Early life

Nielsen was born in Frederikshavn and grew up in the village of Elling, 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. 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.

Career

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 the mid 90s 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 Scott's Academy Award-winning film 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), for which she had to cut off most of her hair. 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 Detective Dani Beck. She filled in for Mariska Hargitay, who was on maternity leave at the time of filming.

Alongside Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jamie Bell and Uma Thurman, Nielsen appeared in the 2014 Lars Von Trier film Nymphomaniac. Nielsen was also featured in the series of promotional posters in the period leading up to the film's release and, in an article that described the poster campaign as "shocking", the Independent publication stated: "Connie Nielsen appears somewhat moist in this poster for Nymphomaniac".

In 2015 she appeared on the latest TV-2 album Det gode liv where she sang along with Steffen Brandt on the track "Brev til Mona".

Personal life

From 2004 to 2012, Nielsen dated Metallica drummer (and fellow Dane) Lars Ulrich. They have one son together, Bryce Thadeus Ulrich-Nielsen (b. 21 May 2007 in San Francisco). She has an older son, hip-hop producer Sebastian Sartor (born 2 June 1990), from a previous relationship.

Nielsen is a polyglot who speaks eight languages: Danish, English, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, and a little Spanish.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	Par où t'es rentré ? On t'a pas vu sortir	Eva	as Connie Nielson
1991	Vacanze di Natale '91	Brunilde/Vanessa
1997	The Devil's Advocate	Christabella Andreoli
1998	Permanent Midnight	Dagmar
1998	Rushmore	Mrs. Calloway
1998	Soldier	Sandra
2000	Dark Summer	Megan Denright
2000	Mission to Mars	Terri Fisher
2000	Gladiator	Lucilla	Empire Award for Best Actress Nominated—Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actress - Action Nominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2002	One Hour Photo	Nina Yorkin	Nominated—Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
2002	Demonlover	Diane de Monx
2003	The Hunted	Abby Durrell
2003	Basic	Osborne
2004	Brødre	Sarah
2004	Return to Sender	Charlotte Cory
2005	The Great Raid	Margaret Utinsky
2005	The Ice Harvest	Renata Crest
2006	The Situation	Anna Molyneux
2007	Battle in Seattle	Jean
2009	A Shine of Rainbows	Maire
2010	Kidnappet	Susanne
2011	Perfect Sense	Jenny
2013	Nymphomaniac	Joe's Mother	Part 1 only
2013	The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden	Baroness Von Wagner	Narration/voice
2014	3 Days to Kill	Christine Renner
2014	Return to Zero	Dr. Claire Holden
2014	All Relative	Maren
2015	The Runner	Deborah Price	Post-production
2016	Ali and Nino	Duchess Kipiani	Post-production
2016	The 11th	Katrine Firth	Post-production
2016	Stratton: First Into Action	Sumner	Post-production
2016	Music, War and Love	Lena	Filming
2016	Løvekvinnen	Mrs Grjothornet	Post-production
2016	Le Confessioni	Claire Seth	Post-production
2017	Wonder Woman	Queen Hippolyta	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Voyage	Ronnie Freeland	Television movie
1994	Le paradis absolument	Sarah	Television movie
2006	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Detective Dani Beck	6 episodes
2008	Danny Fricke	Danny Fricke	Television movie
2011-2012	Boss	Meredith Rutledge Kane	16 episodes
2014	The Following	Lily Gray	10 episodes
2014-2015	The Good Wife	Ramona Lytton	4 episodes
2015	Unveiled	Joan McAllen	Television movie

[ Source: Wikipedia ]