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Liv Johanne Ullmann (born December 16, 1938 in Tokyo, Japan) is an Academy Award-nominated, Golden Globe-winning Norwegian actress, author and film director. She played lead roles in nine films by Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, with whom she has a daughter, Norwegian author and journalist Linn Ullmann. A consummate psychological actress, she was the object of considerable critical acclaim during the 1960s and 1970s (awards include three Best Actress prizes from the prestigious National Society of Film Critics, two from the National Board of Review, a threesome from the New York Film Critics Circle, and one Golden Globe as well as a LAFCA honor). Her work with Bergman, especially in the powerful Scenes from a Marriage , turned her into a 1970s feminist and cultural icon, as well as one of the most respected actresses of her time. In addition, her natural and very photogenic Nordic red-blond beauty, fitted well into the 1970s vogue. Ullmann was nominated twice for an Academy Award (for The Emigrants and Face to Face ), and published two successful autobiographies (Changing and Choices) while out of work in the late 1970s. Coincidentally, two of Ullmann's biggest flops were musical adaptations of classic works. The film version of Lost Horizon was a critical and commercial disaster, and the Broadway production of I Remember Mama underwent numerous revisions during an unusually long preview period, then closed after only 108 performances. Recently, Ullmann has been making a name for herself as a film director too (most notably with the acclaimed, Bergman-scripted drama Faithless ) and could also be seen reprising her role from Scenes from a Marriage in 2003's Saraband (Bergman's final telemovie). Faithless was close to be awarded with the prestigious Golden Palm at Cannes Film Festival, and the female lead, Swedish actress Lena Endre, won first prize for her performance in this film. Ullmann was chairing the jury of the Cannes Film Festival in 2002. She introduced her daughter by Ingmar Bergman, Linn Ullmann, to the festival audience with these infamous words: "Here comes the woman whom Ingmar Bergman loves the most". (Her daughter was about to receive the Prize of Honour on her famous father's behalf). In 2006 Liv Ullmann publicly gave up a long-time dream of making a film based on the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's play "A Doll's House". According to her, the Norwegian Film Fund worked against her and writer Kjetil Bjørnstad. Australian actress Cate Blanchett as well as British actress Kate Winslet was intended for lead roles in the movie. Ullmann narrated the Canada/Norway co-produced animated short film The Danish Poet , which won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film at the 79th Academy Awards in 2007.
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