Sara Dögg Ásgeirsdóttir

Sara Dögg Ásgeirsdóttir (born December 1976)[1] is an Icelandic actress. She has had major roles in a number of Icelandic films and TV series, and in 2013 won the Edda Award for Best Leading Actress for Pressa [is].

Early life and education

edit

Sara was born and grew up on the family farm in Skeiða- og Gnúpverjahreppur.[1][2][3] She attended Fjölbrautaskólinn í Breiðholti from the age of 16, in the media track,[1] and after a half year in France studying French, enrolled at the University of Iceland to study psychology.[4] After her first film role, she returned to France, living in Paris, and then studied acting in Iceland at the Iceland University of the Arts,[2][5] graduating in 2005.[1]

Career

edit

Her first acting role was as the female lead, Þurildur, in Hrafn Gunnlaugsson's Witchcraft [is] (2000), for which she auditioned successfully in 1997 when she was 19 and in her first year of university, with no training in acting;[1][2][4] she later told an interviewer she had been too shy to join her school's drama club.[3] Her performance won a Best Actress award at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival.[1][3][6]

While studying acting, she had supporting roles in two further films, Kaldaljós and the short Hver er Barði? (Who is Bardi?) (both 2004).[7] On graduation, she was offered a place in a theatre company in Akureyri, but took time off to have her first child. She resumed work with an independent theatre company, and in following years worked in a variety of acting jobs, including for the Reykjavík City Theatre, while also working as a flight attendant for Flugfélag Íslands.[1][5]

In 2007 Sara had a supporting role in the TV series Næturvaktin;[2][7][8] her breakthrough role was as the journalist Lára in the TV series Pressa,[9][10] beginning in December the same year. Pressa was very successful, and in 2013 she won the Edda Award for Best Leading Actress for the third season.[1][11]

Caring for her children during her daughter's illness caused a three-year hiatus in her career.[1] Her work since then has included, in film, leading parts in Óskar Þór Axelsson's Ég man þig (2017), based on a novel by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir,[1][12][13] the 2019 Swedish-Icelandic co-production Pity the Lovers,[14] and Marteinn Þórsson [is]'s Þorpið í bakgarðinum (Backyard Village, 2021),[15] and a supporting role in Hvítur, hvítur dagur (2019).[16][17] On TV, she appeared in the 2016 comedy series Borgarstjórinn [is] (The Mayor)[18] and had a supporting role in the 2017 series Stella Blómkvist, which became a major role in the 2021 season.[7][19]

In 2024 Sara produced her first short documentary, Turninn, about the tower which her father built on his land. The documentary premiered at the Skjaldborg Documentary Festival[20]

Personal life

edit

Sara has a daughter and a son. She did not attend the Edda Awards ceremony when she won because her son was a newborn.[1][21]

Filmography

edit
Films
Year Title Role Notes
1999 Myrkrahöfðinginn Þurildur
2004 Kaldaljós Anna
2004 Hver er Barði? (Who is Bardi?) Supporting cast [22]
2006 Börn Actress [23]
2012 Afhjupunin Kristin Short film
2017 Ég man þig Dagný
2018 Pity the Lovers Anna
2019 Hvítur, hvítur dagur (A White, White Day) Ingimundur's wife
2021 Þorpið í bakgarðinum (Backyard Village) Ásta the Greenhouse Farmer
2022 Summerlight... and Then Comes the Night Ásdís
2023 Kuldi Diljá Davíðsdóttir
2024 Ljósvíkingar (Odd Fish) Lija
TV Series
Year Title Role Notes
2007 Næturvaktin (The Night Shift) Erna TV miniseries, 3 episodes
2010 Réttur Helena 1 episode
2007–2012 Pressa Lára Main role, 3 seasons
2016 Borgarstjórinn (The Mayor) Védís 4 episodes
2017–2021 Stella Blómkvist Dagbjört
2022 Vitjanir (Fractures) Kristín Main role
2024 True Detective Becks Bryce 1 episode
2024 Black Sands (TV series) Helga (young) 2 episodes
Theatre
Year Title Role Venue Notes
2002 Romeo & Juliet Lady Capulet Reykjavík City Theatre [24] [25] [26]
2008 Together Elisabet Reykjavík City Theatre [27]
2016 Icelandic Sagas - The Greatest Hits Unknown Harpa (concert hall) [28]
2023 Venus Í Feldi Vanda Tjarnarbíó Theatre, Reykjavík [29]
Documentaries
Year Title Role Venue Notes
2024 Turninn Director/writer/producer Skjaldborg Festival Self produced short documentary[30]

Awards

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Ásdís Ásgeirsdóttir (24 January 2016). "Sara fékk eldskírnina hjá Hrafni". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic).
  2. ^ a b c d Marta María Jónasdóttir (14 December 2007). "Sara Dögg Ásgeirsdóttir leikkona: úr sveitinni í sviðljósið". Fréttablaðið Sirkus (in Icelandic). pp. 8–9.
  3. ^ a b c "Besta viðurkenningin er manns eigin". Dagblaðið Vísir Helgarblað (in Icelandic). 29 July 2000. pp. 28, 37.
  4. ^ a b "Ung, óþekkt háskólamær ráðin í aðalkvenhlutverkið í Myrkrahöfðingjanum: 'Var í ævintýraleit' segir Sara Dögg Ásgeirsdóttir sem valin var úr 150 umsækjendum". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 6 December 1997. p. 16.
  5. ^ a b Ásgeir Jónsson (18 March 2011). "Grét ballerínudrauminn í sveitinni". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). pp. 36f37.
  6. ^ "4th, 2000". The Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival History. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  7. ^ a b c "Sara Dögg Ásgeirsdóttir". Icelandic Film Centre. Archived from the original on 9 February 2022.
  8. ^ "Erfitt að leika á móti Jóni Gnarr í Næturvaktinni". Fréttablaðið (in Icelandic). 26 November 2007. p. 24.
  9. ^ Mike Hale (24 October 2017). "Critic's notebook: In Three Nordic Noir Streaming Series, Women Investigators Fight the Chill". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020.
  10. ^ "Tonight's TV: Trust Me I'm A Doctor, The Extreme Diet Hotel and Cover Story". The National. 5 September 2018. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  11. ^ "Edduverðlaun 2013" (in Icelandic). Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  12. ^ "Glæpasagnadrottningin á tökustað á Hesteyri". Fréttatíminn (in Icelandic). 13 November 2015. p. 38.
  13. ^ Frank Scheck (16 November 2017). "'I Remember You': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter.
  14. ^ "Pity the Lovers". Seattle International Film Festival. 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  15. ^ Guðrún Sóley Gestsdóttir (17 March 2021). "Fiskibollor og fortíðardraugar" (in Icelandic). RÚV. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  16. ^ "Kærustuparið í Efstaleiti geislaði á hátiðarforsýningurnar". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 4 February 2019. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  17. ^ Kevin Maher (3 July 2020). "A White, White Day review — slow-burn Icelandic thriller". The Times. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  18. ^ "Borgarstjórinn". Radio Times. BBC. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  19. ^ Helgi Snær Sigurðsson (30 September 2021). "Skítsama um hvað öðrum finnst". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  20. ^ "Turninn | Skjaldborg". skjaldborg.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 2024-05-14.
  21. ^ "Sara Dögg Ásgeirsdóttir leikkona: nýbökið móðir". Fréttablaðið Helgarblað (in Icelandic). 16 February 2013. p. 24.
  22. ^ "Sara Dögg Ásgeirsdóttir". Icelandic Films. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
  23. ^ "Sara Dögg Ásgeirsdóttir". Panorama Agency. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
  24. ^ "Romeo & Juliet | Vesturport". 2009-11-18. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
  25. ^ "CHARACTER PHOTOS | Vesturport". 2010-10-27. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
  26. ^ "Portraits by Jonatan on Instagram: "Back in 2003 I went to the Young Vic theater London to see Vesturport take on Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet. Later I did enjoy doing portraits of the cast while they were still in character and custom backstage at Borgarleikhúsið. This is @saradoggin in her role as Lady Capulet backstage only few minutes after the curtains fall. #vesturport #saradögg #theater #youngvic #youngvictheater #borgarleikhúsið #shakespeare #romeoandjuliet #jonatan #phaseone #phaseonephoto #profoto #profotoglobal #profotousa #captureonepro #jonatangretarsson #portrait #portraitphotography #visualart #actor #thegreattalentsoftheworld @youngvictheatre @borgarleikhusid Custom: @totalisa"". Instagram. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
  27. ^ "Together | Vesturport". 2009-11-13. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
  28. ^ "Icelandic Sagas - The Greatest Hits - Two more great actors join the troupe - Oddur Juliusson and Sara Dögg Ásgeirsdóttir - the third cast of "The Icelandic Sagas - Greatest hits" - Here Oddur trains the "one eyebrow up and one down" look of Egill son of Bald-Grim... | Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
  29. ^ "Djarfur leikur Söru Daggar í ögrandi Venusarfeldinum". 2023-01-27. Archived from the original on 2023-01-27. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
  30. ^ "Turninn | Skjaldborg". skjaldborg.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 2024-05-14.
edit