No wonder you think you have seen Icelandic actress María Ellingsen before - she was on your small screen in 167 episodes of Santa Barbara. "But I realised I would rather play strong, powerful women in Iceland, than side-kicks in Hollywod soaps - even if they are executed," said Ellingsen, in Prague for the Rack Focus: Iceland screening of Egill Edvardsson's Agnes.

At 17, Icelandic actress María Ellingsens was picked to perform in Hrafn Gunnlaugsson's Inter Nos, as the main reason for a man's mid-life crisis - "if my parents had known beforehand about the nudity, they would never have allowed it." She then worked as a reporter with Reykjavik's Morgunbladid, only to pursue an acting career with a BA degree from New York University.

Contracted by Iceland's National Theatre, she was cast in any ingenue role of the repertoire. She used to make a film every summer, including Jón Tryggvason's Foxtrot and Thráinn Bertelsson's Magnús. In New York to co-direct Use Me, Bruise Me, Lose Me, a special project at her former drama department, her agent encouraged her to attend some auditions. She won a part in Santa Barbara.

During her four-year stay in LA, she starred in such features as Curaçao, The New Age and The Mighty Ducks 2. "When Egill Edvardsson called me, offering the lead in Agnes, it was as if something clicked when I heard her name," said Ellingson. Set in 19th-century Iceland, the film follows a servant girl, who was the last person in the country to be sentenced to death, for the murder of her lover.

"When visiting the place where the story took place, an old woman showed me letters Agnes had written to her through a medium."

Ellingson is now under contract with the City Theatre of Reykjavik. Recently appearing in Europides' The Trojan Women, she is currently in Largo Desolato by Vaclav Havel. She now prefers a career rich with artistic challenges rather than glittering fame. "I want to be able to see myself in the mirror every morning," she said.

Jørn Rossing Jensen

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