Tuva Novotny's Real Name: Tuva Moa Matilda Karolina Novotny Hedström

Quick answer: She works as Tuva Novotny. The Norwegian encyclopedia Store norske leksikon gives her full name as Tuva Moa Matilda Karolina Novotny Hedström and says she was born on December 21, 1979, in Stockholm, Sweden. A Library of Congress record gives the birth name as Tuva Moa Matilda Karolina Novotny-Hedström, with a hyphen, and the same date and city. Scandinavia House lists the four given names with the surname Novotny alone.

Real name and early life

Store norske leksikon says she grew up in Åmot, in Brunskog, in the Swedish province of Värmland. Professionally she uses only her first given name and the first part of her double surname, which is why the full form is rarely seen. The Library of Congress note describes her as a Swedish actress and singer.

Career highlights

Store norske leksikon says she made her debut in Daniel Alfredson's dark thriller Tic Tac (1997), and her breakthrough came with the comedy Jalla! Jalla! (2000). She went on to many Scandinavian productions, including Smala Sussie (2003), Dag och natt (2004), Kandidaten (2008), and Fuck Up (2012).

Her international credits include a supporting role in Eat Pray Love (2010), which Scandinavia House also names among her best-known films, along with Annihilation (2018). In 2013 she played the lead role of Puck in six films based on Maria Lang's crime novels. In 2015 she played the female lead in the Danish drama Krigen, which received an Oscar nomination.

On television, Store norske leksikon lists the Danish comedy series Kødkataloget (2013–14), the Norwegian comedy Dag (2010–15), and the Norwegian drama series Nobel – fred for enhver pris (2016). She also appeared in the Norwegian film Kongens nei (2016).

She moved behind the camera with the Norwegian film Blindsone (Blind Spot, 2018), her directing debut. Scandinavia House describes her as an "actor-turned-director." It screened her second feature, Britt-Marie Was Here, an adaptation of the Fredrik Backman novel. The film is in Danish, and Pernilla August plays a 63-year-old woman who starts over after discovering her husband's affair. Her character takes a job as youth leader at a struggling recreation center in the small town of Borg and ends up coaching its children's soccer team. Scandinavia House quotes the New York Times praising August's restrained performance.

Name notes for searchers

Her full name combines four given names (Tuva, Moa, Matilda, and Karolina) with the double surname Novotny Hedström. Sources differ on whether the surname is hyphenated. She is listed in some catalogs as Novotny-Hedström and in others simply as Novotny. All of these refer to the same Swedish actor and director.