Born Noomi Norén on the 28th December 1979 in Hudiksvall, Sweden, Noomi is an award-winning actress, perhaps best known to the world as Lisabeth Salander in the films based on the “Millenium” series of novels, including “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, “The Girl Who Played with Fire”, and “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest”, among many other differing roles she has secured so far in her career.
Have you ever wondered how rich Noomi Rapace is, as of early 2018? According to authoritative sources, it has been estimated that Rapace’s net worth is as high as $20 million, earned through her successful career, active since the late ‘80s, when becoming a child actress.
Noomi Rapace Net Worth $20 Million
Noomi is the daughter of Nina, who is an actress, and Spanish Flamenco singer, Rogelio Durán. Her parents later divorced, and from five years of age, Noomi lived in Iceland with her mother and step-father.
She made her acting debut when only seven years old, appearing in a minor role in the film “In the Shadow of the Raven”, an experience she liked and so became interested in acting as a full-time profession. Years later, Noomi made her second screen appearance, portraying Lucinda Gonzales in the soap opera “Tre Kronor”. She decided to leave home when only 15 years old, and in the next few years learned about acting in the Skara Skolscen acting school, before she started taking acting classes in various theaters, including Theater Plaza, Teater Galeasen, and eventually Royal Dramatic Theatre. She made her breakthrough in 2007 with the part of Anna in the drama film “Daisy Diamond”, and the same year she was chosen for the role of Nicky in the TV mystery drama series “Labyrint” (2007-2008), while in 2009 she reached stardom when chosen for the lead part of Lisbeth Salander in the first installment of the Millennium series, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, receiving several nominations and awards for her work, including BAFTA and Saturn awards. She repeated the role in the sequels “The Girl Who Played with Fire”, and “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest”, both in 2009. In 2010 the TV mini-series “Millennium” was made out of the film series, which only further increased her net worth.
Thanks to her big breakthrough, Noomi got her first English speaking role – as Madam Simza Heron – in the action adventure film “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”, starring Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law and Jared Harris, while the following year Noomi starred in the sci-fi mystery adventure film “Prometheus”, directed by Ridley Scott, which helped increased her reputation and net worth, since the film grossed more than $400 million. The same year, she also had the lead role the mystery thriller “Passion”, next to Rachel McAdams and Karoline Herfurth, further increasing her net worth.
Noomi continued with Hollywood roles, including the portrayal of Beatrice in the action crime-drama “Dead Man Down”, next to Colin Farrell and Dominic Cooper, then as Nadia in the mystery crime-drama “The Drop”, starring next to Tom Hardy and James Gandolfini, and teaming up again with Hardy, this time in the thriller film “Child 44” (2015), all of which increased her net worth. Rapace continued with rather successful roles, including as Renee in the sci-fi horror thriller “Rupture” in 2016, then the lead role in the action drama “Unlocked” in 2017, with Orlando Bloom and Toni Collette, while she also starred in the action fantasy “Bright”, with Will Smith and Joel Edgerton. Most recently, she started working on the biopic about Maria Callas, entitled “Callas”, and the action thriller “Close”, however, the films are in their early stages and have yet to receive an official release date.
When it comes to her personal life, Noomi was married to actor Ola Norell from 2001 until 2011, and gave birth to their son in 2003. The couple chose Rapace as their last name following the wedding, which in French means “bird of prey”.
Empire Award for Best Actress, Bodil Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, Robert Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominations
Guldbagge Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, European Film Award for Best Actress, Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress: Action/Adventure, Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress, International Emmy Award for Best Actress, Teen Choice...
Movies
Prometheus, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, What Happened to Monday, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, The Drop, Rupture, Bright, Alien: Covenant, Child 44, The Girl Who Played with Fire, Unlocked, Dead Man Down
TV Shows
Millennium, Tre kronor, Labyrint, Labyrinth
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Trademark
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Often plays emotionally and physically abused or scarred women.
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Quote
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[on doing fight scenes in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)] I tried to do as much as they allowed me to do. You get bruised, and your body aches, and you hurt yourself, but that's kind of part of it. I am very self-critical, and I don't like to pretend.
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I hate when you see a film and after one scene you know what's going to happen and you can predict the whole story. I hate that. I think it's very boring.
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We need more extreme movies in Sweden, personal projects that aren't necessarily made for a bigger audience. I think it creates a creative block to always have the audience as a goal.
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I'm interested in people's darker side, the ones that aren't easy and well balanced. The cracks.
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Fact
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In 2011, she became the first Swedish actress to be nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in 52 years since Ingrid Bergman was nominated in 1959. Rapace was nominated for her performance in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009).
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Upon marrying, she and ex-husband Ola Rapace (born Ola Norell) choose the common surname "Rapace" (instead of one spouse taking the name of the other as it is more common). They agreed upon the surname due to its meaning, "Bird of Prey".
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Fractured her nose in January 2015 when an elbow accidentally hit her face while filming Unlocked (2017). She, however, didn't realize the extent of the injury until much later so, after a brief black out, she just got up and insisted on carrying on with the scene. As of April 2015, the fracture had yet to be mended and had healed up in a broken state (meaning it needs to be re-broken up again in order to fix).
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Starred in two movies with Tom Hardy: The Drop (2014) and Child 44 (2015). In both movies they played each other's love interest.
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At the age of seven she got one non-speaking role in an Icelantic movie, then she decided to be an actress.
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At the age of five she moved to Iceland with her mother and her stepfather.
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Left home at the age of 15 to move to Stockholm, Sweden to start her acting career.
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She has one sister, Særún Norén, who is a photographer.
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The name Rapace means bird of prey in French and Italian.
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In 1996, she made her television debut playing the part of Lucinda Gonzales in the long-running soap series Tre kronor.
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Rapace speaks Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian, and English in addition to her native Swedish.
Still speaks fluent Icelandic after having lived in Iceland for only a few years as a child. When she attended the premier of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009) in Iceland, she carried out all her interviews in pitch perfect Icelandic. Also speaks some Spanish and has recently been adding English to the list.
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During her early teens, Noomi went through a period where she aspired to being a punk rocker in the vein of the late Nancy Spungen, one-time girlfriend of The Sex Pistols' Sid Vicious.
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To date, counts her role in Daisy Diamond (2007) as her greatest emotional stretch as an actress. [2012]
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Admires strong women roles such as Anne Parillaud as the indomitable La Femme Nikita (1990) and Patricia Arquette's feisty Alabama in True Romance (1993). She was particularly moved by the bloody motel fight scene between Arquette and James Gandolfini, after having watched the movie numerous times.
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Insists on doing her own stunts whenever possible and to the absolute extreme extent a given production will safely permit her to do so.
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Spoke very little English at the time she finished the Lisbeth Salander trilogy. In a determined attempt to master English as quickly as possible, Noomi watched numerous English language movies with native language subtitles disabled, along with hours of television channels such as BBC, CNN, and miscellaneous TV talk shows.
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Used some of her husband's (Ola Rapace) clothing for her wardrobe in the Millennium (2010) film series.
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Is half Spanish, half Swedish. Her mother, Nina Norén, is a Swedish actress. Her father, Rogelio de Badajoz (1953-2007), was a Spanish cantador (a Flamenco singer) from Badajoz. Rogelio may have had Romanian ancestry.
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At age 5, she moved to Iceland with her mother and her stepfather.
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At age 7, she got a non-speaking role in an Icelandic movie. She then decided to become an actress.
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She left home at age 15 to go to Stockholm, Sweden, to start her acting career.
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She has one sister, Særún Norén, who is a photographer.
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Has a son, Lev, born in 2003.
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She used the holes of her old piercings when she was a young punk rocker in her role as Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009).