Throughout the non-English speaking world, she’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, even though she doesn’t have any tattoos at all and vows never to get one.
Noomi Rapace, born Noomi Norén on December 28, 1979 in Hudiksvall, Sweden to actress Nina Norén and Rogelio Durán, a Spanish Flamenco singer, knew early on that she wanted to be an actress, starting with a minor role in an Icelandic film, In the Shadow of the Raven, at the ripe old age of 7.
But her career didn’t really start heating up until 2007, about 20 years later, when she played a troubled teen mom in Daisy Diamond, a Danish film that garnered her some critical acclaim.
Two years later, though, she won the role that would make her a global superstar, both in Europe and in Hollywood, playing the original Lisbeth Salander in all three Swedish/Danish films of the Millennium series, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest.
Her first English-speaking role was in last year’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, in which she plays a French gypsy alongside Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law.
Since then, she’s been out of this world. In fact, you may recognize her as scientist Elizabeth Shaw from the Alien prequel, Prometheus.
I wasn’t crazy about the movie (seriously, it made no sense), but I did like Noomi’s performance. I thought she and Tabs were two of the best things about the film.
For her role as Elizabeth, Noomi sports a very cute short cropped ‘do, but she’s no stranger to long hairstyles, too.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Danii says
I love Noomi as Lisbeth Salander, she IS Lisbeth Salander! Not Rooni Mara, who was just horrible. 🙁 I watched Män hatar som kvinnor/Dragon Tattoo in Swedish then read the books. Rooni ruined the roll.
Ana says
Can’t agree more the american version is too hollywood!
Sandie says
#1 is by far my favorite. I absolutely love long hair the way she has it done and the color is beautiful.
sarahc says
I loved the Swedish versions of the movies. I don’t know why they remade them at all. Noomi has such a cool Euro look.
Leah says
I feel like my choice is always 2nd place. Darn it!
musical says
LOVE her! She looks good in each one of them! I watched the movies simply because she lived Lisbeth’s character!
Ana says
LOOOOVE HEEER! I’m a huge fan of Stieg Larsson books… She really get into Lisbeth Salander role… Waaaay better than Rooney Mara… I chose number 2 ’cause that’s how I fell in love with her acting skills LOL 🙂 and hell yeah! I own the entire dvd collection of the swedish version!
Kim says
I loved her in Dragon Tattoo and thought she did a good job in Prometheus, too. 🙂
Karen says
Hi Kim,
So…Prometheus. Thumbs up or down?
Side note: I wish you lived closer because then we could watch Magic Mike together!
Kim says
OMG, I was JUST going to talk to you about Magic Mike today! Sorry for all the caps; it just amazes me how often this happens. 🙂 I know, I wish we did, too. We’ll have to dish in the comments!
I am a total sci-fi geek so I gave Prometheus a thumbs up. I know if left a lot of questions and there were definitely some “just roll out of the way, dodo” moments, but overall I thought it was visually beautiful. I thought it was an interesting take on where we came from and Naomi with the surgery was pretty suspenseful. Best overall was Michael Fassbender who was believable and creepifying and made me think a lot about HAL in 2001. I know you didn’t like it and I’m sorry. I hate when I’m excited about a movie and it disappoints me, so I’m with you there. 🙂
Casey says
She is gorgeous! But what do you mean Prometheus was confusing?
indoorkitty says
Oooh I love Noomi!
And girlfriend, we need to talk about Prometheus! There is so much crazy 70s inspired mythic allusioning in there; I think they really tried a bit too hard not to hit us all over the head with it but damn.
Here, have a read when you gotta minute to grab a coffee + chill:
http://cavalorn.livejournal.com/584135.html
The other theory I’ve heard is that the first dude who is shown on the screen and the other dude who erm goes a little ballistic in the end, might have been from two different tribes. One tribe fosters, loves, nourishes and begins, and the other more militant tribe hits the reset button. The clue cited for this is that their ships were different shapes.
Elin LLB says
She kinda looks like Tina Fey on picture #3.