Actress. She gained fame as a well-known Danish actress during the silent film era and is considered one of the first internationally-known film actresses. Her films were banned in the United States as she appeared nearly nude. She made her debut in 1910 in "Afgrunden" or "The Abyss," which was the first in a series of erotic melodramas that made Danish films known around the world. She made 70 of her 74 films while in Germany. With her discreet body language and facial expressions, she introduced a modern way of acting and represented with her big dark eyes and her boyish-figure, which was a new female shape in opposition to the ideas of the time. In 1911, she moved to Germany, where she worked with directors such as Ernst Lubitsch, G.W. Pabst, and R. Wiene. Around 1921, she established her own production company, "Die Asta," and appeared in seventy films in Germany before retiring at the introduction of sound film. As Nazism advanced in Germany, she returned to Denmark for political reasons in 1936, where she spent the rest of her life working with textile collages, writing articles, and publishing her autobiography with the title "The Tenth Muse." She and Ukrainian-born actor Gregori Chmara had a long-time romantic cohabited relationship but never married. She had no children.
Actress. She gained fame as a well-known Danish actress during the silent film era and is considered one of the first internationally-known film actresses. Her films were banned in the United States as she appeared nearly nude. She made her debut in 1910 in "Afgrunden" or "The Abyss," which was the first in a series of erotic melodramas that made Danish films known around the world. She made 70 of her 74 films while in Germany. With her discreet body language and facial expressions, she introduced a modern way of acting and represented with her big dark eyes and her boyish-figure, which was a new female shape in opposition to the ideas of the time. In 1911, she moved to Germany, where she worked with directors such as Ernst Lubitsch, G.W. Pabst, and R. Wiene. Around 1921, she established her own production company, "Die Asta," and appeared in seventy films in Germany before retiring at the introduction of sound film. As Nazism advanced in Germany, she returned to Denmark for political reasons in 1936, where she spent the rest of her life working with textile collages, writing articles, and publishing her autobiography with the title "The Tenth Muse." She and Ukrainian-born actor Gregori Chmara had a long-time romantic cohabited relationship but never married. She had no children.
Bio by: Erik Skytte
