CONNIE NIELSEN (Lt. Julia Osborne) is best known for her star-making portrayal of Princess Lucilla opposite Russell Crowe's Maximus in the 2001 Academy Award®-winning Gladiator. Performances such as this have made Hollywood take notice.
In addition to Basic, Nielsen is currently starring in The Hunted with Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro, as an FBI agent tracking down a trained assassin. The film is directed by William Friedkin (The French Connection). In addition, Nielsen has completed a starring role in the suspense thriller Demonlover for acclaimed director Olivier Assayas (Irma Vep), as an industrial spy in a corporate acquisition war. It was one of the most talked about films at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, and also stars Chloe Sevigny and Gina Gershon. She recently completed production on The Great Raid opposite Benjamin Bratt, Joseph Fiennes and James Franco for director John Dahl. She portrays an American nurse who is one of the leaders of an underground movement liberating prisoners-of-war in the Philippines at the end of WWII. Miramax Films plans to release the film later this year.
Nielsen was recently seen in Fox Searchlight's One Hour Photo, a favorite at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, in which she stars opposite Robin Williams as the object of his character's (a photo clerk) obsession. After its initial limited release, the film, directed by Mark Romanek, enjoyed the biggest per screen average opening in Fox Searchlight history to date. In 2000, Nielsen starred in the Brian DePalma space odyssey Mission to Mars opposite Gary Sinise, Tim Robbins and Don Cheadle as an astronaut who is part of the first manned mission to Mars.
Her breakthrough performance came in 1997 when she impressed audiences with her portrayal of a lawyer-cum-Satan's daughter in The Devils Advocate starring Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves. Additionally, she has given unforgettable performances as an unmatronly Texan mom in Rushmore (with Bill Murray) and as a German heroin junkie in Permanent Midnight opposite Ben Stiller. Other film credits include The Innocents, Voyage with Rutger Hauer and Eric Roberts, and the European films Le Paradis Absolument, Okavango and Colletti Bianchi.
Born and raised in Denmark, Nielsen currently resides in New York.
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