Biography Sara Sommerfeld grew up in a large family consisting of her mother Bea, her father Victor and four strong-minded sisters. To shout loud was the only way to be heard... As a child, Sara was very active: she learned how to ski downhill at the age of four, as a six-year-old girl she started taking ballet and violin lessons and in first grade she started going to a swimming club three times a week. Her dream was to become a prima ballerina and in third grade she applied, against her parents' will, to the Royal Swedish Ballet School. Her parents, who both are physicians, thought ballet might be damaging to her young body. That year she was not accepted by the school but stubborn as she is, she practised on her own for a whole year and was eventually accepted as only student in fourth grade. The ballet school meant very long days for her. In her family, Sara was the first to leave home in the morning, and after hours of dancing practise and rehearsals she was the last one to come home. Besides acrobatics and historic dancing they had classical ballet scheduled six times a week (including Saturdays). Besides all the hard work this was her first opportunity to enter the stage. Her first performance was as the queen's page in the ballet "Swan Lake" at the Royal Opera. For Sara this was an amazing experience. She now had the opportunity to, in close-up, see the ballerinas sweating behind stage. Her stage experience developed from this point by dancing performances at the Opera, The Globe Arena and the City Hall. Sara during the recording of the movie "Maskrosbarn" (1988) However, Sara now also dreamt about the theatre and acting. As a child she often called to the Swedish National Television (SVT) asking if they did not need "a freckled eight-year-old for any movie". When she was ten the chance suddenly appeared when the author and director Marianne Ahrne advertised in the local newspaper for girls in different ages, similar enough to play the same part in a movie. The Sommerfeld sisters ran to the audition and together Sara and her sister Maja managed to impress Marianne Ahrne enough to get the parts. During the summer 1988, Sara and Maja read the script with Ahrne and during the autumn same year the most exciting months in Sara's life so far was about to begin: the production of the movie "Maskrosbarn" ("Dandelion Children"). During these months, Marianne Ahrne became one of Sara's greatest inspiration sources for her future choice of profession. She had her first look into the wonderful world of movies, and she thought she would never experience it again. She did not know how wrong she was... Sara's strongest memories and impressions from her childhood come from the different performances as a child actress. She also remembers the parts she did not get and she took both the successes as well as the setbacks very seriously. In sixth grade, Sara was still a student at The Royal Swedish Ballet School in Stockholm, and as if this was not enough for her, she also performed in an August Strindberg play at The Royal Dramatic Theatre, directed by Peter Stormare (Prison Break, Fargo, Armageddon). She also did several parts in different movies, such as "Kaninmannen" (The Rabbit Man) and Ingmar Bergman's "The Best Intentions", some voice-overs for Disney movies and last but not least, a number of radio plays for Swedish Radio. In seventh grade, Sara got a part in the musical "Annie Get Your Gun" at China Theatre in Stockholm. Sara now had to make a very tough decision since combining theatre with ballet was impossible. There was not enough time. Sara loved dancing but the desire to act was stronger and she chose to change schools and instead of ballet she stood on The China Theatre stage several times a week for a whole year. The theatre became like a second home to Sara. Sara's parents hoped she would choose a more academic profession but as earlier mentioned, she is stubborn as a mule and she has always known best herself what to do with her life. Hence, she applied to the three year long theatre education for upper secondary school at Södra Latins Gymnasium, from where she graduated in 1996 with an average grade of 4,7 (on a scale from 1 to 5, where 5 is the best). When upper secondary school ended she took 20 credits teathre science at Stockholm University and worked in different independent theatre productions, such as Stig Larsson's "VD" (CEO) and "Fiddler On The Roof". At the same time she applied to the governmental Theatre Academies in Stockholm and Gothenburg, coached by the great actress Margreth Weivers, whom she had met during the shooting of "Maskrosbarn". She was accepted as one of seven students among 1500 applicants at the Theatre Academy in Gothenburg. Ironically, when Sara's dream had come true, other things in life attracted her more. Just before she was about to begin her education at the Theatre Academy she moved abroad for a couple of months. She got a job as a waitress on the beach in Eilat, Israel, and took the opportunity to educate herself as a Divemaster (dive guide in scuba-diving). At that moment, Sweden, the Theatre Academy and the theatre itself felt very remote... However, finally Sara decided to go back to Sweden and begin her education. But since that time in Eilat, she has always considered it important to have a life off stage as well. Travelling, diving, meetings and impressions from other persons and different cultures is something that has high priority. She thinks it is a good way to find inspiration for her acting and her profession. During her four years of concentrated acting studies at The Theatre Academy Sara developed to a more mature and independent actress. The course included half a year of practical training, and during her trainee period at Stockholm City Theatre she met another person who would become a great source of inspiration for her. The director Reza Bagher, gave Sara the leading part in the feature film "Wings Of Glass" together with Alexander Skarsgård (son of Stellan Skarsgård). This was a big challenge for Sara, a chance to try her wings as a grown up actress, and it became a big breakthrough. Among many awards on International film festival (see CV) she won the award for best actress at The Nordic Film Festival Haugesund, Norway. Another director who has meant a lot to Sara is Magnus Bergqvist. He was the one who guided her through the rehearsals for the part of her dreams: Juliet in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". This play was staged at the Dramatic Theatre of Malmö in 2002. Since Sara graduated from the Theatre Academy in 2001 she has had many different roles at theatres like the City Theatre of Gothenburg, Göta Lejon and Storan. She has also done some more voice-overs for Disney, contributed in feature films and starred in films and shows produced for TV. Today, she is still dreaming about a future filled with challenges and encounters from which she can get more inspiration. Sara på Svenska balettskolan, fiollektioner och tillsammans med Marianne Ahrne under inspelningen av Maskrosbarn.