Aksel Hennie

Aksel Hennie
Hennie posing with one of his graffiti works in October 2017
Born	(1975-10-29) 29 October 1975 (age 49) Oslo, Norway
Occupation(s)	Actor, director, screenwriter
Spouse	Karoline Hegbom ​ ​ (m. 2019)​
Children	3

Aksel Hennie (born 29 October 1975) is a Norwegian actor, director, and screenwriter. He is best known for his roles in the films Headhunters (2011), Hercules (2014), and The Martian (2015).

Early life

Hennie was born in the Lambertseter suburb of Oslo on 29 October 1975. ^[1] In his late teens, he was arrested for graffitiing, and became an outcast in the graffiti community after confessing to the police. His "writes" or signatures were "Ceel" and "Mikro" and can still be seen around Oslo. Most of them are crossed out or lined over because of his confession. This personal story contributed much of the background for the film Uno . The conviction against Hennie was one of the first such cases in Norway. ^[1]

Career

Hennie was admitted to the Norwegian National Academy of Theatre after applying four times. ^[2] He graduated in 2001, and has acted both at Teatret Vårt in Molde (2001–2002) and at Oslo Nye Teater (since 2002), where he has been in plays such as Hamlet and Kvinnen Som Gifftet Seg Med en Kalkun (The Woman Who Married a Turkey). ^[3]

Hennie's most notable success has been as a film actor. He made his debut starring in the feature film Jonny Vang in 2003. Although 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. ^[4] That same year, he also acted in the films Buddy and Ulvesommer. The next year, Hennie made his debut as a director and writer with the film, Uno , in which he also acted. For this role, Hennie and his co-star, Nicolai Cleve Broch, undertook six months of hard physical training in order to perform convincingly as bodybuilders. ^[2]

In 2001, Hennie was named "Theatre Talent of the Year" by the newspaper Dagbladet . ^[5] Hennie won the Amanda Award (an important Norwegian film award), for "Best Direction" for Uno in 2005. That year he was among the nominees for "Best Actor" and "Best Film." He won an Amanda Award for "Best Actor" for Jonny Vang in 2003. He was named one of European film's "Shooting Stars" by the European Film Promotion in 2004.

In 2008, Hennie starred in Max Manus , where he played the Norwegian war hero of the same name. The film had a large budget by Norwegian standards. ^[6] In 2011, Age of Heroes was released, a World War II film primarily shot in Norway. ^[7] On 30 August 2013, Pionér , a docudrama, was released. Hennie plays the main role as a commercial offshore diver in the North Sea during the 1970s who witnesses an accident while diving under extreme conditions, prompting him to search for answers. ^[8]

On 1 December 2013, Hennie won an Angela Award at the Subtitle European Film Festival in Kilkenny for his role in the film 90 Minutes . That evening he appeared at a showing of Headhunters , and did a question and answer session with the audience in the theatre after the film. ^[9]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990–1998	Bobby's Verden
1998	1732 Høtten	Arnt-Olaf
2000	Fort Forever	Even	Short film
2002	Anolit	Stefan	Short film
2003	Buddy	Geir
	Jonny Vang	Jonny Vang
	Ulvesommer	Pål
2004	Den Som Frykter Ulven	Stefan
	Hawaii, Oslo	Trygve
	Uno	David	Also directed
	Tell me everything goes well	Smith	Short film
	The one who fears the wolf	Stefan
2005	Terkel in Trouble		In the Norwegian version, all voices were performed by actor Aksel Hennie
	The Hardest Words In The World	The Husband	Short film
2007	Torpedo (TV series)	Sebastian
2008	Max Manus: Man of War	Max Manus
	Salary	Christer
	In a mirror, in a riddle	Enge
2010	A Somewhat Gentle Man	Samí
2011	Headhunters	Roger Brown
	Age of Heroes	Lieutenant Steinar Mortensen
2012	90 minutter	Trond
2013	Pioneer	Petter Jensen
2014	24	Karl Rask	Day 9: 4:00pm–5:00pm
	Hercules	Tydeus
2015	Last Knights	Geza Mott
	The Martian	Dr. Alex Vogel
2016	Nobel	Erling Riiser	NOMINATED- 2017 Gullruten Best Actor, TV Drama
	Smuggler	Arthur Omre
2018	The Cloverfield Paradox	Volkov
	Mordene i Kongo	Joshua French
2020	The Doorman	Borz
	White Wall	Lars Ruud
2021	The Trip/ I Onde Dager	Lars
	The Middle Man	Arthur Clintstone
2022	Sisu	Bruno Helldorf	Finnish film
	Kent State

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Director	Theatre
2022 2023	Actor	Peer Gynt written by Henrik Ibsen	Per Olav Sörensen	Gålå

Awards and nominations

Year	Organization	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
2001	Dagbladet	Theatre Talent of the Year	Himself	Won
2003	Brussels European Film Festival	Best Actor	Himself for Jonny Vang	Won
	Amanda Award	Best Male Lead	Himself for Jonny Vang	Won
2004	Viareggio EuropaCinema	FIPRESCI Prize	Himself for Uno	Won
	Molodist Film Festival	Best Actor	Himself for Uno	Nominated
	Molodist Film Festival	Best Young Actor	Himself for Uno	Won
	Nordic Filmtage Lübeck	Church Film Prize	Himself for Uno	Won
2005	Amanda Award	Best Director	Himself for Uno	Won
	Amanda Award	Best Male Actor	Himself for Uno	Nominated
	Festival Premiers Plans d'Angers	Special Jury Prize	Himself for Uno	Won
	Cinequest Film Festival	Best First Feature Award	Himself for Uno	Won
	Nordic Film Festival	Jury's Grand Prix	Himself for Uno	Won
	Kosmorama Film Festival	The Canon Prize for Best	Himself for Uno	Won
	Kosmorama Film Festival	The best prize	Himself for Uno	Won
	Palic International Film Festival	Silver Tower	Himself for Uno	Won
2008	Amanda Award	Best Male Actor	Himself for Cold Lunch	Nominated
2009	Amanda Award	Best Male Actor	Himself for Max Manus: Man of War	Won
2012	Amanda Award	Best Male Lead	Himself for Headhunters	Nominated
2013	Canon Prize	Best Male Lead	Himself for Pioneer	Nominated
2014	Amanda Award	Best Male Actor	Himself for Pioneer	Won	[10]
2016	Elle	Norway's Most Sexy Man 2016	Himself	Won
2017	Gullruten	Best Actor, TV Drama	Himself for Nobel	Nominated	[11]

References

1. Heyerdahl, Nicolai; Frode Hansen (2004-10-07). "Aksel Hennies hemmelige fortid". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2008-07-23.
2. Hartz, Kine B (2004-07-03). "Skuddsikker". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2008-07-23.
3. "Aksel Hennie" (in Norwegian). Oslo Nye Teater. Archived from the original on 2007-10-10. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
4. Sissel Fantoft (2002-06-28). "En bygdelatino går til filmen". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2008-07-23.
5. "Aksel Hennie" (in Norwegian). Snurrfilm.no. Archived from the original on November 10, 2007. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
6. Thorkildsen, Joakin (2008-02-06). "Disse Skal Lage Norsk Krigsfilm til 50 Mill". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2008-07-23.
7. Maaland, Borghild (2010-03-31). "Aksel Hennie I Britisk Krigsfilm Innspilling Over Påske". VG (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2010-10-14.
8. Maugesten, Hanne Marie (2013-08-09). "Pionéren - Vi Kan Takke Magn Muledal og Hans Kolleger for Velferden vår, Mener Aksel Hennie". Aftenposten A-magasinet (in Norwegian). p. 10.
9. "Angela Awards Announced". Archived from the original on 2015-11-05. Retrieved 2015-07-28.
10. Amanda Award: «Pioneer» mot «Skam»
11. Gullruten: «Nobel» mot «vinnerne 2014»

External links

• Aksel Hennie at IMDb