Aksel Hennie
☼ Born on 29 December 1975, in Oslo, Norway
Biography
Aksel Hennie is a Norwegian actor, writer and director. He has acted in a number of successful Norwegian movies, and has received several awards. Hennie grew up in Lambertseter in Oslo. In his late teens he was sentenced for tagging, and became an outcast in the community for confessing to the police. This personal story contributed much of the background for the movie Uno. The conviction against Hennie was in fact one of the first such cases in Norway. Hennie was admitted to the Norwegian National Academy of Theatre after applying four times. He graduated in 2001, and has since acted both at Teatret in Molde from 2001 to 2002 and at Oslo Nye Teater from 2002 till now where he has been in plays such as Hamlet, and The woman who married a turkey. His main success, however, has been as a film actor. He made his debut starring in the feature film Jonny Vang in 2003. Though the director, Jens Lien, originally thought Hennie was too young for the role, the actor convinced him he was the right man for the film. The same year he also acted in the movies Buddy and Ulvesommer, and the next year he made his debut as a director and writer with the movie Uno, in which he also acted.[5] For this film Hennie, and his co-star Nicolai Cleve Broch, went into hard physical training for six months to perform convincingly as bodybuilders. He won the Amanda Award (the main Norwegian film award) for "The Best Direction" (for the movie Uno in 2005), and that same year he was also among the nominees
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for "Best Actor" and "Best Film". He also won an Amanda award as "Best Actor" for the movie Jonny Vang in 2003. He was named one of European films "Shooting Stars" by European Film Promotion in 2004. In 2001 he was also named "Theatre talent of the year" by the newspaper Dagbladet. In 2008 Hennie starred in the movie Max Manus, where he played the role of the Norwegian war hero by that name. The movie had a large budget by Norwegian standards, and was met with great expectations.
In the role of actor
Sisu – TIFF 2022 (10/09/2022)
A lone prospector tries to protect his stash of gold from a group of Nazis in Sisu. In 1945 Finland, at the tail end of World War II, former soldier Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila) strikes it big when he uncovers a large deposit of gold. While on his way to bring the gold back to […]
The Middle Man – TIFF21 (12/09/2021)
A small-town man gets a job to be the bearer of bad news in The Middle Man. Frank Farelli (Pål Sverre Hagen) enters the town hall of Karmack to be interviewed by The Commission of The Sherrif (Paul Gross), The Doctor (Don McKellar), and The Pastor (Nicolas Bro). The job Frank is interviewing for is […]
Buddy (23/04/2019)
The relationship between six guide dogs on their owners are explored in Buddy. Even though guide dogs are a necessary need of their owners, the connection that develops between the two are often deeper than any other relationship in their lives. Filmmaker Heddy Honigmann follows six guide dogs and what what they mean to their […]
The Martian (07/10/2015)
An astronaut finds himself stranded on the surface of Mars in The Martian. Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is a botanist on the Ares III mission to Mars, lead by commander Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain). When a storm results in an emergency evacuation, Mark is hit with debris and presumed dead. However, it turns out that Mark survived […]
Headhunters (16/05/2012)
The Norwegian action-thriller Headhunters features a relatively simple story. Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie) is a corporate headhunter, who moonlights as an art thief. He comes across a valuable painting that seems to permanently end his financial woes, however in the aftermath of this latest theft, he finds himself (literally) hunted by the painting’s owner Clas Greve (Game of Throne‘s Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). I […]
The Trip (15/07/2011)
In this meta-comedy, British comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon play themselves as they go on a road trip, visiting many restaurants and sites in the English countryside. Along the way Coogan pines about his stalled career, while he competes with Brydon on who can do the best Michael Caine impersonation. It bit more complex than that, […]