After a two-year delay, Netflix’s The Witcher returned on December 17 for its second season to even higher ratings and viewership. According to Digital Spy, the streaming giant revealed that the second season has clocked up a total of 142.4 million viewing hours in only three days – an impressive rise from 76-million-views-a-month for the first season.
While fans are treated to grander storylines and high-budget CGI in season two, one supporting character in particular stood out among the rest. In the first episode titled A Grain of Truth, we saw the appearance of Vereena the Bruxa – a witch-vampire-shape-shifter hybrid – who is played by the talented Norwegian actress Agnes Born. Her character left a strong impression among viewers and many were curious to learn more about the newcomer.
So what do we know about her?
She grew up around theatre
The young starlet was born in Mo I Rana, located in Helgeland of northern Norway. According to her agency, Panorama Agency, Born was influenced by the theatre scene from a young age thanks to her mother, who also happens to work in the industry. She has also been working with director Hilda Hellwig at the Nordland Teater on a play by Henrik Ibsen.
While Born has clearly got the acting chops, she has also been an active singer since the age of 14 and is said to be especially fond of jazz.
She debuted opposite a famous Norwegian actor
The young starlet made her acting debut in 2017 on a Norwegian show called Monster where she played Jani van Gebert opposite the famous Norwegian actor Jakob Oftebro. In an interview with Nordic Watchlist, she shared that they shot in Finnmark, northern Norway, where the weather could get piercingly cold: “The temperature can reach below – 50 in Finnmark, and the wind can be pretty harsh, so layering up with warm clothes on set was important.”
After stealing our attention in The Witcher, Born is set to appear in a film called The Silence of Mercy next with British actresses Annabelle Wallis (Peaky Blinders, The Tudors) and Raffey Cassidy. She has also directed and acted in a short film called Just a Thought.
Fans loved her on The Witcher
Although she only appeared in one episode, The Witcher’s diehard fans can’t stop praising her – and rightfully so. Appearing as Vereena, Born has been getting a tremendous response for her role as the powerful Bruxa opposite Henry Cavill.
One fan tweeted, “Her movements were so unnerving, the editing team and Agnes Born (the actress) did an excellent job on that!”
Her episode, A Grain of Truth, actually comes from the first Witcher book, which the series is adapted from, but creator Lauren Schmidt Hissrich decided to put it in the second season.
Her father is an award-winning photographer
Artistic blood surely runs deep in the Born family. According to The Focus, her father is international award-winning photographer, Ketil Born. Agnes has often shared her father’s works on her Instagram, and has also modelled for him. In one of the posts, Born shared a gorgeous black and white vintage portrait of her mother holding her when she was a baby, with the caption: “The strongest woman I know!”
Her Instagram followers skyrocketed after The Witcher
Recently, she dedicated a thank-you post to The Witcher’s fans, writing, “What an honour it is to be a part of this incredible universe.”
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