Liv Ullman to receive European Film Academy’s lifetime achievement award

Norwegian actress, director and screenwriter Liv Ullmann is to receive the European Film Academy’s lifetime achievement award at this year’s European Film Awards, which take place on January 17, 2026 in Berlin. 

Born in Tokyo, Ullmann grew up in Canada before moving to Norway with her mother and sister. She joined the Norwegian National Theatre in Oslo, meeting Swedish director Ingmar Bergman in the mid-1960s.

She starred in Bergman’s Persona (1966), Shame (1968) and Cries & Whispers (1972). In Bergman’s Scenes From A Marriage (1974), she plays the wife, Marianne, for which she was nominated for a Bafta and won a David di Donatello award for best foreign actress. 

She was nominated for an Oscar and a Bafta for her role as psychiatrist Jenny Isaksson in Face To Face (1976), while 1978’s Autumn Sonata saw her win another Italian David di Donatello.

Ullmann also worked with Jan Troell in The New Land (1972) and The Emigrants (1971), for which she was nominated for an Oscar, and with Mauro Bolognini in Farewell Moscow (1987), which won her another David di Donatello.

Her first film as a director was Sofie (1992) about the life of a Jewish woman in Copenhagen from 1886 to 1907, followed by Kristin Lavransdatter (1995), set in 14th-century Norway, and Private Confessions (1996). The latter was written by Ingmar Bergman, depicted a flawed marriage and starred Pernilla August and Max von Sydow.

Her film Faithless (2000), starring Lena Endre and Erland Josephson, premiered in Competition at Cannes and was later nominated for a Spanish Goya award. Miss Julie (2014) starred Colin Farrell and Jessica Chastain.

In a statement, the European Film Academy said that “Ullmann has helped to shape our understanding of European film.”

Ullman won an honorary Oscar in 2022, and also has honorary Norwegian Amanda and Swedish Guldbagge awards, as well as honorary awards from festivals including Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Karlovy Vary and San Sebastian. She won the European Film Academy’s European Achievement in World Cinema Award in 2004.

Ullmann is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, co-founder and honorary chair of the Women’s Refugee Commission.

• Italy reports growth in film and scripted TV production spend