Swedish born actress Milla Bjorn talks about her career
Milla Bjorn is a Swedish born, actress with a passion for her work and caring for others. She moved to the United States as a teen. She took her first acting role at seven years old and continued to grow with each successive role and challenge in an industry she loves. With the support and encouragement of her 6th grade teacher in Sweden, Ulla Ullqvist encouraging Milla to become an actress and would always cast her in the leads of the school plays, many, she got standing ovations for. She also did many voice acting roles on Swedish radio programs. Milla would question her teacher about why she always gave her the “bad guy” roles, like witches and spies, instead of the princess. Ulla told Milla that she had a darker voice that was suited for the bad guy. Later on in life, this ended up being what she seemed to feel most at home playing anyway.
Later on after moving to Los Angeles and starting in TV and film, Milla Bjorn played many supporting roles but continued to extend her skills until she also accepted numerous lead roles as well.
On the stage, Milla Bjorn has performed in Merry Wives of Windsor, A Chorus Line, Speed the Plow, Visit from Wild Man and many more. Milla didn’t limit herself to the stage. Milla has also taken roles on every major television network. Some of her television roles have been in series such as Days of Our Lives and movies such as The Hugh Hefner Story. Not being satisfied with just voice acting, theatrical performances, she excelled on the big screen as well. You can find Milla Bjorn’s incredible talent in the Princess Diaries 2, The Last Marshall, and Miss Castaway. Most recently, she played a Russian spy in Harbinger Down.
In the early 1990s Milla Bjorn found herself as a choreographer and dancer and performer in the musical group Touch. Her dancing skills graced stages all over the United States and the world. She has enjoyed performing at the Venetian in Las Vegas, Nevada, Dubai, London, Paris, Germany and at the closing of the Boston Gardens. While she enjoyed the musical performances, acting was her first love.
Milla Bjorn continues to improve upon herself as well. She speaks conversationally or better four languages, including Farsi, English, Swedish, and French. Additionally, she enjoys dancing and has honed her skills through numerous styles, spends hours in the gym MMA fighting, and enjoys spending time with her large family, acting, and philanthropic activities.
Tell us a bit about what you do.
It is one of my greatest pleasures becoming another character. Whether it's the Meisner Technique, Stanislavski's System, Lee Strasberg's Method or Adler, I think my preference is Meisner, as one maintains an emphasis on "the reality of doing", which was the foundation of his approach. I will take days, months, a year to “become” the character, however long I have. When I have an accent, I will only speak in the accent of the character, for Harbinger Down, I spoke with a Russian accent for eight months before filming, even to my family. The only difficult part is, leaving that character, sometimes it will take days even weeks before you fully feel yourself again, especially with sad or dark roles.
What gave you the idea to become an actor? How did it start?
It was something I started as a child. My first role was while I was just seven years old, acting on a radio show in Sweden. With a troubled childhood, I felt really happy being not me, even if just for a moment.
What’s your favorite thing about your chosen profession?
I guess getting to not be myself for a sometimes. It feels really good to transform into someone else. Working with some of the greats, I had an amazing time learning from Al Pacino, in one movie, got to spend some great time with Bradley Cooper, the very elegant and incredibly talented, sweet Julie Andrews, amazing Cathy Bates, Lance Henriksen is a great focused actor that gave me life advice on the set of Harbinger Down, among many others.
What keys to being productive can you share with us?
Always prepare ahead of time. It doesn’t matter what you do, you need to prepare. Everything you have and do requires advanced knowledge. By taking the right steps to be prepared you are ensuring you’ll be ready to do your best in any situation, making you the most productive you can be. This goes for auditions as well as the performances, do not make the mistake many do, to just learn your lines. Even steal, character choices from some of the great actors you look up to.
Tell us one long-term goal in your career.
I am looking forward to spending my energy serving the less fortunate. As I have no intention of slowing my acting career, I want to also share that energy with those who need it more. It kills me seeing how many homeless teens there are, I’ve taken in many and wish I could do more. The more money I make, the more I try to help.
What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned through the course of your career?
That’s a really good question. I believe the most valuable lesson I’ve learned is the ability to see things from another person’s perspective. Due to the need to adapt to each of my characters I have been able to develop the empathy to relate to people from all walks of life. That has allowed me to learn things from other people that I don’t believe I could have.
What advice would you give to others aspiring to succeed in your field?
The first thing I would suggest is to have fun doing what you enjoy doing. After that, it doesn’t hurt to take classes. If taking a good acting class isn’t possible, make sure you are always challenging yourself with the different roles you audition for. This will enable you to expand your skills, develop your understanding of the business, and help you achieve what you want to achieve.
What are your favorite things to do outside of work?
I love dancing. I have spent a lot of time learning different forms and it is a great time.
I also MMA fight, one of my great passions as well as I make sure to spend time with my family.
When the opportunities present themselves, I also give my time to the less fortunate and have helped raise eight children that came from abusive, foster situations or parents.
Name a few influential books you’ve read and/or websites you keep up with that you’d recommend to readers.
For anyone looking forward to acting, I would suggest listening to any number of podcasts dedicated to the art. A good one to start with is Living the Dream by Rory O’Malley. I enjoy it and often laugh throughout, but there are always insights that I don’t think about. I wish I could write a book myself on the do’s and don’ts of show biz, I think the #metoo movement will possibly change Hollywood for the better, but maybe the greatest advice would be is stay strong, report any indecent behavior and stick to your morals and upbringing.
I also enjoy Hollywood Hustle and Indie Film Tribe when I can catch them. I read lots of scripts as well, as I have for a long time been a “script doctor.” love finding things that will improve a story, perhaps an ending, or just a scene. I once wrote a scene in a major motion picture, the parents of some young children had died in a car accident and after the funeral, many came to show their respect to the family and kids. I took a scene out of my own life and changed it; the children now went to hide in the closet, because they were so sad. They didn’t want to be around a bunch of strangers. This is what my siblings and I did after my father’s funeral. It worked really well. I also had a small role in the movie Raising Helen.
What advice would you give your younger self?
I would tell myself not to take things too seriously. Acting, dancing, and doing things you love should be fun and embraced in every way. When you can you should remember that what is fun should always be fun.
I would also tell younger self to spend more time with the family you love. Being too busy to be with your family is not good. It is the most important thing in my life. It always has been, but there was a time I was chasing the next job so often that I missed some of big events I wish I hadn’t.
