Tuva Novotny is a Swedish actress, screenwriter, and director known for versatile performances across Scandinavian and international cinema. Daughter of a Czech film director and a Swedish actress, she transitioned from a celebrated acting career into acclaimed feature filmmaking.
Tuva Novotny Wiki-Bio
| Field | Details |
| Full Name | Tuva Matilda Moa Karolina Novotny Hedström |
| Date of Birth | December 21, 1979 |
| Age | 46 Years |
| Profession | Actress, Film Director, Screenwriter |
| Birth Place | Matteus församling, Stockholm, Sweden |
| Hometown | Åmot, Brunskogs socken, Värmland County, Sweden |
| Nationality | Swedish |
| Ethnicity | Swedish, with Czech paternal heritage |
| Relationship Status | In a relationship with Alexander Skarsgård |
Family Members
| Field | Details |
| Partner | Alexander Skarsgård (Swedish actor; together since early 2022) |
| Former Partner | Ola Rapace (Swedish actor) |
| Former Partner | Nicolai Bjerrum Lersbryggen (Norwegian adventurer; relationship spanned over 10 years) |
| Children | Three children |
| Father | David Jan Novotný (Czech film director, scriptwriter, and academic) |
| Mother | Barbro Hedström (Swedish actress, sculptor, and visual artist) |
| Sibling | Bill Novotny Hedström, among four siblings |
Education
| Field | Details |
| Childhood Training | Vår teater, a children’s theatre program in Stockholm |
| School | Sankt Eriks Gymnasium, Stockholm (theatre program) |
| Other Qualification | Drama studies in the Czech Republic, interrupted by professional acting work |
Early Life
Tuva Novotny was raised in Åmot, a rural area in Värmland County, where she trained in classical ballet and participated in local youth bands. Following her family’s move to Stockholm, she enrolled in a respected children’s theatre program before later attending Sankt Eriks Gymnasium.
She moved to the Czech Republic to pursue formal drama training, following her father’s heritage, but her studies were interrupted as acting roles required her return to professional sets.
Tuva Novotny Family Background
Novotny was raised in an artistically driven household. Her father, David Jan Novotný, was a Czech film director, scriptwriter, and academic, while her mother, Barbro Hedström, worked as an actress, sculptor, and visual artist with credits in 1960s American television.
This combination of technical filmmaking knowledge and hands-on performance training shaped her early creative instincts, eventually guiding her path toward both acting and directing.
Career
Tuva Novotny began her acting career as a teenager, appearing in Swedish television before landing the lead role in the long-running drama series Skilda världar. She built a substantial filmography across Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish productions, eventually crossing into international cinema with roles in Eat Pray Love, A War, and Annihilation.
After years of acting, she began directing television episodes for the Norwegian series Dag and the Netflix co-production Lilyhammer, using these projects to develop her technical filmmaking skills. This groundwork led to her acclaimed 2018 feature directorial debut, Blind Spot, a single continuous-take drama exploring a family’s mental health crisis.
She followed this with Britt-Marie Was Here (2019) and Diorama (2022), establishing herself as a respected writer-director within the Scandinavian co-production system. Her recent work includes the Swedish series Allt och Eva and continued acting and directing projects across the region.
| Year | Milestone |
| 1996–2000 | Lead role in Skilda världar |
| 2010–2015 | Directed episodes of Norwegian series Dag |
| 2018 | Feature directorial debut with Blind Spot |
| 2019 | Directed Britt-Marie Was Here |
| 2022 | Directed Diorama |
Public Profiles
| Platform | Link |
| IMDb | https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0637259/ |
| Wikipedia | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuva_Novotny |
| Mubi | https://mubi.com/en/cast/tuva-novotny |
Some Lesser Known Facts
- Tuva does not maintain any public or verified profiles on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok, or YouTube — a deliberate choice to protect her family’s privacy.
- Her mother, Barbro Hedström, appeared in American television productions in the 1960s, including Hogan’s Heroes and Speedway alongside Elvis Presley.
- Her directorial debut, Blind Spot, was filmed in a single continuous real-time take, a technically demanding choice that drew strong praise at international festivals.
- She won Best Director and Best Screenplay at Norway’s Kanon Awards for Blind Spot in 2018.
- She has worked fluently across Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish productions, making her one of the most cross-regionally integrated performers in Nordic cinema.
- Her relationship with Alexander Skarsgård remained unconfirmed publicly until he revealed their son’s birth at the Season 4 premiere of Succession in March 2023.
- She was appointed to the Cannes Film Festival’s Short Film Jury and Cinéfondation section in 2021, a significant industry recognition.
- Her role in Annihilation (2018) placed her within a broader industry conversation about casting and adaptation faithfulness, following criticism directed at the film’s casting choices relative to its source novels.
References
- https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/p/tuva-novotny/
- https://www.screendaily.com/news/tuva-novotnys-blind-spot-wins-at-cph-pix-/5133229.article
- https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a65476837/who-is-tuva-novotny-alexander-skarsgard-girlfriend/