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News
2025
- A burst of joy! The best-loved comedy of all time took the stage at Tjarnarbíó in autumn 2025, produced by Silfurskeiðin.
- Reykjavík 112 The crime series Reykjavík 112, based on Yrsa Sigurðardóttir’s bestselling novel, premiered on RÚV this autumn. I play a respected scientist who becomes the target of a…
- Af fjöllum er ég kominn Af fjöllum er ég kominn played to a full house at the Nordic House this weekend. It was wonderful to see the young actors Kristín and Sigga lead the audience on a…
2024
2022
2021
- Rehearsals begin for DDR (That Which Is) Rehearsals have begun for Peter Asmussen’s DDR (That Which Is), a beautiful, bittersweet play about loving, hoping and betraying. Premiere at Tjarnarbíó on 20 January…
- Hver drap Friðrik Dór? This wildly funny television series is now on screen, and I got to make use of being half Faroese and speak with a thick accent in my scenes. It was a joy to work with…
2020
- Thin Ice I finally went into politics: in the Icelandic-Swedish series Thin Ice (Ísalög) I got to fight oil drilling in the Arctic as Iceland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs at a…
- Er ég mamma mín? (Am I My Mother?) “Am I my mother?” is the key question in this new play by María Reyndal, who takes us with sincerity and courage on a journey to the very heart of our most important…
2019
2018
- Faith, Hope and Love Trú, von og kærleikur (Faith, Hope and Love) is the working title of a television series María is developing. It focuses on her great-grandfather, Rev. Haraldur…
- “The Prayer”: a sermon by Haraldur Níelsson at the Free Church in Reykjavík On the first Sunday of Advent, 2 December, María delivered Haraldur Níelsson’s sermon “The Prayer” at the Free Church in Reykjavík, where he stood in the pulpit a…
- “Theological Studies”: a 1913 lecture by Haraldur Níelsson To mark 150 years since the birth of Rev. Haraldur Níelsson, María – his great-granddaughter – delivered his lecture “Theological Studies” at the University of Iceland…
- A secret dance career in Finland You could say María has a secret dance career in Finland – this autumn she danced there for the fourth time.
2017
- Teaching acting in Greenland The Greenlandic National Theatre runs a drama school, and María was invited to teach Grotowski technique and improvisation there. The year before, students from the…
- Arctic Women Arctic Women is a new work that María and the Norwegian actor Juni Dahr are developing, about the human encounter with nature.
2016
- Nobody Meets Anybody goes to Akureyri We are heading north to Akureyri and will perform at Samkomuhúsið on 2 October at 8 pm.
- Nobody Meets Anybody goes to the Faroe Islands We took Nobody Meets Anybody on tour to the Faroe Islands in early September, and Sif Gunnarsdóttir, director of the Nordic House, challenged us to learn the play in Faroese.
- Premiere in a new theatre space The big day arrived and all the threads came together. It was an amazing feeling to lead the audience into a new theatre space and into Asmussen’s world.
- Workshop at Kolstaðir There is always some kind of magic at the Kolstaðir workshop – time stops, the play fills the whole space, and the only audience is the mountains and the lava.
- Rehearsals begin for Nobody Meets Anybody Actors María Ellingsen and Björn Ingi Hilmarsson read the sharp text, in which sixteen terse scenes reveal different pictures of a love affair between a man and a woman.
2014
- Burial Rites – Hannah Kent María read from Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites this Christmas. She met Hannah when the author visited Iceland in the autumn for the book’s Icelandic publication.
- Hraunið Hraunið premiered on RÚV this autumn to great acclaim. In this crime series María plays the detective Marín.
- Quack quack – the Mighty Ducks reunite in Hollywood The Mighty Ducks were called together for a reunion in Hollywood, 20 years after the popular trilogy hit the big screen.
- Nordic Ljus 2014 – closing performance The Nordic Ljus 2014 arts festival ended with a spectacular outdoor closing performance in Joensuu, Finland.
- Roots – closing performance of Nordic Ljus Roots, the closing performance of Nordic Ljus, was performed at sunset in Joensuu, Finland, this evening, with a hundred young Nordic performers on stage.
- The Testimony of Melangell María performed the story of the Honey Angel with four singers and four musicians at Harpa and Skálholt.
- Your Eyes, My Eyes premieres at NYU New York University’s student theatre staged the play on 22 April to an excellent response.
- Spark and Light On her milestone birthday this year, María acted in the short film Spark and Light by So Yong Kim.
2013
- The Journey of the Phoenix in the Åland Islands “I forgot to breathe and time disappeared …” said a critic in the Åland Islands about The Journey of the Phoenix after our performance in the main hall of the brand-new cultural centre in October.
- Nordic Ljus 2014 In August María met in Finland with the other leaders of the Nordic Ljus 2014 arts festival, an adventure for artistically gifted young people.
- Writers’ workshop at NYU Abu Dhabi Augun mín og augun þín (My Eyes and Your Eyes) is a new play that María Ellingsen, Kevin Kuhlke and Snorri Freyr Hilmarsson have been developing for several years.
- Of Horses and Men A cruel rural romance about the human in the horse and the horse in the human. Love, sex, horses and death intertwine with terrible consequences.
- Midsummer in Lapland An adventurous performance with Reijo Kela on Midsummer Night in Lapland, in which the bride from The Journey of the Phoenix danced with other maidens out in a marsh.…
2011
- The Journey of the Phoenix in the Faroe Islands The Journey of the Phoenix was invited to the Nordic House in the Faroe Islands, where it was warmly received by audiences and critics alike and played to packed houses.…
- Yoga YOGA is a music and video DVD combining gentle music by Friðrik Karlsson with simple yoga exercises led by María Ellingsen.
- The Phoenix under the open sky The Journey of the Phoenix was performed outdoors in Finland in October. This is a style Reijo Kela has developed over many years, and María Ellingsen took the plunge…
- A crazy couple in Finland A dance-theatre performance was one of the adventures of the autumn. The Finnish dancer Reijo Kela invited María to move in with him for a day in a sixties apartment…
- Hæ Gosi! 2 breaks viewing records The second season of Hæ Gosi! got off to a flying start on SkjárEinn this autumn and has now broken every viewing record on the channel. It combines a first-rate cast…
- The Phoenix takes flight at the Reykjavík Arts Festival The dance-theatre work The Journey of the Phoenix – on the art of dying and being reborn is part of this spring’s Reykjavík Arts Festival and premieres on the Main Stage…
- A new season of Hæ Gosi on the way A new season of Hæ Gosi goes into production this spring, with six episodes to be filmed in the Faroe Islands and Akureyri. The last episode ended with Fríðborg storming…
2010
- Filming begins on Tími nornarinnar Filming has begun in Akureyri on the crime series Tími nornarinnar (The Witch’s Time), based on the novel by Árni Þórarinsson. Friðrik Þór Friðriksson directs and Ari…
- The comedy series Hæ Gosi! María plays the Faroese Fríðborg in the brand-new comedy series Hæ Gosi!, premiering on SkjárEinn on 30 September.
- Guðríður sailed into harbour in the evening sun A delightful premiere aboard the Viking ship Íslendingur at Viking World on Friday 14 May. A shipful of people, and a delicious fish soup served at the new restaurant.…
- María directs in a new theatre A new theatre opens aboard the Viking ship Íslendingur at Viking World in Reykjanesbær in May. María Ellingsen directs the opening production, Brynja Benediktsdóttir’s…
- The Journey of the Phoenix – a dance-theatre work in progress The Journey of the Phoenix – on the art of dying and being reborn
- Augun mín og augun þín Augun mín og augun þín (My Eyes and Your Eyes) is a work in progress. At the dawn of the 19th century, three young women poets from the north of Iceland each suffered…
