Early life

Ullmann was born in Tokyo, Japan, the daughter of Erik Viggo Ullmann (1907-1945), a Norwegian aircraft engineer who was working in Tokyo at the time, and Janna Erbe (née Lund; 1910-1996), also Norwegian. Her grandfather was sent to the Dachau concentration camp during the Second World War for helping Jewish people escape from the town where he lived in Norway; he died in the camp. When she was two years old, the family relocated to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where her father worked at the Norwegian air force base on Toronto Island (in Lake Ontario) during World War II. The family moved to New York, where four years later, her father died of a brain tumor, an event that affected her greatly. Her mother worked as a bookseller while raising two daughters. They eventually returned to Norway, settling in Trondheim.

Career

Acting career

Ullmann began her acting career as a stage actress in Norway during the mid-1950s. She continued to act in theatre for most of her career, and became noted for her portrayal of Nora in Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House, but became better known once she started to work with Swedish movie director Ingmar Bergman. She later acted, with acclaim, for 10 of his most-admired movies, including Persona (1966), The Passion of Anna (1969), Cries and Whispers (1972) and Autumn Sonata (1978), in which her co-actress, Ingrid Bergman, resumed her Swedish cinema career. She co-acted often with Swedish actor and fellow Bergman collaborator, Erland Josephson, with whom she made the Swedish television drama, Scenes from a Marriage (1973), which was also edited to feature-movie length and distributed theatrically. Ullmann acted with Laurence Olivier in A Bridge Too Far (1977), directed by Richard Attenborough.

Nominated more than 40 times for awards, including various lifetime achievement awards, she won the best actress prize three times from the National Society of Film Critics, three times from the National Board of Review, received three awards from the New York Film Critics Circle and a Golden Globe. During 1971, Ullmann was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for the movie The Emigrants, and again during 1976 for the movie Face to Face.

Ullmann made her New York City stage debut in 1975 also in A Doll's House. Appearances in "Anna Christie and Ghosts followed, as well as the less than successful musical version of I Remember Mama. This show, composed by Richard Rodgers, experienced numerous revisions during a long preview period, then closed after 108 performances. She also featured in the widely deprecated musical movie remake of Lost Horizon during 1973.

In 1980 Brian De Palma, who directed Carrie, wanted Liv Ullmann to play the role as Kate Miller in the erotic crime thriller Dressed to Kill and offered her the role, but she declined because of the violence. The role then went on to Angie Dickinson. In 1982 Ingmar Bergman wanted Ullmann to play the main role as Emelie Ekdahl in his last feature film, Fanny and Alexander, and wrote this role for her with this in mind. But Ullmann felt this role was too sad and declined. Liv Ullmann later stated in interviews that turning down the role was one of the few things she really regrets.

During 1984 she was chairperson of the jury at the 34th Berlin International Film Festival, and during 2002 chaired the jury of Cannes Film Festival. She introduced her daughter, Linn Ullmann, to the audience with the words: "Here comes the woman whom Ingmar Bergman loves the most". Her daughter was there to receive the Prize of Honour on behalf of her father; she would return to serve the jury herself during 2011.

In 2003 Ullmann reprised her role for Scenes from a Marriage in Saraband (2003), Bergman's final telemovie. This was her comeback as an actress since her last role on the screen, in the Swedish movie Zorn (1994).

In 2004 Ullmann revealed that she had gotten an offer in November 2003 to play in 3 episodes of the popular American show, Sex and the City. Ullmann was amused by the offer and said that it was one of the few she actually regularly watched, but she turned down the offer. Later that year Steven Soderbergh wrote a role specially for Liv Ullmann in the movie Ocean's 12 and offered her this role, but also this role was turned down by Ullmann.

Ullmann narrated the Canada-Norway co-produced animated short movie The Danish Poet (2006), which won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film at the 79th Academy Awards during 2007.

In 2008 she was the head of the jury at the 30th Moscow International Film Festival.

She published two autobiographies, Changing (1977) and Choices (1984).

During 2012, she attended the International Indian Film Academy Awards in Singapore, where she was honored for her Outstanding Contributions to International Cinema and she also showed her movie on her relationship with Ingmar Bergman.

Directing career

Ullmann's first film as a director was Sofie (1992), in which she directed her friend and former co-actor, Erland Josephson. She later directed the Bergman-composed movie Faithless (2000). Faithless garnered nominations for both the Palme d'Or and Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival.

During 2006 Ullmann announced that she had been forced to end her longtime wish of making a film based on A Doll's House. According to her statement, the Norwegian Film Fund was preventing her and writer Kjetil Bjørnstad from pursuing the project. Australian actress Cate Blanchett and British actress Kate Winslet had been cast intended in the main roles of the movie. She later directed Blanchett in the play A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, at the Sydney Theatre Company in Sydney, Australia, which was performed September through October 2009, and then continued from 29 October to 21 November 2009 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., where it won a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Non-resident Production as well as actress and supporting performer for 2009. The play was also performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn, New York.

In 2013 it was announced that Ullmann would direct a film adaptation of Miss Julie. The film, released in 2014, stars Jessica Chastain, Colin Farrell and Samantha Morton. It was widely praised by the Norwegian press after its premiere in September 2014.

Personal life

In addition to Norwegian, Ullmann speaks Swedish, English and other European languages.

During the 1980s, she married Boston real estate developer Donald Saunders, whom she divorced during 1995. The couple continued to live together until 2007.

She is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and has traveled widely for the organization. She is also co-founder and honorary chair of the Women's Refugee Commission.
In 2005, King Harald V of Norway made Ullmann a Commander with Star of the Order of St. Olav.

In 2006, she received an honorary degree, dr. philos. honoris causa, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Filmography

As actress

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1957	Fjols til fjells
1959	Ung Flukt
1962	Tonny	Kari	Entered into the 12th Berlin International Film Festival
1962	Kort är sommaren
1963	Onkel Vanja		(TV)
1965	De kalte ham Skarven
1965	Smeltedigelen	Mary Warren	(TV)
1966	En hyggelig fyr	Mabel	(TV)
1966	Persona	Elisabet Vogler
1966	Måken	Sonja	(TV)
1967	Cocktailselskapet	Celia	(TV)
1968	Shame	Eva Rosenberg	Guldbagge Award for Best Actress National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
	Hour of the Wolf	Alma Borg	National Board of Review Award for Best Actress (also for Shame)
1969	An-Magritt	An-Magritt
1969	The Passion of Anna	Anna Fromm
1970	Cold Sweat	Fabienne Martin
1971	Emigrants, TheThe Emigrants	Kristina	Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
1971	Night Visitor, TheThe Night Visitor	Ester Jenks
1972	The New Land	Kristina	National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
1972	Cries and Whispers	Maria (and her mother)	New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
1972	Pope Joan	Pope Joan
1973	Scenes from a Marriage	Marianne	David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1973	40 Carats	Ann Stanley	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1973	Lost Horizon	Katherine
1974	Zandy's Bride	Hannah Lund
1974	Abdication, TheThe Abdication	Queen Kristina
1975	Trollflöjten	Woman in Audience	(TV)
1975	Leonor (fr)	Leonor
1976	Face to Face	Dr. Jenny Isaksson	Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress National Board of Review Award for Best Actress New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1977	Serpent's Egg, TheThe Serpent's Egg	Manuela Rosenberg
1977	Bridge Too Far, AA Bridge Too Far	Kate ter Horst
1978	Autumn Sonata	Eva	David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress
1979	Players
1979	Fruen fra havet	Ellida Wangel	(TV)
1980	Richard's Things	Kate Morris
1983	Jenny	Jenny	(TV)
1983	Jacobo Timerman: Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number	Mrs. Jacobo Timerman	(TV)
1984	Farlig trekk	Marina Fromm
1984	The Wild Duck	Gina
1984	Bay Boy, TheThe Bay Boy	Mrs. Campbell
1986	Let's Hope It's a Girl	Elena	Nominated—David di Donatello Award for Best Actress
1987	Gaby: A True Story	Sari
1987	Farewell Moscow	Ida Nudel	David di Donatello Award for Best Actress
1988	The Girlfriend (also known as La amiga)	María	San Sebastián International Film Festival Award for Best Actress
1988	Gli indifferenti (it)	Maria Grazia	(TV)
1989	The Rose Garden	Gabriele	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1991	Mindwalk	Sonia Hoffman
1991	Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes	Narrator	(voice)
1992	Long Shadow, TheThe Long Shadow	Katherine
1991	The Ox	Mrs. Gustafsson
1994	Drømspel	Ticket Seller
1994	Zorn	Emma Zorn	(TV)
2003	Saraband	Marianne	(TV)
2006	Danish Poet, TheThe Danish Poet	Narrator
2008	I et speil, i en gåte	Grandmother
2009	Sinna mann	Mother	(voice) (English Speaking Version)
2011	Lang dags ferd mot natt	Mary Tyrone	(TV)
2012	Zwei Leben (Two Lives)	Åse
2012	Liv & Ingmar
2014	remake.me

• The Danish Poet won its director Torill Kove the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 79th Academy Awards.

As director

Year	Film	Notes
1992	Sofie	Montreal World Film Festival Special Grand Prize of the Jury Montreal World Film Festival Prize of the Ecumenical Jury Montreal World Film Festival Most Popular Film
1995	Kristin Lavransdatter	(from the novel by Sigrid Undset)
1996	Private Confessions	Nominated—Chicago International Film Festival Gold Hugo Screened at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival
2000	Faithless	Amanda Ecumenical Film Award Goya Award for Best European Film Nominated—Palme d'Or, 2000 Cannes Film Festival Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Director
2014	Miss Julie

Awards

• 2006: Ibsen Centennial Commemoration Award
• 2012: International Indian Film Academy Awards for Outstanding Contribution to International Cinema

[ Source: Wikipedia ]