Livia Millhagen
Livia Maria Millhagen is a Swedish actress known for her roles on stage and screen. She has received various accolades for her work, including the Thalia Prize from Svenska Dagbladet and the Litteris et Artibus royal medal in recognition of outstanding contributions to theater. She has also been nominated for a Guldbagge Award for Best Actress.
The daughter of artist and The House of Culture director, Millhagen attended Kungsholmens gymnasium and began participating in productions. After graduating from the Malmö Theater Academy in 1999, she appeared in productions at Uppsala City Theater and made her feature film debut in Miffo, for which she received critical praise and a Guldbagge nomination. The same year, she became a member of the Royal Dramatic Theater's permanent ensemble, and since appeared in numerous productions. Some of her most critically acclaimed stage performances were playing Lydia Stille in The Serious Game at Stockholm City Theater and Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire at the Royal Dramatic Theater.
In addition to her stage roles, she has continued to appear in film and television productions. She was featured in romantic comedies such as Bus to Italy ''and , as well as the historical drama films Everlasting Moments and '. She had a major television roles in ', Veni Vidi Vici, and the first season of Bäckström. She also appeared in Young Royals. Millhagen has also worked as a voice actress for Swedish dubs of Disney/Pixar films including The Good Dinosaur, The Lion King, and Raya and the Last Dragon''.
Early life and education
Livia Maria Millhagen was born in Stockholm on 23 May 1973 to and. Her father was a sculptor and cartoonist, while her mother was an art critic and writer who also served as director for The House of Culture. Millhagen has an older sister, and also had an older brother who died shortly after he was born. She was raised in Gamla Stan, until her family moved to Washington, D.C. for three years while her mother worked at the Swedish embassy there. After moving back to Sweden, she attended Kungsholmens gymnasium.She had roles in several productions before being admitted to the Malmö Theater Academy in the autumn of 1995. In May 1996, about a year into her studies, her father died of cancer. During a 1997 internship at the Royal Dramatic Theater, she appeared in their production of August Strindberg's Fadren, directed by Staffan Valdemar Holm. She graduated from the Malmö Theater Academy in 1999.
Career
1999–2006: Early roles and breakthrough
After completing her acting training, Millhagen appeared in two plays directed by at the Uppsala City Theater, Ur funktion and Electra. Also at Uppsala City Theater, she appeared in Phyllis Nagy's Las Vegas as Loretta. The 2001 production, directed by, marked the first time that Las Vegas had been staged in Sweden. Millhagen's performance was described as "remarkably good" by Pia Huss in Dagens Nyheter. The following year, she made her first screen appearance with a supporting role in the television film Beck – Annonsmannen.She joined the Royal Dramatic Theater's permanent ensemble in 2003. The same year, she made her feature film debut in Miffo, directed and written by Daniel Lind Lagerlöf and Malin Lagerlöf, respectively. Millhagen played Carola, a wheelchair user living in a run-down flat with her alcoholic mother, who meets and begins a relationship with a sheltered, upper-class minister. Millhagen's performance garnered critical praise. In Variety, Gunnar Rehlin wrote that she was the "real find" of the film, who "makes Carola one of the most charming and vigorous women seen in Swedish film for a long time." She was also praised by in Dagens Nyheter. Millhagen was nominated for a Guldbagge Award for Best Actress for her work in Miffo.
She collaborated again with Lagerlöfs for Bus to Italy, where she played the lead role of Ylva, a woman who learns about her husband's affair right before taking her choir group on a trip. Her performance was commended by Rehlin in Variety and in Aftonbladet. She played Isabella in Measure for Measure at the Royal Dramatic Theater, and the following year had television appearances in ' and '. She also had roles in two Royal Dramatic Theater productions in 2006: In the Shadow of Hamlet as Gertrud and the titular role in Lulu''.
2007–present: Continued success on stage and screen
In 2007, Millhagen appeared in Sam Shepard's Buried Child, known in Swedish as Hem till gården, which premiered at the Elverket stage of the Royal Dramatic Theater. The production marked her first of many theater collaborations with director.In 2008, she played Lydia Stille opposite Gustaf Skarsgård's Arvid Stjärnblom in Lagerlöf's stage directing debut of The Serious Game at Stockholm City Theater. Although the production itself received mixed reviews, Millhagen's performance was universally lauded by critics. of Dagens Nyheter stated that it was Lydia's "accurately portrayed rebellion and vulnerability that cuts through the game and makes it serious." In Expressen, criticized the direction and Skarsgård's performance but wrote that Millhagen had delivered "an absolutely superb interpretation of the role." She had a supporting role in Maria Blom's '.
She and Jonas Karlsson co-starred as Marianne and Johan in a 2009 stage adaptation of Ingmar Bergman's 1973 miniseries Scenes from a Marriage. The production premiered at the Royal Dramatic Theater. Expressen theater critic praised the performances of both Millhagen and Karlsson.
She appeared in a stage adaptation of Fanny and Alexander by the Royal Dramatic Theater. It had an American premiere at the Kennedy Center from 7–9 March 2013, as part of the Nordic Cool Festival. She had a leading role as cardiologist Fanny Molander in '. The series focused on the titular family moving from Stockholm to Alingsås. The same year, she was one of several actors given the.
Millhagen was awarded with a Litteris et Artibus royal medal in 2015 by King Carl XVI Gustaf, in recognition of outstanding contributions to theater. She played the titular characters in productions of Medea ''and Anna Karenina, both staged at the Royal Dramatic Theater. She had a supporting role in Helena Bergström's 2017 dramatic comedy Mending Hugo's Heart. In 2018, she appeared in two television series, Veni Vidi Vici and Sisters 1968.
Millhagen played Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, which premiered at the Royal Dramatic Theater in 2019. The production was highly praised; wrote for Dagens Nyheter that it was "one of the best Royal Dramatic Theater performances in many years." He highlighted Millhagen's performance as "continuously captivating and gut-wrenching." Her work in A Streetcar Named Desire also earned her the Thalia Prize from Svenska Dagbladet. The same year, she also appeared in Richard Hobert's Faroese drama '. In a generally negative review for Dagens Nyheter, praised Millhagen's "brilliant" work as a "lively and domineering innkeeper."
In 2020, she appeared in the first season of Bäckström as prosecutor Hanna Hwass. She also had a minor role in the first season of Young Royals. She starred opposite Rolf Lassgård as a divorcing couple clearing out their summer home in '. She played Rita in Little Eyolf at the Royal Dramatic Theater in 2024. In a somewhat mixed review for Dagens Nyheter,'' Maina Arvas described Millhagen as the production's greatest asset. She also wrote that her take on Rita was "an example of what can be done with Ibsen's female roles."