Steinunn Ólína Þorsteinsdóttir

Steinunn Ólína Þorsteinsdóttir was born on 2 July 1969 in Reykjavík, Iceland, to a family steeped in the performing arts. Her mother, Bríet Héðinsdóttir, was an accomplished actress, and her father Þorsteinn Þorsteinsson worked as a writer and translator of dramatic literature, providing a fertile cultural environment that sparked her early fascination with the stage. At the tender age of fifteen she captured public attention with a starring stage role, a breakthrough that cemented her reputation as a prodigious talent. Two years later, driven by ambition, she moved to London to study at the prestigious Drama Centre London, graduating in 1990. Upon returning to Iceland, she made a striking debut at the National Theatre of Iceland as Solveig in Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt, marking the beginning of a distinguished theatrical career.

Over the next fourteen years Ólína became a contracted star player at the National Theatre, appearing in more than fifty productions and embodying a diverse array of leading characters. Highlights include Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof, and the formidable Queen Margaret in Shakespeare's Richard III, a performance that earned her the coveted Gríma (The Mask) award in 2004. She has also shone in contemporary and absurdist works such as Eugène Ionesco's The Lesson and the role of Roxie Hart in Chicago with the Reykjavík Theatre Ensemble. Beyond the stage, Ólína expanded into television, creating, writing, directing, and hosting the live talk show Over My Dead Body with Steinunn Ólína on Icelandic State Broadcasting Channel 1, while contributing comedy sketches to the iconic New Year's Eve Variety Show. Her screen résumé includes parts in the feature film Beowulf & Grendel (2005) and the 2019 Icelandic drama Eden. In 2006 she published the semi‑autobiographical novella Parental Guidance, which topped Icelandic bestseller lists. After relocating to Los Angeles in 2004, she married fellow performer Stefán Karl Stefánsson; together they raised four children until his untimely death in 2018.