Pernilla Nina Elisabeth Wahlgren (born 24 December 1967) is a Swedish singer and actress. She has sung in
Melodifestivalen several times; her 1985 entry titled "
Piccadilly Circus" became popular and successful. She has acted in several plays and films, playing roles including Esmeralda in the
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-winning ''
Fanny and Alexander
''Fanny and Alexander'' ( sv, Fanny och Alexander) is a 1982 period drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. The plot focuses on two siblings and their large family in Uppsala, Sweden during the first decade of the twentieth century. ...
''. She has twice received the
Guldmasken award for her work in theater.
Career
Acting
Wahlgren's first acting job, at the age of four, was alongside her mother in the television play ''Den längsta dagen'' (). She attended
Adolf Fredrik's Music School and was also part of the Saltsjöbaden theater. After playing a small role in ''Lilla prinsen'' () at
Saltsjöbaden's theater, and in the face of stiff competition, Wahlgren got the title role in the musical ''
Annie'' at
Folkan, Stockholm. She then played Esmeralda in
Ingmar Bergman's film ''
Fanny and Alexander
''Fanny and Alexander'' ( sv, Fanny och Alexander) is a 1982 period drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. The plot focuses on two siblings and their large family in Uppsala, Sweden during the first decade of the twentieth century. ...
''.
In 1982, she joined the cast of the Swedish production of ''
The Sound of Music
''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, ''The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. S ...
'', in which she played Louise. At Folkan, she also had parts in ''
Karlsson på taket'' (''Karlsson-on-the-Roof''), ''
Mio, min Mio'' (''Mio in the Land of Faraway''), ''
Snövit'' (''Snow White'') and ''Ringens hemlighet'' (). Wahlgren played Annika in the musical version of ''
Pippi Longstocking
Pippi Longstocking ( sv, Pippi Långstrump) is the fictional main character in an eponymous series of children's books by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. Pippi was named by Lindgren's daughter Karin, who asked her mother for a get-well story w ...
'' at Folket in Stockholm; for the two final performances she replaced
Siw Malmkvist
Siw Gunnel Margareta Malmkvist (born 31 December 1936) is a Swedish schlager singer and actress popular in Scandinavia and West Germany. She had a number one hit in West Germany in 1964 with "''Liebeskummer lohnt sich nicht''" (''"Lovesickness ...
in the role of Pippi, for which she received positive reviews. In her youth and as an adult Wahlgren portrayed Pippi Longstocking several times. Wahlgren appeared in an episode of ''Nygammalt'' in 1983 and an episode of ''Razzel'' in October 1984, where she performed her debut single, "Nu har det tänt". She has also appeared in film and television productions including
Bo Widerberg
Bo Gunnar Widerberg (; 8 June 1930 – 1 May 1997) was a Swedish film director, writer, editor and actor.
Biography Early life
Widerberg was born in Malmö, Malmöhus County, Sweden.
Career
Widerberg was the director of films such as ''Rave ...
's 1986 production of ''
Ormens väg på hälleberget'' (''The Serpent's Way'') and ''Snoken'' in 1995.
Wahlgren has appeared in theatrical comedies in Stockholm, including ''Parneviks cirkusparty'' (), ''Spanska flugan'' () and ''Bubbel trubbel'' (). She has twice been nominated for the
Guldmasken theater award; first for her role in ''Charleys tant'' () at the Intiman Theater, and then for her part in ''Kärlek & lavemang'' () at Fredriksdalsteatern in
Helsingborg
Helsingborg (, , , ) is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and ninth-largest in Sweden, with a population of 113,816 (2020). Helsingborg is the cent ...
. She has also appeared in musical roles in ''
Annie Get Your Gun'', ''
Grease'', ''
The Wizard of Oz'', ''
Cats'' and ''Nils Karlsson Pyssling''. On 29 September 2007, ''The Sound of Music'' premièred at the
Göta Lejon theater in Stockholm, where Wahlgren played in a cast that included
Tommy Nilsson
Erik Tommy Nilsson (born 11 March 1960) is a Swedish singer, songwriter and actor.
Career
In the late 1970s, Nilsson was the singer of Swedish heavy metal band Horizont. The group released two albums but a French producer, Yves Accary, cont ...
. In 2013, she had a role in the musical ''
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert'' at
Göta Lejon.
Between 2018 and 2019, Wahlgren acted in her own stage show celebrating 40-years as a singer and actress, called ''Kort, glad och tacksam'' (). Her second stage show, a continuation of ''Kort, glad och tacksam'', called ''Pernilla Wahlgren har Hybris'' (), wrote and directed by
Edward af Sillén, premiered in 2020.
Music
In the mid-to-late 1980s, Wahlgren developed a
pop music
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former descri ...
career, touring several times and releasing studio albums. Her songs include: "
Svindlande affärer", "I Need Your Love", "Every Time When We're Together" and "Running for Cover". In August 2006, she released the album ''Beautiful Day''; the debut single from the album, "
Talking to an Angel", was certified gold and the track "Come Inside My World" became the theme to
TV4 TV4 or TV 4 may refer to:
*TV4 (Poland), a private Polish television station
*TV4 (Sweden), a Swedish television network
**TV4 Group, owners of the Swedish television station
*South African Broadcasting Corporation TV4, a channel operated by the st ...
's entertainment program ''
Förkväll''.
Melodifestivalen
Wahlgren's musical breakthrough came when she participated in
Melodifestivalen 1985.
Her song "
Piccadilly Circus" became a public favorite, but she was placed fourth in the competition.
Wahlgren participated in
Melodifestivalen 1991 with the song "Tvillingsjäl", which did not make it to the second round of voting. In 2003, she again took part in
Melodifestivalen, this time with
Jan Johansen;
they achieved second place with the song "
Let Your Spirit Fly".
In 2010, Wahlgren again participated in
Melodifestivalen, with the song "
Jag vill om du vågar". Her
2013 entry was with
Jenny Silver
Jenny Maria Öhlund, better known as Jenny Silver (born January 22, 1974), is a Swedish singer.
Career
Jenny Silver started her career in the dance band Candela, which was signed to Bert Karlsson's label, Mariann Grammofon, from 1991 to 1997. ...
and
Hanna Hedlund as part of the band Swedish House Wives performing the song "On Top of the World".
Television
Wahlgren has been a television presenter for several shows, including ''Scenen är din'', ''
Söndagsöppet'' (both on
SVT), ''
Småstjärnorna'' and ''Baby Boom'' (both on
TV4 TV4 or TV 4 may refer to:
*TV4 (Poland), a private Polish television station
*TV4 (Sweden), a Swedish television network
**TV4 Group, owners of the Swedish television station
*South African Broadcasting Corporation TV4, a channel operated by the st ...
). She and her brother
Niclas also presented the children's show ''Nicke & Nilla'' on TV4. Wahlgren had a role in the 1995 series ''Snoken'' on SVT. She also dubbed several children's films, such as ''
The Lego Movie
''The Lego Movie'' is a 2014 computer-animated adventure comedy film written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from a story by Lord, Miller, and Dan and Kevin Hageman. Based on the Lego line of construction toys, its story focu ...
'' (as the voice for
Princess Unikitty), and voiced Misty, Melody and Delia Ketchum in several
Pokémon films). From 2016, she has participated in the reality series ''
Wahlgrens värld'' (''Wahlgren's World'') which is broadcast on
Kanal 5 and documents her life. The series was continued with a third and fourth season in 2018; a fifth and sixth season were broadcast in 2019. In 2019, Wahlgren had a leading role as Santa's wife in
Sveriges Television's Christmas calendar,
Panik i tomteverkstan, opposite
Per Andersson.
Personal life
Wahlgren was born to actors
Christina Schollin and
Hans Wahlgren
Hans Carl Gustav Wahlgren (born 26 June 1937) is a Swedish actor.
Career
Wahlgren grew up in Smedslätten, and debuted in a film in 1945 in Ragnar Falcks shortfilm ''Indianer och blekansikten''. His breakthrough came in the film ''Raggare'' in 1 ...
on
Christmas Eve. She has three brothers: actor and singer
Niclas, actor
Linus, and broker and firefighter Peter. She was married to dancer and composer
Emilio Ingrosso from 1993 to 2002; they have three children—
Oliver Ingrosso (born 1989), a DJ, music producer and actor;
Bianca Ingrosso (born 1994), a blogger and singer; and
Benjamin Ingrosso
Benjamin Daniele Wahlgren Ingrosso (born 14 September 1997) is a Swedish singer, songwriter and record producer. As a child, he appeared in the leading role in several musicals, and in 2006 he won Lilla Melodifestivalen with the song "Hej Sofia ...
(born 1997), a singer, artist and songwriter. Pernilla also has a son, Theo (born 2007), with Joachim Lennholm. In an episode of ''Vem tror du att du är?'' (''Who do you think You Are?'') broadcast on SVT in 2011 it was revealed to Wahlgren that she was of Italian descent on her father's side of the family. Since 2021, Wahlgren has been a relationship with Christian Bauer.
Discography
Studio albums
Source:
*''Pernilla Wahlgren (album)'' (1985)
*''
Attractive'' (1986)
*''
Pure Dynamite'' (1987)
*''
Flashback'' (1989)
*''
I Myself and Me'' (1992)
*''
Flashback Number Four'' (1995) (Best of)
*''
Pernilla Wahlgren'' (1995) (Re-issue)
*''Beautiful Day'' (2006)
*''
Holiday with You'' (2012)
Singles
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wahlgren, Pernilla
1967 births
Living people
People from Värmdö Municipality
Melodifestivalen contestants
Swedish musical theatre actresses
English-language singers from Sweden
20th-century Swedish actresses
21st-century Swedish actresses
20th-century Swedish women singers
Swedish people of Italian descent
21st-century Swedish women singers