Sidse Babett Knudsen Biography

Sidse Babett Knudsen is a Danish actress born on 22nd November 1968 in Copenhagen, Denmark. She is popular for her role as Julie in the 1997 improvisational comedy ‘Let’s Get Lost’, for which she received both the Robert and Bodil awards for Best Actress.

From 1987 to 1990 she trained in acting at the Theatre de l’Ombre in Paris despite knowing little French. Upon returning to Denmark, Knudsen played roles for the experimental theatre OVINE 302 as well as at the Betty Nansen and Royal Danish Theatres in Copenhagen.

Sidse later converted to TV which she says was by mere chance as she had been previously asked to do TV but was reluctant but when a director who she loved asked her to do it a gave her the script for ‘ The West Wing’ she obliged.

Sidse Babett Knudsen Age

Sidse was born on 22nd November 1968 ( 50 years as of 2018)

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Sidse Babett Knudsen Education

Sidse attended school in Tanzania from the age of five to seven, when her parents went off to do voluntary work in Africa. She later attended an international school in Copenhagen. From 1987 to 1990 she trained in acting at the Theatre de l’Ombre in Paris despite knowing little French.

Sidse Babett Knudsen Family

Sidse was born to Ebbe Knudsen, a photographer, and Susanne Andersen, a school teacher. At the age of five and seven her parents moved to Tanzania where they did voluntary work and Sidse attended school there before moving back to Europe.

Sidse Babett Knudsen Net worth

Sidse Babett Knudsen has an estimated net worth of $5 million.

Sidse Babett Knudsen Kæreste/ Husband

Sidse keeps her personal life private and there no details about her partner or husband. During an interview with Telegraph she once said ‘You can ask but i won’t answer’ about her personal life. However her fictional character  Danish Prime Minister Birgitte Nyborg in the Danish political drama television series, Borgen, is married to Philip.

Sidse Babett Knudsen Son

Sidse is said to have a son, Louis Ray Knudsen, born in 2005 although she has managed to keep him from the public.

Sidse Babett Knudsen Career

Sidse Babett Knudsen made her screen debut in the 1997 improvisational comedy ‘Let’s Get Lost’. The film’s script was only an outline, requiring the actors to improvise their roles and dialogue. Knudsen said she wasn’t very good at improvisation and accepted the part only because she thought it would be a lightweight summer comedy. The film became a breakout hit in Denmark and Knudsen received both the Robert Award and the Bodil Award for Best Actress.

She appeared in in a 1999 movie Den Eneste Ene, which became one of the decade’s biggest box-office hits in Denmark. In 2016 and 17, she was featured in Westworld and Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams respectively.

Knudsen is considered one of the top Danish actresses of her generation. She has won several awards in here career including wining the 2000 both best actress awards for the comedy romance Den Eneste Ene (English : The One and Only).  In 2016, she won the César Award for Best Supporting Actress for the film Courted and has also received several award nominations for her film roles.

Sidse Babett Knudsen young and feet

Sidse Babett Knudsen The Duke of Burgundy

Sidse plays the role of Cynthia in the 2014 British drama film ‘The Duke of Burgundy’. She is a lecturer who develops a romantical relationship with Evelyn, a student studying lepidopterology and also works as Cynthia’s maid in her home where she is subject to strict behavioural expectations and high standards for cleanliness. When Evelyn does not complete tasks to Cynthia’s satisfaction, she is punished.

As Cynthia increasingly falters in her dominance, it becomes apparent that Evelyn is orchestrating Cynthia’s role in the relationship by writing instructions and scripts for specific scenes, which the couple acts out in the same way each day. While Evelyn finds the scenes to be sexually exciting, Cynthia only acts them out to sate her lover. She attempts to please Evelyn by ordering a carpenter to construct a bed with a drawer underneath for Evelyn to sleep in as a punishment; however, Evelyn is unhappy with the length of time it will take to produce the bed, and ultimately refuses the gift.

Sidse Babett Knudsen Inferno

Sidse Babett plays the role of Elizabeth Sinskey in the film ‘Inferno’. The film follows famous symbologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) follows a trail of clues tied to Dante, the great medieval poet. When Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), a doctor he hopes will help him recover his memories. Together, they race across Europe and against the clock to stop a madman (Ben Foster) from unleashing a virus that could wipe out half of the world’s population.

Sidse Babett Knudsen Westworld

Westworld is an amusement park ment for rich vacationers, the futuristic park — which is looked after by robotic “hosts” — allows its visitors to live out their fantasies through artificial consciousness. No matter how illicit the fantasy may be, there are no consequences for the park’s guests, allowing for any wish to be indulged. The series is based on the 1973 Michael Crichton movie of the same name.

Sidse plays the role of Theresa Cullen in the the HBO series ‘Westworld’. She is the main character in the first season and a recurring character in the second season. She is the senior manager in Delos and the head of Quality Assuarance of the West world Park. She was killed in the second season seventh episode by a host.

Sidse Babett Knudsen Borgen

Sidse plays the role of Birgitte Nyborg, a wife of Danish Prime Minister Philip Christensen who later takes the role of Prime Minister. Before taking the lead role of Prime Minister, Nyborg enacts as a multi-tasking woman who is the leader of the centrist Moderate Party and a key leader in the coalition government with a liberal, decent, human mind blessed with a loving family.

Things later turn around when she comes to power and begin making unhealthy compromises with opponent political parties to remain in the authority which invited her to go through thorny life in her work and personal life. She had to face a substantial issue when her caring husband, Philip Christensen (Mikael Birkkjær) got tired of her long absence which forced him to have an illicit affair while her daughter Laura (Freja Riemann) becomes a victim of depression and anxiety. Since the infidelity, Nyborg starts to date the British architect, Jeremy Walsh (Glen Alastair Mackenzie) and proceeds with her love life leaving her broken marriage behind.

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Sidse Babett Knudsen Movies

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Awards and Nominations

Sidse Babett Knudsen Interview on Inferno, Tom Hanks and the mysteries of ‘westworld’

I read that in the Inferno book, your character and Robert Langdon don’t have this romantic past. What did you think of the choice to change the character the way?

Sidse Babett Knudsen: I was a bit surprised, but I thought it was good. It’s good for him. [laughs] In the book, she also looks a little different. Her silver hair is really important, and I fell completely in love with that image, and for a while I actually tried to keep it. Many of the characters in the film have been changed from the book. And I suppose it’s nice that there’s a layer of surprise for readers of the book as well.

I must admit I am not super familiar with the inner workings of the World Health Organization. Did you do any research before you played this character? Who did you look to to inspire your performance?

Sidse Babett Knudsen: I did a little bit of research into the WHO, just to find out what it’s really like. Normally, it’s about putting pressure on organizations; it’s not, as in this film, running around and action. This person, in our world, is normally someone who works at a desk or in a conference room.

I was inspired by [WHO Director-General] Margaret Chan, and then I was quite inspired by one of her speeches where she was talking about tobacco companies and she says “We will not be intimidated.” I liked that idea. So that was sort of my mantra for her as well.

The big climax is this race to stop the virus from being unleashed, and there are fights and chases, a lot of it taking place in this underground pool. And knowing I was going to talk to you, I was watching you do all this and thinking “This looks like it must have been a nightmare to shoot!” Was it as brutal as it looked or is that the magic of acting?

Sidse Babett Knudsen: [laughs] I loved it! It was my first action scene. In fact, we needed to do a test for my costume, just to see how it would look in the water. And I misunderstood a little bit, because I was really proud that I can stay underwater for a very long time. So we do the test and I dove in and went under for a while. And when I came up, [director] Ron [Howard] was there, and he said I didn’t need to do that. But I really loved it. It was such fun.

You’ve worked for a long time in film and television, but you’re now getting a chance to work on these American productions. Can you compare the experience working overseas with working here?

Sidse Babett Knudsen: The American productions I’ve done have been big, like this with a big enormous crew, or Westworld where we don’t even know half the story and where it’s going and it’s such an enormous thing. It’s very much like stepping into this big world from a smaller world. But then again, during Inferno, I thought it’s big, it’s crazy, but it still felt like doing a film in the way I’m used to doing a film, with the director who knows the story and cares about it and has people around him that he trusts.

You’ve made two films with Tom Hanks now. He’s been so good for so long, I wonder if we take him for granted a little bit.

Sidse Babett Knudsen: Right.

You’re working with him on set, you’re doing scenes with him. From your perspective up close, and as an actor yourself, what’s he doing that we’re maybe not seeing or appreciating?

Sidse Babett Knudsen: I don’t know what he does, I can just see that it works. Of course he’s such a professional. He’s so much in the moment, all of the time. Every take he gives 100 percent of himself. He doesn’t have super powers, that I can say. He’s a real human being. But his voice, his intonation, it’s so smack-on all the time. And it’s not the same, either; he improvises. You can’t really say what it is, and you can’t copy him, but he’s got it.

You mentioned Westworld a few minutes ago, and I have to admit I am a little obsessed with that show. Have you read any of the fan theories online about the show’s secrets?

Sidse Babett Knudsen: No, I haven’t. Not at all.

Not at all! When you were shooting the show, did you know where the whole season was headed, or was it a surprise to you when you would get each new script and shoot it?

Sidse Babett Knudsen: It’s very much a surprise. This was the most mysterious project I’ve ever worked on. Information was very much on a need-to-know basis. I know about my character, but that’s pretty much it. So every new episode was so exciting to read, and you go “No, not really!” just reading the script. It was really, really exciting.
I still don’t know everything; I can’t wait to see the episodes. And we’d make theories as well, while we were working on it. “I think this is going to happen…” So it doesn’t surprise me that people imagine what’s going to happen.

Every episode was like a new layer, and the world is becoming bigger and bigger. When [Westworld creators] Jonathan [Nolan] and Lisa [Joy] talked about the universe, it was so impressive how many directions they had, how many layers they were conscious of, and how big and vast that universe is. They’re very intelligent.
It occurs to me as we’re talking about it that there are some interesting parallels between Westworld and The Duke of Burgundy. They’re both about fantasies and the way power shifts in relationships, and they’re both set in these very closed-off worlds separate from the rest of society. Is that a coincidence, or are those themes you’re particularly interested in as an actor?

Wow, now that you say it, I have not thought about that. What I’m interested in as an actor is exploring universes that I have not come across before. It’s interesting to me to be able to discover new things. I do like fantasies, and I like when film is inspiring and it puts creative ideas into the minds of the audience. I like to go in that direction, rather than being in things where we tell people “This is how it is.” It’s nice if you can involve the audience in some way.

Source: screencrush.com

Sidse Babett Knudsen News

LevelK boards thriller ‘The Exception’ with ‘Borgen’ star Sidse Babett Knudsen (exclusive)

Updated: 9 MAY 2018

LevelK has taken on world sales for The Exception, a new Danish thriller starring Borgen’s Sidse Babett Knudsen.

Jesper W. Nielsen directs from a script by Christian Torpe, an adaptation of the hit 2004 novel by Danish author Christian Jungersen, which sold more than 200,000 copies in Denmark and has been published in 20 countries worldwide.

Knudsen, whose credits also include Westworld and The Duke of Burgundy, is joined by a strong female cast that also includes Danica Curcic (Silent Heart), Amanda Collin (A Horrible Woman), and Lene Maria Christensen (Terribly Happy).

The story follows two women working at a small NGO in Copenhagen that specialises in genocide and crimes against humanity. When they begin to receive death threats, they suspect a Serbian war criminal; but then they start suspecting and turning against each other.

LevelK is now pre-selling the film, which will begin shooting in late August, with a local premiere planned for autumn 2019. Marcella Dicmann, Mille Bjørke and Miriam Nørgaard produce for Fridthjof Film (Armadillo, All For One) with Ronnie Fridhjof as executive producer.

Financiers are the Danish Film Institute, DR, West Danish Film Fund, Creative Europe Media, and Nordisk Film & TV Fond.

Nielsen said: “I am very excited about working with such strong and talented actresses in a story about human beings and the darkest corners of their minds. Together, we will enter a fascinating universe of women consisting of extremely interesting and complex characters that not only lie to each other but to themselves. An unfortunate mixture that allows evil to rein.”

Source: www.screendaily.com