Renate Reinsve

Renate Reinsve is a Norwegian actress born on 24 November 1987 in Solbergelva, near Drammen, Norway. She grew up in a family involved in a hardware and construction business established by her grandfather, although her own interests developed in a different direction. Her parents separated during her childhood, and she moved between several homes as family circumstances changed. She was a competitive swimmer and spent much of her spare time training, but acting became increasingly important after she joined a local youth theatre group at the age of nine. She has described feeling out of place during her childhood and finding an escape in films and theatre, particularly through the work of filmmakers such as David Lynch. By her mid-teens, she had become determined to pursue acting, although her route into the profession was far from straightforward.

Reinsve left home at sixteen and spent some time living independently in Drammen before moving abroad. At seventeen, she travelled to Edinburgh, Scotland, a city she had previously visited while performing with her youth theatre group at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. She had originally considered travelling to Costa Rica but found a much cheaper flight to Scotland. In Edinburgh, she stayed in a hostel and subsequently found work at the establishment, which also operated a restaurant and bar. Her time there brought her into contact with travellers and people working in the arts, and she eventually returned to Norway to pursue formal training. After moving to Oslo, she attended acting courses and supported herself through various jobs, including childcare, before entering the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo) in 2009. She graduated from its acting programme in 2013.

Reinsve made her screen debut while still studying, appearing in a small part in Joachim Trier’s Oslo, August 31st (2011). Although she had only one line of dialogue, the production involved several days of filming in Oslo and established her first professional connection with Trier. She subsequently appeared in The Orheim Company (2012), but her early career developed primarily in theatre. Following graduation, she joined Trøndelag Teater in Trondheim, making her professional stage debut in a production of Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt in 2013. The following year, she won the Hedda Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s The Visit, staged at the same theatre. Her work in Ibsen’s When We Dead Awaken brought another Hedda nomination in 2015, and her Trondheim repertoire also included Little Eyolf and Hamlet, in which she played Ophelia. She later returned to Oslo and joined Det Norske Teatret, where she worked from 2016 until around 2020, establishing herself as an experienced stage actress before achieving wider recognition on screen.

Alongside her theatre work, Reinsve continued appearing in Norwegian films and television productions. Her early credits included Women in Oversized Men’s Shirts (2015), the horror sequel Villmark 2 (2015) and the comedy Welcome to Norway (2016), for which she received an Amanda Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She also appeared in television series including Nesten voksen, Best før and Hvite gutter. Despite her steady work, she became increasingly dissatisfied with the limited opportunities for more substantial film roles. She had developed an interest in carpentry after renovating an old house she had purchased, and was seriously considering leaving acting to work in construction or renovation. The day after making that decision, she received a call from Joachim Trier, who wanted her to star in a new film he had written with Eskil Vogt. The central character had been developed specifically with Reinsve in mind.

The resulting film, The Worst Person in the World (2021), transformed her career. Reinsve played Julie, a young woman approaching thirty whose changing relationships, ambitions and personal choices unfold against the backdrop of contemporary Oslo. The film was shot principally in the Norwegian capital in 2020, using recognisable locations including Ekebergrestauranten, where Julie attends a celebration for her boyfriend Aksel, and the Norli bookshop in Universitetsgata, where she works. One of its best-known sequences follows Julie running through deserted streets while the people around her remain motionless. The sequence was filmed on location in Oslo, including residential streets around Uranienborg, with extras standing still during the takes rather than the entire effect being created digitally. The production also used locations around Bjørvika and Ullevål Hospital, as well as studio facilities in Trollhättan, Sweden. The Worst Person in the World premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2021, where Reinsve won the award for Best Actress, becoming the first Norwegian performer to receive the festival’s leading female acting prize. The film subsequently received two Academy Award nominations, while Reinsve won Norway’s Amanda Award for Best Actress in 2022.

The international attention following her Cannes victory brought opportunities outside Norway. She starred opposite Gael García Bernal in Piero Messina’s science-fiction drama Another End (2024) and made her American feature-film debut in Aaron Schimberg’s A Different Man (2024), alongside Sebastian Stan and Adam Pearson. The latter was filmed in New York City, principally around Manhattan and Brooklyn, and featured Reinsve as Ingrid, an aspiring playwright whose relationship with a disfigured actor becomes increasingly complicated. She also appeared as prosecutor Carolyn Polhemus opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in the Apple TV+ legal thriller Presumed Innocent (2024), which is set in Chicago. During the same period, she continued working in Norwegian cinema, playing a grieving mother in Thea Hvistendahl’s Handling the Undead (2024), a supernatural drama set in Oslo, and taking the leading role in Armand (2024), the feature directorial debut of Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel. In Armand, she played Elisabeth, an actress summoned to her young son’s school following an accusation involving another pupil. The film premiered at Cannes in 2024, where Tøndel received the Caméra d’Or for Best First Feature Film.

Reinsve reunited with Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value (2025), playing Nora Borg, a successful stage actress struggling with the return of her estranged father, a film director portrayed by Stellan Skarsgård. The film also starred Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas as Nora’s sister and Elle Fanning as an American actress drawn into the family’s conflicts. Filming centred on Oslo, particularly a historic wooden villa in Thomas Heftyes gate in the Frogner district, which served as the family’s home. The house belongs to Norwegian musician Lars Lillo-Stenberg and had previously appeared in Trier’s Oslo, August 31st. For Sentimental Value, the production used the building’s real exterior and parts of its interior, while other rooms were reconstructed at Gateway Studios in Drammen. Another significant location was Oslo’s National Theatre, where Nora is seen preparing for a performance, connecting the character’s professional life with one of Norway’s principal theatrical institutions. Additional filming took place in Strömstad, Sweden, and Deauville, France. Sentimental Value premiered at Cannes in May 2025 and won the festival’s Grand Prix. The following year, Reinsve received the European Film Award for Best Actress and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. The film also won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, becoming the first Norwegian production to receive that honour.

Reinsve’s international career continued with Fjord (2026), directed by Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu and co-starring Sebastian Stan, with whom she had previously worked on A Different Man. She played Lisbet Gheorghiu, a Norwegian woman who returns to her homeland with her Romanian husband and children, becoming involved in a conflict with another family over cultural differences, parenting and child welfare. Despite its international production partnerships, the film was shot entirely in Norway, with principal photography taking place over 36 days in the Hjørundfjorden area of Sunnmøre during the spring of 2025. The production brought Reinsve to the dramatic fjord communities of western Norway, a considerable geographical departure from the Oslo settings associated with her earlier leading roles. Fjord premiered in competition at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival and won the Palme d’Or, giving Reinsve another starring role in a film awarded the festival’s highest prize. She also appeared in the American science-fiction horror film Backrooms (2026), directed by Kane Parsons and released by A24, playing psychologist Dr Mary Kline opposite Chiwetel Ejiofor. These productions extended a career that had begun in Norwegian repertory theatre into international film and television, while she continued to work with Scandinavian and European directors.

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