Connie Nielsen….beautiful but?!
Connie Inge-Lise Nielsen (born 3 July 1965) is a Danish actress. She is known for her roles in the English language films Gladiator, The Devil’s Advocate, Basic, and The Ice Harvest. She currently stars as Meredith Kane on the Starz series Boss.Nielsen was born in Frederikshavn, 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 and grew up in a village named Elling. 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.
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 1996 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 became known to worldwide audiences as Lucilla in Ridley Scott’s internationally acclaimed Academy Award–winning epic 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). She also starred in the acclaimed 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 Det.
Dani Beck. She filled in for Mariska Hargitay who was on maternity leave at the time of filming.From 2004 to 2012, Nielsen dated Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich. They have one son together, Bryce Thadeus Ulrich-Nielsen, (b. 21 May 2007) in San Francisco.[6] She has a son, Sebastian (born 2 June 1991), from a previous relationship.Nielsen speaks eight languages: Danish, English, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish and a little Spanish.Danish beauty Connie Nielsen consistently lights up the screen with an eclectic bevy of film roles. However, it was her portrayal of “Princess Lucilla”, opposite Russell Crowe’s Maximus in Ridley Scott’s Academy Award-winning Gladiator (2000), which first garnered a mass appeal. She most recently won Best Actress Awards from the Danish Academy Awards and from the San Sebastian Film Festival for her role in the Danish drama Brothers (2004) (aka Brothers), which has been picked up for distribution by Focus Features and IFC Films. Up next, she will soon be seen in the World War II epic The Great Raid (2005) opposite Benjamin Bratt, Joseph Fiennes and James Franco for director John Dahl and produced by Miramax; the dramatic thriller Return to Sender (2004/I) directed by Bille August, which premiered at The Toronto Film Festival in 2004; and the black comedy The Ice Harvest (2005) with John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton and Randy Quaid, directed by Harold Ramis for Focus Features. In 2003, Nielsen starred as an industrial spy in a corporate war in the critically acclaimed suspense thriller Demonlover (2002), directed by Olivier Assayas and co-starring Chloë Sevigny and Gina Gershon.
Her other lead roles range from The Hunted (2003) by director William Friedkin (with Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro; to Basic (2003) by director John McTiernan (opposite John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson); to One Hour Photo (2002) where she starred opposite Robin Williams; to Mission to Mars (2000) opposite Gary Sinise, Tim Robbins and Don Cheadle; to The Devil’s Advocate (1997) starring Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves. Additionally, Nielsen has received a Best Actress Award from the Empire Awards for her role in Gladiator (2000), and has given unforgettable performances as a German heroin junkie in Permanent Midnight (1998) opposite Ben Stiller and as an unmatronly Texas mother in Rushmore (1998) opposite Bill Murray. Other film credits include Innocents (2000) (aka The Innocents) opposite Jean-Hugues Anglade, Voyage (1993) (TV) with Rutger Hauer and Eric Roberts. Born and raised in Denmark, Nielsen began her acting career working alongside her mother on the local revue and variety scene. At 18, she headed to Paris to continue her pursuit of acting, which led her to further work and study in Rome and Milan. In addition to being an accomplished actress, Nielsen is also a trained singer, dancer and is fluent in English, German, Danish, Swedish, French and Italian. She currently resides in New York.
