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Heiða Rún Sigurðardóttir known by her stage name Heida Reed, is an Icelandic actress and model. She is known for playing parts in One Day, Jo (2013), Silent Witness (2014) and the BBC drama Poldark. Reed was born in Iceland, the middle of three children of a music teacher father and a dental hygienist mother. She grew up in Breiðholt, Reykjavík, and attended Ölduselsskóli. Aged 18, she was recruited by an Icelandic modeling agency, and moved to Mumbai to work as a model in India for two years. When she was 19/20, she settled in London, where she studied drama at Drama Centre London, graduating in 2010.

Anita Briem is an Icelandic actress. She is known for her role as Jane Seymour on The Tudors and her role as Hannah Ásgeirsson in Journey to the Center of the Earth. Briem was born in Reykjavík and is the daughter of drummer Gunnlaugur Briem of Mezzoforte and back-up vocalist Erna Þórarinsdóttir. She started acting when she was nine at the National Theatre of Iceland. She moved to England at the age of sixteen in 2014 she graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, having received the John Barton award in Stage Fighting. As a child she studied hand-to-hand combat and is trained in a variety of weaponry including the broadsword. She is married to actor/director Constantine Paraskevopoulos.

Stony Blyden was born in Reykjavík, Iceland. He is an actor, known for You're Cordially Invited (2025), Goosebumps (2023) and Bluff City Law (2019).

Darri Ingolfsson was born on 22 December 1979 in Reykjavík, Iceland. He is an actor and director, known for Dexter (2006), Last Resort (2012) and Money Monster (2016).

Ingvar Sigurdsson was born on 22 November 1963 in Reykjavik, Iceland. He is an actor and producer, known for Everest (2015), The Northman (2022) and A White, White Day (2019).

Baltasar Kormákur is an actor, producer and director whose work spans theater, movies and television. Born in Reykjavik, Iceland, he graduated as an actor from Iceland's National Academy of Fine Arts in 1990. He was immediately signed on by the National Theatre of Iceland, where he worked as one of the leading young performing artists until 1997. During the last two years of his assignment, he also directed several ambitious works, after having produced and directed highly popular, independent stage productions alongside his projects with the National Theatre. In 2000, he wrote, directed, acted in and produced the feature film "101 Reykjavik," which became an international hit and earned the Discovery Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. Subsequently, Variety selected him as one of the "10 Directors to Watch," along with Alejandro González Iñárritu, Lukas Moodysson, Christopher Nolan and other newcomers at the time.

Soon after, Kormákur started Blueeyes Productions and since then has maintained his focus on feature film writing, producing, and directing. His films "The Sea," "A Little Trip To Heaven," "Jar City" and "White Night Wedding" have all been very successful in Iceland, and won numerous international awards. Kormákur's "The Deep," which eerily captures the tragic real-life story of the lone survivor of a capsized fishing boat off the frigid Icelandic coast, premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and went on to become Iceland's Oscar nominee and was shortlisted for the foreign language Academy Award. It opened in Iceland on September 21, 2012 and took in over 50% of the country's box office receipts that weekend and earned a record number of Edda Awards, 11 in all, including Best Film of the Year, Best Director and Best Actor in a Leading Role.

Kormákur has also directed features in the United States, including "Inhale," an independent film produced by the LA based 26 Films, starring Dermot Mulroney, Diane Kruger and Sam Shepard and "Contraband," starring Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, and Kate Beckinsale, which took first place at the US box office during its opening weekend, early January 2012. Universal Pictures released "Contraband," which was a remake of Oskar Johansson's "Reykjavik Rotterdam," that starred Kormákur and he produced with Agnes Johansen through his Blueeyes Productions, along with Working Title Films.

Kormákur's next film was the thriller "2 Guns," starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg, which Universal Pictures will release in August 2013. Other projects include the HBO pilot "The Missionary," a spy thriller he will direct and Mark Wahlberg, Steve Levinson and Malcolm Gladwell will produce; "Everest," the cautionary tale and real life adventure on the mountain in 1996 when eight climbers died in the span of two days, due to a series of horrific mishaps and bad decisions. Working Title Films and Emmett/Furla Productions will produce "Everest" with Kormákur. Also, "Viking," a big budget action adventure set in the world of the famed Norse warriors, which will film in Iceland. Kormákur optioned Iceland's beloved, Nobel Prize-winning book Independent People to develop as a feature film and will produce the American remake of "Jar City" along with CEO of Lava Bear Films, David Linde. He is also producing the Icelandic drama "Rocketman," which acclaimed Icelandic filmmaker Dagur Kari is directing.

Born in 1965 in the Icelandic capital city of Reykjavik, the daughter of Gudmundur Gunnarsson (an electrician) and Hildur Hauksdóttir who divorced before her second birthday, Björk grew up in a hippie-type community with her mother and her seven siblings. She started to study classical music at the age of 5 and released her first album in 1977 (mainly traditional Icelandic folk songs and international hits translated to Icelandic) when she was only 11. During her teenage years Björk became involved in several bands, most of them punk: Spit & Snot (1977), Exodus (1979-80), Jam 80 (1980), Tappi Tíkarrass (1981-83) (featured the documentary Rock in Reykjavik (1982)) and Kukl (1984-86). She then formed the pop group The Sugarcubes with Einar Örn Benediktsson and Sigtryggur Baldursson and eventually other members Þór Eldon (with whom she had a son in 1986), Margrét Örnólfsdóttir and Bragi Ólafsson. The band released its first single in 1986 and its first album, "Life's Too Good", in 1988, and discovered international success, especially in UK. While touring in the US with the Sugarcubes, Björk met Boris Acosta, a music connoisseur and now a film producer and director, who told her she would be very successful in the years to come. She was shocked to hear that and gracefully thanked him for his sweet words. During her Sugarcubes years, Björk also collaborated with the Icelandic jazz group Gudmundar Ingólfssonar Trio for the album "Gling-Glo" in 1990, and featured 808 State's "Ooops", which was the start of her electronic music interest. The Sugarcubes eventually split after a few albums in 1992 and in 1993. Björk released her first solo album, "Debut", in collaboration with producer Nellee Hooper. The worldwide success of the album (nearly 3 million copies sold) made possible her second album, "Post", in 1995, also with help of not only Nellee Hooper but techno gurus Graham Massey (from 808 State), Howie B. and Tricky, followed by the remix album "Telegram" the year after. After some problems in the UK, where she lived, she decided to go to Spain to record her third album, "Homogenic", released in 1997. Her main collaborators were the 'Icelandic String Octet', Mark Bell (from LFO), Mark Stent and again Howie B, and the album may be her most electronic. After Danish director Lars von Trier discovered her in the music video of "It's Oh So Quiet", he asked her to play the main role and to compose the music for his new movie Dancer in the Dark (2000). She won the Best Actress Prize in the Cannes Festival, and said that it would be her only cinema performance (although she'd already acted in the Icelandic movie The Juniper Tree (1990)) because it was too painful for her and because she considered herself a music artist and not a cinema artist. The original soundtrack was re-worked by her before being released as an album under the title "Selmasongs" in September 2000 (including a new version of the duet song "I've Seen it All" with Thom Yorke). Her fourth album, probably the most quiet, "Vespertine", featured a chamber orchestra, an Icelandic choir and harpist Zeena Parkins, and was also a successful collaboration with Matmos. She then successively released a book of photos and texts, series of DVD, a Greatest Hits album and two special boxes ("Family Tree" and "Björk Box"). She also took time to marry artist Matthew Barney, with whom she had a daughter in 2002. In August 2004 she composed and sang "Oceania" for the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games in Athens. This song was featured on her fifth album, "Medúlla", released about two weeks after the ceremony. It is mostly made with vocals and some titles are close to experimental music, featuring choirs, Inuit singer Tanya Tagaq, Japanese artist Dokaka, Robert Wyatt, Rahzel and Mike Patton, but also collaborating again with programmers Matmos, Mark Bell and Mark "Spike" Stent.

Magnus Scheving is a writer, world-class athlete, entrepreneur and producer. He has been the producer and host of popular health-related children's TV shows as well as producing and acting in other TV productions and commercials. Scheving also produced and hosted his own talk show being a well-known comedian and public entertainer in his home country.

Among his many sports awards and trophies he was the two-times European Champion of aerobics in 1995 and 1994 as well as silver medalist in the World Championships of aerobics in 1994 and following that was voted "Athlete of the Year" in Iceland. Furthermore, he was five times the Nordic Champion and eight times the Icelandic Champion. He successfully built up one of the most popular health & fitness clubs in Iceland and was the manager and owner of the club for five years.

Most recently, in 2003, Scheving was voted the Marketing Man of the year 2003 by The Icelandic Marketing Association and Entrepreneur of the Year 2003 awarded by the Channel 2 Broadcaster and the Icelandic Financial Newspaper.

Scheving is in high demand as a lecturer and public speaker both as an entrepreneur, athlete and entertainer. He has traveled worldwide holding over 3800 lectures in workshops and master classes on health. After extensive public speaking around the world, Magnus realized that wherever he went, parents always asked him the same basic questions about exercise and nutrition for children. He created LazyTown in 1991 in response to those questions, to help parents raise healthy kids, and to inspire kids to lead healthier lives.

In the nine years since he introduced LazyTown by writing a bestselling book, Go, Go LazyTown!, Scheving has built LazyTown into a household name in his native Iceland, beloved by kids for its entertainment value and by parents for its healthy message. He has written a series of books for children based on his idea of LazyTown, all becoming bestsellers and selling out; these books have turned into theater musical plays written by Scheving himself.

The Company has been delivering pro-health and positive social messages in an entertaining and nonviolent way and produces only material which can stand up to scrutiny from an artistic point of view as well as an ethical one.

Magnus Scheving is the creator and spirit of LazyTown.

He was born in Reykjavik, Iceland and moved to the United States at the age of 5. Gunnar lived in Maine till he was 11, his family then moving to Texas, where he went to high school before attending the University of Texas. At the university, he did some theater work and majored in English and mathematics before going on to graduate in English and Scandinavian Studies. Despite graduating in the aforementioned fields, his first job out of high school was as a computer operator.

In the summer of 1973, he heard that Tobe Hooper and others were in town to work on a movie and decided to try out for a part. After interviewing with Tobe Hooper and the writer of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Kim Henkel, he was cast in the role of the disturbed, mentally handicapped killer, Leatherface.

After Chainsaw, Hansen went on to work as a freelance writer for magazines for several years before going on to write books, one later being set in Iceland about purported serial killer, Henry Lee Lucas. He has gone on to write multiple screenplays - one co-written with his partner Gary Jones, director of Mosquito (1994)).

Gunnar also directed a documentary on Greenland and had a stint designing web pages for GTE.

Jóhann Jóhannsson was born on 19 September 1969 in Reykjavík, Iceland. He was a composer and writer, known for Last and First Men (2020), The Theory of Everything (2014) and Sicario (2015). He died on 9 February 2018 in Berlin, Germany.

Sjón is an internationally acclaimed Icelandic author, working in various literary forms and in all genres of film. His most recent work for the screen is the screenplay for The Northman, a Viking revenge drama, co-written with its legendary director Robert Eggers. Premiering to great acclaim in April 2022, it went on to become a top ten grossing film in the US that year. In 2021 he co-wrote the screenplay for Lamb, the first Icelandic film to make the top ten list in the US. Picking up a prize at the Cannes Film Festival and at numerous festivals over the world, Lamb then went on to the shortlist for the Best International Film Oscar. Currently, Sjón is writing and developing a number of scripts with former collaborators and some new ones.

Sjón's novels and poems have been translated into more than 40 languages. Among his books are The Blue Fox, From the Mouth of the Whale, Moonstone and CoDex 1962, for which he has won international awards and nominations, including the Nordic Council's Literature Prize, The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, and the Icelandic Literary Prize. In 2017 Sjón became the third writer to be chosen to contribute to Future Library - following Margaret Atwood and David Mitchell - a public artwork based in Norway spanning 100 years. At the 2001 Oscars ceremony, Sjón was nominated for an Academy Award for his lyrics in Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark. Sjón lives and works in Reykjavík.

Maria Ellingsen was born on 22 January 1964 in Reykjavík, Iceland. Maria is an actor and director, known for Touch (2024), Hver drap Friðrik Dór? (2021) and Agnes (1995).

Nína Dögg Filippusdóttir was born on 25 February 1974 in Reykjavik, Iceland. She is an actress and writer, known for Prisoners (2017), Children (2006) and Blackport (2021). She is married to Gísli Örn Garðarsson. They have two children.

Hilmir Snær Guðnason was born on 24 January 1969 in Reykjavik, Iceland. He is an actor and writer, known for White Night Wedding (2008), Lamb (2021) and 101 Reykjavík (2000).

Rúnar Rúnarsson was born on 20 January 1977 in Reykjavík, Iceland. He is a director and producer, known for Volcano (2011), Sparrows (2015) and Echo (2019).

Joi Johannsson is an awarded Nordic actor born and raised in Iceland. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from University of Hartford, Connecticut in 1994 with a B.A degree in Theatre and Cinematic Arts.

Joi made his acting debut in 1986 in an international TV mini series called Nonni and Manni. Since then he has appeared in over 40 international films and TV productions. The most recent being Fortitude 2 (UK) where he joins an international cast lead by Dennis Quaid. Other major roles/productions include Clint Eastwoods Flag of Our Fathers (USA) and a lead in Baltasar Kormakurs (Everest, Two Guns) The Deep (Iceland) (Ten Edda Awards and garnered recognition by the Nordic Council, European Film Awards, the Göteborg Film Festival, Les Arcs European Film Festival, and the Mar del Plata Film Festival.) Joi also can be seen in a leading role in the TV mini series The Lava Field (Iceland), a big role in the Danish film The Shamer's Daughter and lead opposite Franka Potente in the German films: Solveig Karlsdottir - The Death in Westfjords and Death of the Elf Woman.

Joi is a multi talented performer and is equally versed in comedy and drama. He is extremely good at languages and has a perfect American and British accent. He speaks German and the Scandinavian languages. He does not speak Finnish. Joi has almost 50 theatre productions under his belt in the USA and Iceland. His credits include Leontes in A Winters Tale, Woof in Hair, Ginger in Jerusalem, Stanley in One Man, Two Guvnors, Man 1 in 39 Steps and Alex in Certified Male. He can now be seen in Icelandic Sagas - The Greatest Hits.

Joi has hosted, produced and written over 200 TV episodes and 150 radio shows.

Latest project was a role in the TV series The Mayor (Iceland) that just finished shooting. Former mayor of Reykjavik, comedian Jon Gnarr writes and stars in the series.

Joi's next premieres are "The Oath" by Baltasar Kormakur September 9th and "The Death in Westfjords" and "The Death of the Elf Woman" on the German TV station ARD in October.

Joi will be presenting his film "The Death in Westfjords" at the Oldenburg Filmfestival in Germany in September.

Eagle Egilsson was born on 31 August 1966 in Reykjavik, Iceland. He is a cinematographer and director, known for Hightown (2020), The Wire (2002) and TURN: Washington's Spies (2014).

Steinunn Ólína Þorsteinsdóttir (born 2 July 1969 in Reykjavík, Iceland) is an Icelandic actress, TV show host, producer and writer.

Steinunn Ólína grew up in Reykjavík with her mother, the actress Bríet Héðinsdóttir, and her father Þorsteinn Þorsteinsson, a writer and translator of dramatic literature, and first found fame with a starring stage role at the age of fifteen. At seventeen she moved to London, England to study drama at the Drama Centre London, from which she graduated in 1990 along with contemporaries like Helen McCrory and Tara FitzGerald. She subsequently moved back to Iceland to re-launch a career on the stage and television as a mature artist, making her debut at the National Theatre of Iceland in the role of Solveig in Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt.

Television and film work

Steinunn Ólina starred as detective Gabriela in Netflix original show, Case in 2015 and garnered international acclaim for her performance. She received the prestigious FIPA D'OR awards for best actress for her role as well as the Icelandic Edda Film and Television awards as actress of the year. Steinunn played the role of Aldis in series Trapped, season one. Steinunn portrayed Didda in series Fangar AKA Prisoners 2017 which won her best supporting actress Edda awards in 2018. Steinunn played lawyer Edda in season 1 of series, Stella Blomquist in 2017.

Steinunn Ólína produced, wrote, directed and hosted her own live talk show, Over My Dead Body with Steinunn Ólína, on the Icelandic State Broadcasting Television Channel 1. She has also contributed to other television shows as a comedian and writer, such as the RUV-TV's "New Year's Eve Comedy Hour Variety Show" the most preeminent annual event on National Television in Iceland, to which she has rendered her services on several occasions. Steinunn has also appeared in a numerous television plays, sitcoms and feature films, including Vargur in 2018 and Beowulf and Grendel, starring Gerard Butler, in 2005.

National Theatre and elsewhere

Steinunn Ólína was hired after graduation from Drama School as a contracted star player at the National Theatre of Iceland where she spent the next fourteen years, appearing in over 50 productions and portraying a range of leading characters in contemporary and classical plays alike. Her many significant roles at the National include Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady by Lerner and Loewe and Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof, also contributing to several stage productions of comedy and farce, such Ray Cooney's Two for One and in Michael Frayn's Noises Off as the misfortunate actress Dotty Otley. She has also interpreted many classical characters such as Irena, in Chekhov's Three Sisters, Aglaja in a dramatization of The Idiot by Dostoyevsky and Queen Margaret in Shakespeare's Richard III for which she garnered the prestigious "Grima awards" (The Mask) in 2004.[1] Steinunn Ólína has also been featured in numerous high-profile stage productions with several different acting companies, tackling leading roles in plays by masters of the absurd such as in Eugène Ionesco's The Lesson, her portrayal of Roxy Hart in Chicago by Kander and Ebb as a guest star with the Reykjavík Theatre Ensemble.

Personal life

Steinunn broke into the stratum of novelists with the publishing of her semi-autobiographical novella Parental Guidance which made number one bestseller in Iceland in 2006. Steinunn owns and is editor in chief of WWW.kvennabladid.is (The Women's magazine) an online newspaper in Iceland, originally founded by her great grandmother in 1895. Steinunn married actor Stefan Karl Stefansson of Lazy Town fame in 2002 and has four children. Stefan Karl passed away August 21. 2018 after battling bile duct cancer for two years. Steinunn as of 2018 resides along with their children in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Sigfús Sturluson was born on 10 February 1984 in Reykjavik, Iceland. He is an actor, known for Benjamin, the Dove (1995).

Björn Thors was born on 12 January 1978 in Reykjavik, Iceland. He is an actor and producer, known for Katla (2021), The Valhalla Murders (2019) and Paris of the North (2014).

Heba Thorisdottir, the Iceland-born, Los Angeles-based make-up artist has worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood over the course of her career. From the red carpet, to the big screen, to high-fashion editorials, to commercial advertising, Heba's approach is visionary and versatile, and her execution skills make her an asset to any creative collaboration. Heba began her career in music videos, working with REM, Bruce Springsteen, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Sting. She quickly nabbed a position as additional make-up artist on the T.V. series Twin Peaks, where she was director David Lynch' inspiration for the character of "Heba Thorsdottir" in the first season of the show. Heba has been a frequent collaborator of Quentin Tarantino and designed the make-up for Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Django Unchained, Inglourious Basterds and Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2 as well as being a personal make-up artist to actresses Cate Blanchett, Scarlett Johansson, Brie Larson, Lucy Liu and Kristen Wiig. Heba's presence is also widely sought in the editorial and advertising realm. She has done make-up for the covers of L'Uomo Vogue, Mademoiselle, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Vibe and Shape, as well as major marketing campaigns for Levi's, Redken, J.Crew, Emporio Armani, Nike, The GAP and Ray-Ban. Heba has been married to E. Shepherd Stevenson since 2007 and she has two grown sons from a previous marriage: Adam Bjorn Fienberg and Thorir Fienberg.

Rurik Gislason is a professional footballer who plays on the wing. He has played for clubs in Iceland, Denmark and Germany. He attracted global attention for more than just his football skills - his good looks have earned him a modeling contract. During the World Cup his profile was raised even further and he has over one million followers on Instagram, equating to more than three times the population of Iceland. Outside of football, he has run for political office, unsuccessfully, as a candidate for the center-right Independence Party.

Atli Gunnarsson was born on 23 July 1979 in Reykjavik, Iceland. He is an actor, known for The First Berserker: Khazan (2025), Senua's Saga: Hellblade II (2024) and Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (2018).

Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson graduated from the Icelandic Arts Academy in Fine art. After graduation, he studied screenwriting in Denmark. His short films and feature debut have been selected for more than 200 festivals and won over 70 international awards, including accolades from the Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, European Film Awards, and a nomination for the Nordic Council Film Prize. He developed and wrote his feature film Heartstone during a Cannes Cinéfondation Residency.

Fridrik Thor Fridriksson started his film making carrier with a series of experimental films and documentaries in the early 1980s. In 1987, he founded The Icelandic Film Corporation, which has become Iceland's most important production company, producing Fridrikssons films as well as working with other Icelandic directors and producers. Through Fridriksson's international reputation the company has built a network of internationally well-established co-production partner companies, including Lars von Triers Zentropa and most recently, Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope. As a director, Fridriksson gained international recognition and critical acclaim with his second feature _Children of Nature (1991)_ which was nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign Language Film.

Growing up in Iceland in the sixties, Fridriksson was influenced by American films but his exposure to Kurosawa's works was of crucial importance in his decision to become a filmmaker. Co-writing with two of Iceland's most acclaimed novelists and script-writers 'Einar Már Gudmundsson' (Children Of Nature, Angels Of The Universe, Moviedays) and Einar Kárason (White Whales, Devils Island, Falcons) Fridriksson has been acclaimed for the strong visual style of his films and his gift for stunning images. His films combine a wry sense of humour and genuine solidarity with the characters. Fridriksson's films are both deeply personal and have a strong rooting in Icelandic culture often depicting characters at the crossroads of tradition and modernity. Uniquely Fridriksson's films have both touched a chord with local audiences in Iceland who have flocked to see Fridriksson's vision of themselves (more than 50% of the Icelandic population saw his film, 'Angels Of The Universe', released in 2000) as well as moved audiences from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds.

Fridriksson's own identity as a filmmaker is that of a storyteller within a tradition that goes back to the writers of the Icelandic Sagas, more than a thousand years ago.