Hera Hilmar

This article is about a person whose name includes a patronymic. The article properly refers to the person by her given name, Hera, and not as Hilmar.

Hera Hilmar
Hera talks to MTV about Mortal Engines in 2018
Born	Hera Hilmarsdóttir[1] (1988-12-27) 27 December 1988 (age 36) Reykjavík, Iceland
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1995–1998, 2006–present

Hera Hilmarsdóttir^[1] (born 27 December 1988),^[2] known professionally as Hera Hilmar, is an Icelandic actress. Starting her career as a child actor, she has been active in the film industry since 1995.

Personal life

Hera is the daughter of the film director Hilmar Oddsson and actress Thorey Sigthorsdottir (Icelandic: Þórey Sigþórsdóttir).^[2][3][4] Her grandfather was playwright and theater director Oddur Björnsson.

She graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 2011.^[5]

Career

Hera was nominated for an Edda as Actress of the Year in a leading role in 2007 for her role in The Quiet Storm. She joined Da Vinci's Demons in 2013 as Vanessa Moschella, an outspoken Florentine barmaid and occasional model for Leonardo.

Later she won the same award (Edda) twice, first in 2015 for her role as Eik in Life in a Fishbowl, and then in 2017 for her role as Anna in The Oath.^[6] She was also chosen as one of Europe's Shooting Stars at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2015, as well as winning a ‘special mention’ at the Zurich Film Festival for her role in Life in a Fishbowl.

In 2015, Hera appeared in the period drama film The Ottoman Lieutenant, playing Lillie Rowe, a 20-year-old nurse from a prominent Philadelphia family. Around the same time, Hera played Tanja, a Serbian agent disguised as a housemaid alongside Ben Kingsley in Brad Silberling's film, An Ordinary Man, which was later screened in 2017 before being released direct-to-video in June 2018.^[7] In 2016, Hera starred in The Ashram, which would be released two years later.^[8]

In February 2017, Hera was doing a play in Iceland when she heard about Peter Jackson’s film, Mortal Engines, based on the novel of the same name by Philip Reeve. Writer Philippa Boyens described her audition via Skype as "flawless", and she was cast thereafter.^[9][10][11] Her character, Hester Shaw, is different than in the novel, as she is older and a protagonist.^[12] Upon release in December 2018, she recounted reading the source material and going through the action that the complexly crafted world demanded. She tried to understand more during filming, which took place between April and July 2017.^[13][9][14]

In June 2018, Hera was cast in Matt Weiner's anthology series The Romanoffs.^[15] On October 18, 2018, it was reported that she had joined the Apple TV+ series See, alongside Christian Camargo.^[16] She plays Maghra, the wife of Baba Voss, a character played by Jason Momoa.

During the pandemic, Hera collaborated with The Icelandic Film Centre for the 2020 short films Last Dance and Óskin, or “The Wish”. She also starred as the leading role “Helga” in Ása Helga Hjörleifsdóttir’s feature film adaptation of Svar við bréfi Helgu, or A Letter from Helga. In addition, she provided the narration for a video revealing the new national Icelandic football team crest.^[17]

In 2024, Hera starred in a Canadian thriller film Hangashore.^[18]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
1995	Tears of Stone	Jón's daughter	Hilmar Oddsson	Film début; As Hera Hilmarsdóttir
1998	No Trace [is]	Child		As Hera Hilmarsdóttir
2006	An Ordinary Day	Un­known		Short film; As Hera Hilmarsdóttir
2007	The Quiet Storm	Disa	Guðný Halldórsdóttir	As Hera Hilmarsdóttir; Role shared with Þórey Sigþórsdóttir [is] (her mother) Nominated – Edda Award for Best Leading Actress
2008	Two Birds	Lára	Rúnar Rúnarsson	Short film; As Hera Hilmarsdóttir
2010	Undercurrent	Un­known	Árni Ólafur Ásgeirsson	As Hera Hilmarsdóttir; Also Production Assistant
2012	Anna Karenina	Varya Chirkova	Joe Wright	English language début
2013	We Are the Freaks	Iona	Justin Edgar
	The Fifth Estate	WikiLeaks Staffer #2	Bill Condon
2014	Life in a Fishbowl	Eik	Baldvin Zophoníasson	Edda Award for Best Leading Actress Shooting Stars Award at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival Special Mention at the 11th Zurich Film Festival
	Get Santa	WPC Boyle	Christopher Smith
2016	Alleycats	Trix	Ian Bonhôte
	The Oath	Anna	Baltasar Kormákur	Edda Award for Best Leading Actress
2017	The Ottoman Lieutenant	Lillie Rowe	Joseph Ruben
	An Ordinary Man	Tanja	Brad Silberling
	Summer Children	Un­known	Guðrún Ragnarsdóttir [is]
2018	The Ashram	Sophie	Ben Rekhi
	Mortal Engines	Hester Shaw	Christian Rivers	Role shared with Poppy MacLeod
2020	The Wish	Halla	Inga Lísa Middleton	Short film
	Last Dance	Woman	Ása Helga Hjörleifsdóttir
2022	A Letter from Helga	Helga
	Driving Mum	Bergdis	Hilmar Oddsson
2024	Hangashore[18]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2012	Leaving	Paulina	3 episodes
	World Without End	Margery
2013–2015	Da Vinci's Demons	Vanessa Moschella	25 episodes
2018	The Romanoffs	Ondine
2019–2022	See	Maghra Kane
TBA	Reykjavik Fusion	Marý	Lead role

References

1. "Hera Hilmarsdóttir". Icelandic Film Centre. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
2. "Alltaf góðir vinir". mbl.is (in Icelandic). 22 June 2008.
3. "Registers Iceland". Archived from the original on 2014-07-09. Retrieved 2014-09-19.
4. Simon, Alissa (2015-05-21). "International Star You Should Know: 'Da Vinci's Demons' Actress Hera Hilmar". Variety. Retrieved 2018-12-19.
5. "Bast No. 7". Archived from the original on 2014-10-24.
6. "Eddan – Íslensku kvikmynda- og sjónvarpsverðlaunin". 2007. Archived from the original on 2014-09-24. Retrieved 2014-09-19.
7. David Hourin (April 13, 2018). "Hera Hilmar on her "intimate and intense" role with Ben Kingsley in "An Ordinary Man"". CBS News. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
8. Tartaglione, Nancy. "Sam Keeley, Melissa Leo & Kal Penn Join 'The Ashram' From 'The Lunchbox' Producer". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
9. Christina Radish (2018-12-13). "Hera Hilmar on 'Mortal Engines' and the Challenge of Bringing Hester Shaw to Life". Retrieved 2019-10-30.
10. Fleming, Mike Jr. (February 7, 2017). "Peter Jackson's 'Mortal Engines' Sets Hera Hilmar As Female Lead". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 2017-06-15. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
11. Kroll, Justin (2017-02-07). "Newcomer Hera Hilmar Lands Female Lead in Peter Jackson's 'Mortal Engines'". Variety. Retrieved 2018-12-19.
12. Leadbeater, Alex (June 5, 2018). "The 7 Biggest Changes Mortal Engines Makes To The Book". Screen Rant. Retrieved 2019-10-29.
13. Bryan White (December 12, 2018). "'Mortal Engines' Star Hera Hilmar Says Filming Was Like "Being in an Amusement Park"". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
14. Brian Truitt (December 10, 2018). "'Mortal Engines' star Hera Hilmar wears her heroine's controversial scar proudly". USA Today. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
15. Tartaglione, Nancy (June 26, 2018). "'Mortal Engines' Hera Hilmar Cast In Matt Weiner's 'The Romanoffs' At Amazon". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
16. Petski, Denise (October 18, 2018). "Christian Camargo & Hera Hilmar Join Apple Series 'See' From Steven Knight & Francis Lawrence". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on October 19, 2018. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
17. Jelena Ćirić (July 2, 2020). "Iceland Reveals New National Football Crest in Dramatic Video". Iceland Review. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
18. Zac Ntim (March 6, 2024), ‘Hangashore:’ Production Begins On Canadian Thriller Starring ‘Peaky Blinders’ Actor James Frecheville, retrieved May 9, 2024

External links

• Hera Hilmar at IMDb
• Hera Hilmar on Twitter
• Hera Hilmar on Instagram