Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė
Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė, 2024
Born	(1963-01-20) 20 January 1963 (age 62) Vilnius, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union
Citizenship	Lithuania United Kingdom Russia
Education	Lithuanian State Conservatory
Occupation	Actress television presenter
Years active	1983–present
Height	166 cm (65 in)
Spouse(s)	Arūnas Sakalauskas (divorced) Simon Stokes ​ ​ (m. 1993; div. 2009)​ Dmitry Yampolsky ​ ​ (m. 2013; div. 2018)​
Children	1
Parent(s)	Petras Edmundas Dapkūnas (father)
Awards	Golden Aries Award (1992) Nika Award (1995)

Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė (born January 20, 1963) is a talented actress and TV presenter from Lithuania. She is well-known for her work in both movies and plays. You might recognize her from films like Burnt by the Sun (1994) and Katya Ismailova (1994). For Katya Ismailova, she won a special award called the Nika Award for Best Actress.

Ingeborga has also appeared in big Hollywood movies such as Mission: Impossible (1996) and Seven Years in Tibet (1997). She also starred in Kiss of Life (2003) and the TV series Okkupert (2015–2019). She has performed in theaters in many countries, including Lithuania, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Russia. She often works with the famous actor John Malkovich.

Early Life and First Steps in Acting

Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė was born in Vilnius, Lithuania, on January 20, 1963. At that time, Lithuania was part of the Soviet Union. Her father, Petras Edmundas Dapkūnas, was a diplomat, and her mother, Ingeborga Dapkūnienė, was a meteorologist. Because her parents traveled a lot for work, Ingeborga was mostly raised by her grandmother. Her grandmother managed the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre. Her aunt and uncle also worked in the symphony orchestra. This meant Ingeborga grew up surrounded by the arts!

She made her first appearance on stage at just four years old. She played a small role in the opera Madama Butterfly. Later, she also acted in other operas like Faust. Ingeborga went to a theater school and also enjoyed sports like figure skating and basketball. After finishing school, she studied theater at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.

Her Acting Journey

On Stage

After her studies, Ingeborga joined the Kaunas State Drama Theatre. In just two years, she played seven main roles in plays directed by her teacher, Jonas Vaitkus. She acted in famous plays like Antigone and several plays by William Shakespeare. Later, she moved to the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre.

In 1992, she performed with John Malkovich in a play called Slip of the Tongue. They performed in Chicago and London. This play started a long friendship and many collaborations with Malkovich. They worked together on many other theater projects around the world.

Ingeborga also performed in other theaters in the UK, U.S., and Europe. ..... She even performed in a special play called Touchables, which was the first play to include deaf-blind actors.

On Screen

Early Films in Lithuania

Ingeborga started her film career in 1984. Her first movie was Mano mazyte žmona (which means My Little Wife). She also appeared in films like Nakties paklydeliai (Night Whispers) and Chameleono zaidimai (Chameleon Game). In 1987, she starred in a TV film called Elektroninė senelė [lt] (Electronic Grandmother), based on a story by Ray Bradbury.

Becoming Famous in Russia

Ingeborga became very popular in the Soviet Union after her role in the 1989 drama Intergirl. In 1991, she starred in Cynics, which earned her the Golden Aries Award for Actress of the Year in 1992.

In 1994, she won the Nika Award for Best Actress for her main role in Katya Ismailova. In the same year, she played Marussia in Nikita Mikhalkov's film Burnt by the Sun. This movie was a huge success, winning an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and a top prize at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival.

She continued to act in many Russian films and TV shows. She played Mrs Hudson in a 2012 TV show based on Sherlock Holmes. She also appeared in the Russian version of the reality show Big Brother in 2005.

International Success

After the success of Burnt by the Sun, filmmakers from other countries became interested in Ingeborga. She was cast as an agent in Brian De Palma’s action movie Mission: Impossible (1996). She also played the wife of Heinrich Harrer (played by Brad Pitt) in Seven Years in Tibet (1997).

In 2003, she played Helen in Kiss of Life. In 2007, she had a role in Hannibal Rising. She also acted in the spy thriller L'affaire Farewell (2009).

On TV, she played different roles in British series. She was Jasmina Blekic in Prime Suspect (2003) and nurse Katya Bredova in Bodies (2004). She also appeared in Wallander.

From 2015 to 2019, Ingeborga played a key role as a Russian diplomat, Irina Sidorova, in the Norwegian TV series Okkupert (Occupied). In 2018, she starred as an Estonian detective in The Bridge, a remake of a popular crime drama.

Awards and Recognition

Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė has received several important awards for her acting:

• The 1992 Golden Aries Award for Actress of the Year (for Cynics)
• The 1995 Nika Award for Best Actress (for Katya Ismailova)
• The 2014 Oleg Yankovsky Creative Discovery award (for Zhanna)

Other Activities

Ingeborga has also been a judge at many international film festivals, including the Moscow International Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival. She has also been an ambassador for well-known brands like Longines and L'Oréal. She has also helped teach acting at the Moscow Film School.

Personal Life

Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė has been married three times. Her first husband was Lithuanian actor Arūnas Sakalauskas. Her second husband was British artistic director Simon Stokes, with whom she worked on a play. Her third husband was Dmitry Yampolsky, a lawyer and businessman. They have one son.

She has lived in several countries, including Lithuania, the United Kingdom, Russia, and Belgium. In February 2022, she spoke out against a big event that happened in Russia and decided to leave the country. She holds citizenship in both Lithuania and the United Kingdom.

Helping Others

Ingeborga is also involved in charity work. For many years, she was the chairperson of the board for the Hospice Charity Foundation Vera. She also helps the Friends Foundation. Since 2015, she has produced a special theater project called Touchables. This project helps deaf-blind people get involved in acting and be part of the theater community.

Filmography