Ola Rapace

Ola Rapace
Born
Pär Ola Norell

(1971-12-03) 3 December 1971 (age 53)
Tyresö, Stockholm, Sweden
OccupationActor
Years active1999–present
Spouses
​
​
(m. 2001; div. 2011)​
Sonja Jawo
​
​
(m. 2019; div. 2021)​
Children2

Sonny Ola Rapace Jawo (Swedish: [ˈūːla raˈpasː]; né Pär Ola Norell; born 3 December 1971[1][2]) is a Swedish actor best known for playing Patrice in the 2012 James Bond film Skyfall.

Early life

[edit]

Ola Rapace was born on 3 December 1971 in Tyresö, a suburb southeast of Stockholm, Sweden and named Pär Ola Norell. Both of his parents were academics. He grew up mainly in Vallentuna, a middle-class suburb north of Stockholm. When he was one year old, his parents separated, and he was raised by his father. He grew up playing football and listening to heavy metal.[3]

While studying philosophy at the University of Montpellier in France, he discovered acting.[4]

Career

[edit]

His first screen role was in Lukas Moodysson's film Together, a bittersweet comedy about hippie-socialist values set in a Stockholm commune. The film won several awards at international film festivals,[1] including the Paris Film Festival Special Jury Prize, and Philadelphia Film Festival Jury Award.[citation needed]

Rapace's big breakthrough came with the popular TV series Tusenbröder about a group of handymen who become involved with organised crime.[5] Immediately followed the role as Stefan Lindman in Wallander, which was based on Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander books.[6]

He continued with several police and crime-related TV series, including portraying Daniel Nordström in the Danish police TV show Anna Pihl,[1] Crimes of Passion,[7] a crime drama set in 1950's rural Sweden, Farang[8] about a Scandinavian ex-convict living in Thailand and Hassel, an updated dark and gritty cop show based on a classic series of books from the '70s and '80s. This was a cop show he also executive produced,[9] and Section Zéro, a French, science-fiction influenced drama.

While he has worked on many cop shows, Rapace has been very critical of the genre. In 2012 he told Cafe Magazine: "All the Wallander and Beck films are worthless. There is no credibility, it does not work to investigate thousands of murders in Ystad year after year. In the end, it becomes a joke, and the quality becomes so low that one has no other option but to shut down the production".[10]

His first English-language film was the 2004 independent movie Rancid starring Matthew Settle (from Band of Brothers and Gossip Girl). A bigger project was the 2012 James Bond film Skyfall,[11][non-primary source needed] where he portrayed the hitman "Patrice".

Rapace lived in Paris from 2015 to 2020 and has worked on Swedish, French and international projects. In 2016, he starred in the French science fiction film Ares and soon after followed Section Zéro, a French TV-series about a para-military police squad in the near future.

Rapace had a supporting role as Major Gibson in Luc Besson's 2017 French/American big budget comic book/science fiction film Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.[12]

In 2018 Rapace was one of the main antagonists in series 3 of the drama The Last Kingdom as Jarl Sigurd Bloodhair.[13][14]

Rapace joined the cast of Below the Surface (Gidseltagningen), a Danish drama about 15 innocent people held hostage underground in a subway train, as "Yusef" when it returned for a second series in 2019.[15]

Rapace starred alongside Kellan Lutz in Divertimento, an English-language, French thriller that came out in 2020.[16][17]

In August 2022 director Lukas Moodysson announced the start of a sequel to the movie Together and that the role of Lasse would not be portrayed by Ola Rapace as in the original film. Moodysson explained this was per request from SF Studios.[18]

During September-October 2022, Rapace portrayed Mr. Y in August Strindberg's Pariah at Lövstad Castle Theatre.[19][20]

Reality television

[edit]

Rapace was one of the participants in SVT's reality series Maestro, in which Swedish celebrities were taught the basics of conducting a classical orchestra. The series aired in late summer and autumn 2011.[21]

He was one of five Swedish celebrities featured in 2020 edition of the popular TV series Stars at the Castle. In the show, five famous people live together in a castle or manor house for five days. Each day focuses on one person and their career as they eat dinners and they discuss their life and career, and the other celebrities ask questions.[22] A few months before the announcement of Rapace's joining the 2020 season, he had criticized this specific reality television show.[23]

In 2021, Swedish Discovery+ announced he was one of several celebrities, including electropop musician Kleerup, and reality TV stars Jackie Ferm and Håkan Hallin, who would join the unscripted TV-series Treatment, a series about mental illness and addiction problems. Discovery Networks Sweden describes the series as "individually adapted medical and therapeutic treatments, composed and led by addiction doctors and therapists" on an archipelago island.[24]

Personal life

[edit]

Rapace married actress Noomi Rapace in 2001, divorcing in 2011; they have a son, Lev, who was born in 2003.[25][26][27][28] Together they chose the surname Rapace after they were married, which means "bird of prey" in French and Italian.[1] Rapace also has a daughter, Line, born in 1999, with the actress Malin Morgan. Rapace lived in France for several years and speaks fluent French.[1]

For years, Ola and Noomi were preyed upon by Swedish tabloids. Noomi's international career was taking off, and she and Ola, who was never afraid of an argument, were frequently featured in gossip magazines.[29] He has had several run-ins with the law, including spending the night in a jail in Austria.[30] In October 2008, he was arrested for possession of cocaine and steroids, which resulted in a fine for a minor drug offence in April 2009.[31][32]

He moved to Paris in 2015, but returned to Sweden five years later subsequent to an audit by French tax authorities which consumed most of his wealth.[33]

In the podcast Helt ärligt med Sebastian Stakset released on April 4, 2020 Rapace explained how, during the filming of French TV-series Section Zéro, he and the series creator Olivier Marchal used cocaine every night after filming, and the TV series ended up being really depressing.[34]

In November 2020, real estate magazine Hem & Hyra reported he was one of several people suing a deceased landlord, and the story revealed how apartment contracts were sold for millions. Rapace had paid 1.7 million SEK in cash to the landlord and was asking for the money back from the deceased landlord's estate.[35]

In May 2019, he married Sonja Jawo in Paris. She is the older sister of Aino Jawo, of Swedish electropop duo Icona Pop.[36][37] They divorced in the summer of 2021.[38]

In 2020, Rapace published his autobiography Romeo: Min flykt i fem akter.[39]

In 2021, he was arrested by police under suspicion of gross violation of women's rights /sexual misconduct/spousal abuse[40] Prosecutors announced on September 13, 2022 that they were closing the investigation, and the case was dismissed.[41]

He hosted the podcast Sorry, allt gick åt helvete (Sorry, it all went to hell) together radio host and author Fredrik Söderholm. In one episode Rapace explains how he while intoxicated stole a production van from a film shoot so he could drive to his house that apparently was on fire after the producer told him not to use the van.[40]

Rapace and Söderholm parted ways in July 2022. According to Söderholm, Rapace allegedly refused to pay him his share of the podcast income. "We were supposed to get 1.3 million to share," said Söderholm. [42]

Filmography

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e "Ola Rapace". General-Anzeiger (in German). Archived from the original on 23 June 2011. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
  2. ^ Sonny Ola Rapace Jawo. Ratsit.
  3. ^ "Den skapande mannen är en roll". 16 January 2011.
  4. ^ Spektra, T. T. (10 December 2012). "Ola Rapace siktar på Frankrike". kuriren.nu.
  5. ^ "Polisen slog till på riktigt". Aftonbladet. 30 September 2003.
  6. ^ Häggström, Andreas (20 August 2008). "Rapaces super-kropp" [Rapace' super body]. Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 5 April 2010.
  7. ^ "Filmatiserade Langdeckare förför med nostalgi och sexiga undertoner". Svenska YLE.
  8. ^ "Sun, surf and sex – Farang is not your typical Scandi thriller". Guide. 26 July 2017.
  9. ^ "Ola Rapace tvekan för superrollen i "Hassel"". Aftonbladet. 12 September 2017.
  10. ^ "Ola Rapace: Alla Wallander och Beck är ju värdelösa". Aftonbladet. 23 October 2012.
  11. ^ "@007: 8 November". Twitter. Twitter Inc. 8 November 2011. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  12. ^ "Exklusivt: Ola Rapace i Luc Bessons sci-fi". MovieZine.
  13. ^ Debnath, Neela (25 September 2018). "The Last Kingdom season 3 cast: Who is playing Bloodhair? Who is Ola Rapace?". Daily Express.
  14. ^ "Ola Rapace får stor skurkroll i Netflix-serien "The Last Kingdom"". MovieZine.
  15. ^ "Lise starring in the second season of the danish series "Gidseltagningen"". Lise Risom Olsen. 15 April 2023.
  16. ^ "Rencontre avec l'acteur suédois Ola Rapace -". 17 February 2020.
  17. ^ "'Twilight's Kellan Lutz Toplines 'Divertimento' Indie Thriller". 17 June 2019.
  18. ^ "Därför får inte Ola Rapace vara med i nya "Tillsammans 99"". 20 August 2022.
  19. ^ "Bli prenumerant på NT". nt.se. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  20. ^ "Briljant slagsmål på slottet – Ola Rapace kämpar på Löfstad".
  21. ^ "Ola Rapace om "Maestro": Svårare än jag trodde". 26 May 2011.
  22. ^ "Charlotte Perrelli, Ola Rapace, Ernst Billgren i Stjärnorna på slottet i SVT".
  23. ^ "Ola Rapace vill bemöta ryktena: "Så många gränslösa personer"". 11 June 2020.
  24. ^ "Premiär Behandlingen Discovery Plus - Rapace, Kleerup berättar i tv". Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  25. ^ Carlberg, Ingrid (19 January 2010). "Nominerad till DN:s kulturpris 2010: Noomi Rapace" [Nominated for the 2010 DN Culture Prize: Noomi Rapace]. Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  26. ^ "'Millennium'-stjärnan Noomi Rapace har ansökt om skilsmässa från maken Ola Rapace". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  27. ^ "The Drop's Noomi Rapace: on her rough past and the pressure to be sexy". The Daily Telegraph. 9 November 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  28. ^ Gritten, David (18 February 2010). "Noomi Rapace interview: the world's most seductive sleuth". The Daily Telegrap]. London. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  29. ^ "Ola Rapace: Därför lämnade Noomi mig". Expressen. 28 December 2017.
  30. ^ "Ola Rapace: "Bond var en lekstuga för mig" – Nöje – Expressen". Expressen. 11 December 2012.
  31. ^ Hjertén, Linda (3 April 2009). "Ola Rapace dömd för ringa narkotikabrott" [Ola Rapace convicted of minor drug offences]. Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 30 May 2012.
  32. ^ "Nu ska Ola Rapace upp i rätten". nyheter24.se. 26 March 2009.
  33. ^ "Ola Rapace sorg - kunde inte rädda sin kollega". www.expressen.se (in Swedish). 5 November 2020. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  34. ^ "Helt ärligt med Sebastian Stakset". Poddtoppen (in Swedish). Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  35. ^ "Stor härva med svartkontrakt avslöjad – Ola Rapace kräver tillbaka 1,7 miljoner av död värd". Hem & Hyra (in Swedish). Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  36. ^ "Ola Rapace har gift sig i hemlighet i Paris". Expressen. 16 May 2019.
  37. ^ Dorholt, Ingunn (16 May 2019). "Giftet seg i skjul med "hemmelig" kjæreste". Seher.
  38. ^ "Ola Rapace och Sonja Jawo skiljer sig: "Supersorgligt"" (in Swedish). Expressen. 29 September 2021. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  39. ^ Josefsson, Erika (3 June 2020). "Ola Rapace skriver avslöjande självbiografi". Hufvudstadsbladet (in Swedish). p. 23.
  40. ^ a b "Ola Rapace: "Jag har betett mig hänsynslöst"". 12 December 2021.
  41. ^ "Utredningen läggs ned – Rapace frias". 13 September 2022.
  42. ^ "Efter miljonbråket – podduon avslutar samarbetet". 26 July 2022.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ola_Rapace&oldid=1244841220"