Iben Hjejle

Acting

Iben Hjejle

Born 1971-03-22 · København, Danmark

Iben Hjejle (born March 22, 1971) is a Danish actress, notable for starring in the John Cusack film High Fidelity (2000). In Denmark, she is best known for appearing in the Danish television sitcom Langt fra Las Vegas (Far from Las Vegas), and playing the girlfriend of Danish comedian Casper Christensen, her former real life boyfriend. She also plays Christensen's girlfriend in the sitcom Klovn (Clown). Hjejle was born in Copenhagen. She has starred in a series of Danish movies, including a Dogme movie, and also in Danish-produced action movies such as Gamle mænd i nye biler (Old Men in New Cars). She also played the Swedish Queen Sofia Magdalena in SVT's successful period drama production of Gustav III:s äktenskap (The Marriage of Gustav III) in 2001. Hjejle also appeared in the 1997 film Portland, in Mifune's Last Song in 2000, The Emperor's New Clothes in 2002, and in Dreaming of Julia and Flickering Lights in 2003. Iben Hjejle was a part of the Danish popular television series Anna Pihl until its ending in April 2008, after 3 seasons. She had a part in Lars von Trier's Direktøren for det hele (2006, also known as The Boss of It All). She turned down the role of Eowyn in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy because she didn't like the idea of being so far from home.

Acting credits

Defiance poster
6.8

Based on a true story, during World War II, four Jewish brothers escape their Nazi-occupied homeland of West Belarus in Poland and join the Soviet partisans to combat the Nazis. The brothers begin the rescue of roughly 1,200 Jews still trapped in the ghettos of Poland.

Defiance

2008

High Fidelity poster
7.1

After his long-time girlfriend dumps him, a thirty-year-old record store owner seeks to understand why he is unlucky in love while recounting his "top five breakups of all time".

High Fidelity

2000

Stockholm East poster
5.4

Stockholm East is the love story between two strangers, bound together by a tragedy that has taken its toll on both their lives and relationships. When Johan and Anna meet at the railway station connecting Stockholm with the idyllic suburbs where they both live, they embark on a dangerous journey of passion and lies.

Stockholm East

2011

Flickering Lights poster
7.2

Four small gangsters from Copenhagen trick a gangster boss: they take over 4,000,000 kroner which they were supposed to bring him. Trying to escape to Barcelona they are forced to stop in the countryside, in an old, wrecked house, hiding there for several weeks. Slowly, one after another, they realize, that they would like to stay there, start a new life.

Flickering Lights

2000

The Good Cop poster
6.4

A crew of young, small-time crooks screws up. Ripping off a shipping container of Chinese silk for a Rasta gang, they also come away with two and a half kilos of heroin belonging to the Latvian mafia. A friend of theirs, Jens (Kim Bodnia), a plainclothes cop, tries to mediate, but instead all barrels are turned on him. The Latvians and the Chinese want him. Jamaican dope growers, ice-cold Serbian heroin dealers and Polish human smugglers are gunning for him. And to top it all off, he also has to dodge his fellow officers, backed by the scuba corps and elite-forces soldiers, to save his young friends.

The Good Cop

2004

Chéri poster
6.1

The son of a courtesan retreats into a fantasy world after being forced to end his relationship with the older woman who educated him in the ways of love.

Chéri

2009

Maret poster
5.4

After losing part of her memory, Maret, 44, sets out to find out who she used to be. She learns about the many different life paths she followed, in none of which anything was ever really achieved. A profoundly unhappy person in a never-ending, headlong rush. A doctor on the island of Lanzarote offers to put this restlessness to an end through brain surgery. A promise of peace and satisfaction. Will Maret proceed with the surgery that would take away part of her being - or not?

Maret

2023

Austerity poster
NR

Mona is a young woman and bookworm with no formal education, living in the social housing project Nøjsomheden in Helsingør. She falls head over heels in love with Nikolaj, who comes from a more well-off neighborhood on the other side of town. Meanwhile, she is also desperately trying to get her pusher cousin Frederik to realize that he must visit his dying mother, Mona's beloved and all-embracing Aunt Tut. Will Mona succeed in getting Frederik to reconcile with his mother - and how? Can she match the intellectual Nikolaj - or is the class gap too great?

Austerity

2026

The Boss of It All poster
6.6

The owner of an Information Technology firm wants to sell his business for profit. The trouble is that when he started his firm he invented a nonexistent company president to hide behind when unpopular steps needed to be taken. When potential purchasers insist on negotiating with the "Boss" face to face the owner has to hire a failed actor to play the part.

The Boss of It All

2006

Sweet Dreams poster
6.4

Skagerrak is the story of being hit by happiness when you least expect it. In their late twenties and tired of partying their way around the world, Danish Marie and Irish Sophie come ashore in Northern Scotland. After another drunken night they are soon parted from all their accumulated cash. Out of money and out of luck ambitious Sophie pressures Marie into accepting a lucrative job as surrogate mother. Months on, Marie finds herself alone, life having taken a dramatic turn. Heavily pregnant, and wanting to terminate her pregnancy, she's on the run from the future parents, searching for Sophie's old flame, Ken. In a case of mistaken identity, Marie ends up in hiding with three strange men in a seedy Glasgow garage. But then happiness strikes again.

Sweet Dreams

2003

Mifune poster
7.0

Kresten, newly wed, is on the threshold of a great career success in his father-in-law’s company. But when the death of his own father takes him back to his poverty-stricken childhood home, far out in the country, his career plans fall apart. For one thing he has to deal with his loveable, backward brother, who is now all alone; for another, he meets a stunning woman who comes to the farm as a housekeeper, in disguise of her real profession as a call-girl.

Mifune

1999

Possessed poster
4.9

A stranger arrives in Copenhagen from a plane from Romania. Shortly after the power is lost in the whole city.

Possessed

1999

Shabholm poster
4.8

An oil sheik has bought Bornholm and turned the Danish island into a Middle Eastern holiday paradise – for shababs only.

Shabholm

2023

Shabholm poster
4.8

An oil sheik has bought Bornholm and turned the Danish island into a Middle Eastern holiday paradise – for shababs only.

Shabholm

2023

Growing Pains poster
2.7

Fabian is a shy, introverted teenager who lives with his bossy and prudish mother. Fabians world gets turned upside down when he meets the fun and cool Felicia and they fall in love. But there is one small problem. Whenever Fabian gets horny, he turns into a werewolf. A twisted coming of age short film about a young man who has to discover and accept who he really is.

Growing Pains

2014

Old Men in New Cars: In China They Eat Dogs II poster
6.8

The last wish of the dying "Monk" is for his foster child, Harald, to find his real son, Ludvig. But the latter is currently in a Swedish prison cell...

Old Men in New Cars: In China They Eat Dogs II

2002

The Emperor's New Clothes poster
6.8

Napoleon, exiled, devises a plan to retake the throne. He'll swap places with commoner Eugene Lenormand, sneak into Paris, then Lenormand will reveal himself and Napoleon will regain his throne. Things don't go at all well; first, the journey proves more difficult than expected, but more disastrously, Lenormand enjoys himself too much to reveal the deception. Napoleon adjusts somewhat uneasily to the life of a commoner while waiting, while Lenormand gorges on rich food.

The Emperor's New Clothes

2001

Dreaming of Julia poster
6.0

The year is 1958, and in Holguín, Cuba, a boy's world is about to change forever.

Dreaming of Julia

2003

The Eclipse poster
6.0

Michael is a widower who is struggling to adjust to his new role as the sole caretaker of his two children. Still reeling from the death of his wife, he has been plagued by terrifying apparitions. When he volunteers at a local literary festival, he finds himself drawn to Lena, an empathetic author of supernatural fiction. While Lena tries to help Michael with the mystery of his nightmarish visions, she must contend with problems of her own, as she’s being jealously pursued by self-obsessed novelist Nicholas, her one-time lover. As the festival progresses, the three adults’ lives converge and collide.

The Eclipse

2009

The Idiots Who Started The Party poster
6.0

Danish film has never felt stronger on the international stage than it did with the Dogme films, which at the world premiere of 'The Party' and 'The Idiots' during the Cannes Film Festival in 1998 put Denmark on the film world map. Another eight films under the strict Dogme rules followed and created great international careers for several of the talents in front of and behind the handheld camera. Thomas Vinterberg, Søren Kragh-Jacobsen, Paprika Steen, Ulrich Thomsen, Trine Dyrholm, Iben Hjejle, Anders W. Berthelsen, Lone Scherfig, Sonja Richter and many more of the country's greatest filmmakers look back on when Denmark became Dogme.

The Idiots Who Started The Party

2020

Klown Forever poster
5.8

Frank and Casper's friendship is put to a test, when Casper decides to leave Denmark to pursue a solo career in Los Angeles. Determined to win his best friend back Frank chooses to follow Casper insuring an eventful trip.

Klown Forever

2015

Wallander: The Ghost poster
4.3

Arson is suspected when a house burns to the ground following a gas explosion, and a man and a woman are found dead. Wallander investigates and uncovers an intricate web of lies.

Wallander: The Ghost

2010

Klown poster
6.5

Frank is left with the responsibility for his nephew Bo on an already planned canoe trip. Frank's mate Casper is also coming along. Weighed down a with their obligation, Frank and Casper nevertheless look forward to ending the trip at Skanderborg Festival where there's plenty there for the guys, a spree of drinking and women. Not the best example to set for young Bo. And how do their partners see it all?

Klown

2010

Journey to Saturn poster
5.8

A Danish crew of misfits travel to Saturn in search for natural resources. However, the planet is colonized by a ruthless army of Aliens that turn their eye on Earth and invade Denmark. Thus, the crew change their mission to liberate Denmark.

Journey to Saturn

2008