Ólafur Darri Ólafsson

Ólafur Darri Ólafsson was born in New Britain, Connecticut USA in 1973, though he has been living in Iceland since the age of four. Ólafsson has dual nationality which is convenient since he mostly splits his work between Europe and the US. He graduated from the Icelandic Drama School in 1998.

Ólafsson has appeared in over twenty films including A Walk Among The Tombstones, (directed by Scott Frank), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (directed by Ben Stiller), XL (directed by Marteinn Thorsson), The Deep (directed by Baltasar Kormakur), Contraband (directed by Baltasar Kormakur), Stormland (directed by Marteinn Thorsson), Beowulf and Grendel (directed Sturla Gunnarson), Undercurrent (directed by Árni Óli Ásgeirsson), 101 Reykjavik (directed by Baltasar Kormakur), Fiasco (directed by Ragnar Bragason), Thicker Than Water (directed by Árni Óli Ásgeirsson), Children (directed by Ragnar Bragason), Parents (directed by Ragnar Bragason), Country Wedding (directed by Valdís Óskarsdóttir), Reykjavik Rotterdam (directed by Óskar Jónasson), White Night Wedding (directed by Baltasar Kormakur), East of The Mountain (directed by Jon Atli Jonasson) and Reverse (directed by Gunnar Hansson and David Olafsson) as well as a number of short films.

Ólafsson's more recent television work include appearances as 'Dewall Ledaux´ in HBO´s True Detective and as 'Jonah Lambrecht´ in Cinemax´s Banshee. Other work includes AMC´s pilot Line of Sight and We Hate Paul Revere as well as FX's pilot How and Why. He also appeared in Icelandic TV series Trapped (created and directed by longterm collaborator Baltasar Kormakur).

Additionally, Ólafsson can also be seen in a new Cinemax series, Quarry, a Netflix series, Lady Dynamite, which stars Maria Bamforde, Dreamworks and Steven Spielberg's THE BFG, The White King and Zoolander 2.

He has been in over 40 theatre productions which include Mark Ravenhill´s Shopping and Fucking, Mike Leigh's Abigail´s Party, Ibsen´s Enemy of the People and Peer Gynt, Maxim Gorkij´s Summerfolk, Euripides´ The Bacchae, Steven Berkhof´s Kvetch, Harold Pinter´s Celebration, Checkov´s Ivanov and Shakespeare´s King Lear, Titus Andronicus, Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet.

He also played 'Pierre´ in The Heart of Robin Hood with The Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford upon Avon in 2011 and in Vesturport´s Bastard which was performed in Reykjavik, Malmö and Copenhagen in 2012. His most recent theatre performances are 'Lennie´ in Of Mice and Men and as 'Hamlet´ in Hamlet at The City Theatre of Reykjavik.

Ólafsson is one of the founders of The Vesturport Theatre Company which co-produced Romeo and Juliet at The Young Vic in London in 2003 and Woyzeck at The Barbican in London in 2005. The Vesturport Theatre Company has performed in countries such as Norway, Denmark, Finland, Mexico, South-Korea, England, Germany, Holland, Spain and The United States. The company was awarded The European Theatre Prize, New Theatrical Realities, in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in 2011.

Ólafsson has been nominated several times for Best Actor for Full House, Children, White Night Wedding, Prison Watch, Stormland, The Deep and XL at Eddan. He has won the Best Actor for Stormland and The Deep at The Icelandic Film and Television Awards, Best Screenplay for Children and was also a producer for Best Film winner Parents.

Ólafur was awarded Best Actor for Children at IFF Zerkalo in Ivanovo, Russia in 2007 and was awarded Best Film as producer for Children at IFF Copenhagen in 2008. Ólafsson received Best Actor at the Karlovy Vary IFF in 2013. He has been nominated five times for Best Actor at The Icelandic Theatre Awards, Griman. He has received Best Supporting Actor for Romeo and Juliet and Ivanov as well as received the award for Best Actor as Lennie in Of Mice and Men.

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