden to Flúðir in Iceland with her mother and stepfather, Hrafnkell Karlsson. Two years later, she made her film debut in a minor role in the Icelandic film In the Shadow of the Raven, along with Karlsson.

Rapace speaks fluent Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian, and English, in addition to her native Swedish.

Career Early work At the age of seven, Rapace was given her first film role, a non-speaking part in the Icelandic film In the Shadow of the Raven by Hrafn Gunnlaugsson. She left home at age 15 and enrolled in a Stockholm theatre school.

In 1996, Rapace (then Noomi Norén) made her television debut playing the part of Lucinda Gonzales in the long-running soap opera series Tre kronor. From 1998 to 1999, Rapace studied at the acting school Skara Skolscen. She has been engaged at Theater Plaza in 2000–01, Teater Galeasen in 2002,

In 2007, she won acclaim for her award-winning portrayal of a troubled teen mother in the Danish film Daisy Diamond, directed by Simon Staho. She won the two top film awards in Denmark (the Bodil and Robert prize) for Best Actress for her role in the film, which was also selected for the main competition at the San Sebastián International Film Festival.

In 2009, she played the role of Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish-produced film adaptation of Stieg Larsson's best-selling novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, for which she won the Best Actress trophy at Guldbagge Award (Sweden's top film award) and Satellite Award, and was nominated for a BAFTA Award and European Film Award in the same category. She later appeared in the same role in the sequels The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest. All three films were subsequently recut as a six-part miniseries aired on Swedish television called Millennium, for which Rapace received a nomination for the International Emmy Award. The three film adaptations have earned over $200 million at the box office worldwide.

International success

Following the success of the Millennium series, Rapace started an international career. Her first English-speaking role was the character of Madame Simza Heron in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, released in 2011.

Her international fame has earned her leading roles in mainstream cinema. She was cast in Ridley Scott's blockbuster hit Prometheus, where she played the leading role, a scientist named Elizabeth Shaw. She had met Scott for the first time following the release of the Millennium trilogy movies, at which point he expressed a willingness to work with her and encouraged her to improve her accent. Prometheus was released in June 2012. She did not appear in the final cut of the film's sequel Alien: Covenant (2017), but did act in a short related prologue.

In November 2012, she appeared in The Rolling Stones video-clip for the single "Doom and Gloom", shot in the studios of the Cité du Cinéma by Luc Besson in Saint-Denis. Also in the same year, she starred alongside Rachel McAdams in Brian De Palma's erotic thriller Passion, which is the English-language remake of 2010's French psychological thriller Love Crime. They both appeared in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, but did not share scenes. Rapace also appeared in Niels Arden Oplev's crime thriller Dead Man Down, alongside Isabelle Huppert and Colin Farrell.

In 2014, she appeared as Nadia in Michaël R. Roskam's thriller The Drop, alongside Tom Hardy, Matthias Schoenaerts, and James Gandolfini. In September 2014, she was the subject of the short film A Portrait of Noomi Rapace, directed by artist and designer Aitor Throup and scored by Flying Lotus. In the same year, Rapace appeared in the video for the single "Eez-eh" by Kasabian. In 2015, she starred as Raisa Demidova in Daniel Espinosa's Child 44 opposite Hardy again (her co-star in The Drop), also starring Gary Oldman, Vincent Cassel, Jason Clarke, and Joel Kinnaman.

She starred in the 2017 spy thriller Unlocked, with Michael Douglas, John Malkovich, Orlando Bloom, and Toni Collette, and the science fiction horror Rupture by Steven Shainberg. In 2017, she led the sci-fi/actioner What Happened to Monday opposite Glenn Close and Willem Dafoe. The same year, Rapace played an elf in the urban action fantasy Bright.

In 2019, Rapace starred in the action thriller film Close, released on Netflix on 18 January 2019. That same year, Rapace starred in the psychological thriller Angel of Mine, and in the television series Jack Ryan. In 2020, Rapace starred in the thriller The Secrets We Keep alongside Kinnaman again (her co-star in Child 44). In 2021, the Icelandic folk horror Lamb premiered at the 74th Cannes Film Festival, where Rapace has the leading role of Maria. Rapace's performance in the film gained significant attention and she won the Best Actress award at the 2021 Sitges Film Festival, and was nominated for the Best Actress award at the 2021 North Texas Film Critics Association. Rapace also has leading roles in the following features The Trip (2021), You Won't Be Alone (2022), and Black Crab (2022).

In May 2022, Rapace was a member of the jury of the 75th Cannes Film Festival. The following year, she appeared in the television series Django (2023), reuniting her with Schoenaerts (her co-star in The Drop). She played the lead role in the television series Constellation (2024) and also portrayed Mother Teresa in the film Mother (2025). In March 2026, she was cast in an undisclosed recurring role in the upcoming live-action adaptation series of the Assassin's Creed video game series.

Personal life

Rapace married Swedish actor Ola Rapace (born Pär Ola Norell) in 2001. Upon marrying, the couple decided to jointly adopt a brand-new surname instead of one partner taking the other's surname; they did this because their surnames, Norén and Norell respectively, sounded so similar. They decided on Rapace, meaning "bird of prey" both in French and Italian, because it sounded "cool". They have a son, born in 2003. In September 2010, they filed for divorce, which took effect the year after.

, Rapace lives in London, England, which she describes as her "favourite city".

Acting credits Film Year Title RoleNotes 1988 In the Shadow of the Raven Extra Uncredited 1997 Sanning eller konsekvens Nadja 2001 Röd jul Kvinna på krog 2003 En utflykt till månens baksida Andrea Capricciosa Elvira 2004 Älskar, älskar och älskar Nelly 2005 Lovisa och Carl Michael Anna Rella Toleransens gränser Mom Bloodbrothers Veronica 2006 Enhälligt beslut Amira Du & jag Maja Sökarna: Återkomsten Enforcer 2007 Daisy Diamond Anna 2009 Lisbeth Salander 2010 Beyond Leena 2011 The Monitor Anna Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Madame Simza Heron 2012 Quiet Eye: Elizabeth Shaw Elizabeth Shaw Short film Prometheus Transmission Prometheus Passion Isabelle 2013 Dead Man Down Beatrice 2014 A Portrait of Noomi Rapace Herself Short film The Drop Nadia 2015 Child 44 Raisa Demidova 2016 Rupture Renee 2017 Unlocked Alice Racine What Happened to Monday Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday / Karen Settman Alien: Covenant – Prologue: The Crossing Elizabeth Shaw Short film Alien: Covenant Cameo Bright Leilah 2018 Stockholm Bianca Lind 2019 Close Sam Carlson Angel of Mine Lizzie 2020 The Secrets We Keep Maja Reid 2021 The Trip Lisa Lamb María 2022 You Won't Be Alone Bosilka Black Crab Caroline Edh 2023 Assassin Club Falk 2025 Mother Anjezë Bojaxhiu / Mother Teresa 2026 The End of It Martha In Alaska Susan Tarheel Hot Spot Rana TBA The Kellys Filming

Television Year Title Role Notes 1996–1997 Tre kronor Lucinda Gonzales Main role; 12 episodes 2001 Pusselbitar Marika Nilsson Miniseries 2002 Stora teatern Fatima 2003 Tusenbröder Hemvårdare Episode: "Tusenbröder II – Del 5" 2007–2008 Labyrint Nicky Main role; 12 episodes 2019 Jack Ryan Harriet "Harry" Baumann Recurring role 2023 Django Elizabeth Thurman / The Lady Miniseries; main role 2024 Constellation Jo Ericsson Main role Assassin's Creed Recurring role

Music videos Year Video Artist Notes 2012 "Doom and Gloom" The Rolling Stones 2014 "Eez-eh" Kasabian

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Work Result 2008 Bodil Awards Best Actress Daisy Diamond Robert Awards Best Actress 2009 European Film Awards Best Actress Satellite Awards Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama St. Louis Film Critics Association Best Actress Saturn Awards Best Actress São Paulo International Film Festival Best Actress Beyond Hollywood Film Festival Spotlight Award 2011 London Film Critics' Circle Actress of the Year The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Empire Awards Best Actress BAFTA Awards Best Leading Actress International Emmy Awards Best Performance by an Actress Millennium miniseries (TV version) 2012Teen Choice Awards Choice Movie Actress – Action Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Choice Movie Breakout Prometheus Amanda Award Best Actress The Monitor 2021 Sitges Film Festival Best Actress Lamb