Lina Leandersson facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Lina Leandersson
Leandersson in November 2009
Born	(1995-09-27) 27 September 1995 (age 29) Falun, Sweden
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2008–present

Lina Leandersson (born September 27, 1995) is a Swedish actress. She is famous for her leading role as Eli in the 2008 Swedish vampire movie, Let the Right One In. The film was based on a popular novel of the same name.

Early Life and First Roles

Lina Leandersson was born in Falun, a city in Sweden. From a young age, she loved to perform. She acted in local plays, took drama classes, and learned street and jazz dance. One of her first roles was in an amateur theater show where she played the mother of a girl who wanted new jeans.

In 2006, Lina was a jury member for a Swedish song contest for kids called Lilla Melodifestivalen. That same year, she was chosen from 500 kids to join a special program on the TV channel Nickelodeon.

Starring in 'Let the Right One In'

Lina found out about the role in Let the Right One In through an online casting website. After she applied, she auditioned three times before she was given the part. At first, she didn't even know she was trying out for the role of a vampire.

"I was shocked," she later said. "I thought it was a more usual role." But once she got used to the idea, she thought it was exciting. "I wanted to be a vampire when I was little," she said.

Playing the Vampire Eli

In the movie, Lina plays Eli, a young vampire who becomes friends with a 12-year-old boy named Oskar. Oskar is often picked on by bullies at school. Eli helps Oskar and encourages him to be brave.

Because the character of Eli was meant to seem both boyish and girlish, the director, Tomas Alfredson, decided to use a different voice for the character. This is a process called dubbing. Lina's own voice was replaced with a lower-pitched one from another actress, Elif Ceylan. Lina didn't mind and joked that "it was actually nice to be dubbed, my voice sounds weird."

To help them act naturally, the director never gave Lina and her co-star the full script. Instead, he would read their lines to them right before each scene. Lina said the hardest parts were acting angry and switching between being a normal kid and a "crazy" vampire.

Even though she felt she "became" the character Eli while filming, Lina said she is not very similar to her. She described Eli as being more serious and thoughtful. Filming outside in very cold weather (sometimes -30 °C) was tough, but she still called the experience "the most fun [she] has ever had."

What Critics Said

Let the Right One In became a huge success all over the world. Movie critics praised Lina for her performance. Many said she did an amazing job of playing a character who was lonely and different.

One writer for Elle magazine said Lina showed Eli's loneliness with a "watchful caution and a contained stillness of body." Another critic, James Berardinelli, said she created a character who was "both mysterious and compelling." Her performance was even compared to other famous child actors in vampire movies. For her work, Lina won several awards and was nominated for many more.

Other Acting Projects

After her big movie, Lina continued to act. In 2012 and 2013, she filmed two movies: The Arbiter, an Estonian film, and Broken Hill Blues, a Swedish film.

In 2015, she performed on stage for the first time at Sweden's famous Royal Dramatic Theater. She was in a play by Henrik Ibsen called The Wild Duck.

Personal Life

Lina grew up in Falun, Sweden, with her mother, stepfather, and two younger sisters. Her family background is both Swedish and Iranian.

She has always enjoyed dancing and acting. Unlike many in her family who are athletes, Lina isn't a big fan of sports. She once said, "I was on a football team when I was in third grade. But I was so bad that I wasn't allowed to play in a match."

Lina has said she wants to keep acting and try many different kinds of roles. In school, her favorite subject was history because she found it "interesting to know how people lived and died in the past." From 2011 to 2014, she studied theater at a performing arts school in Stockholm.

Filmography

Stage Roles

Awards

See also

In Spanish: Lina Leandersson para niños