Amanda Jansson

Amanda Jansson (born 1990) is a Swedish actress, best known for her roles in the police procedural series Thin Blue Line (2021–present) and the Åland-based historical drama film Stormskerry Maja (2024). She has won accolades including the Jussi Award for Lead Actor of the Year, Såstaholm Film and Performing Arts Award, and the Culture Prize from Gefle Dagblad.

Born in Skärplinge, Uppsala County, Jansson attended secondary school in Gävle before graduating from the Luleå Theatre Academy in 2016. After minor roles in Midnattssol (2016) and Rebecka Martinsson (2017), she was cast in the third season of Vår tid är nu (2019). She appeared in Beck – Utom rimligt tvivel (2020) before getting her breakthrough role as Sara in Thin Blue Line, which received generally positive reviews from critics and won two Kristallen awards. She has also appeared in Riding in Darkness (2022) and My Brother (2025). In addition to her work in film and television, Jansson has appeared in a number of stage productions at theatres including Tribunalen, Playhouse, and Teater Västernorrland. She also made her debut as a musical artist in 2024 with the song "Ge mig ett svar", which was featured on the third season of Thin Blue Line.

She was born in 1990 in Skärplinge, Uppsala County, Sweden.^[1] Her parents were both employed at Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant. She has a younger brother. Jansson first became interested in acting after seeing a production of Mio, My Son at the Royal Dramatic Theatre on a school trip in first grade. Her parents separated when she was 12.^[2] She commuted to study drama at Vasaskolan, a secondary school in Gävle.^[3] She appeared in their 2008 staging of Sara Kadefors's Hänga ut.^[4] In 2009, she was in a Vasaskolan production of The Jungle Book.^[5] Kristian Ekenberg of Arbetarbladet praised Jansson's versatility across the three parts she played, writing that she "changes not only her clothes but also her face, body language and voice for each role" (som ändrar inte bara kläder utan även ansikte, kroppsspråk och röst för varje roll).^[6] She had her first paid acting job the following year, in a youth play about sexual assault which was performed at local schools culminating in a show at Kafé Spegeln in Gävle.^[7] After graduating from secondary school, Jansson worked for a period at the Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant.^[8] She then studied theatre at Fridhem Folk High School from 2011 to 2013.^[9] After being accepted to the Luleå Theatre Academy, she participated in a 2015 staging of Experimentet at Teater Tribunalen.^[10] Her maternal grandmother died of Alzheimer's disease in 2016, which she described as "the greatest loss of [her] life" (den största förlusten i mitt liv).^[11] The same year, she graduated from the theatre academy.^[12]

She had a minor part in the Swedish–French crime series Midnattssol (2016).^[13] This was followed by a role in Rebecka Martinsson, a TV4 adaptation of Åsa Larsson's detective novels that premiered on 8 March 2017.^[14] In September, she appeared in a Martin Mutter children's theatre production of Uppdrag Nelly Rapp in Örebro. The play did not include the ending of Martin Widmark's book Trollkarlens bok, which Jansson described as designed to encourage children to finish reading the book together in the classroom.^[15] She was then cast in the third season of the historical drama Vår tid är nu (2019), where she played a left-wing radical named Gunilla.^[16] Later that year, Jansson was in a production of David Byrne's play Secret Life of Humans, staged in Swedish with the title of Människans hemlighet at Playhouse Teater in Stockholm. She starred in the play alongside Charlie Gustafsson, a fellow alum of Vår tid är nu.^[17] In 2020, she appeared in Beck – Utom rimligt tvivel.^[18] She was a member of the ensemble in Tårtljus at Playhouse. In a review of the production for Dagens Nyheter, Niklas Wahllöf cited Jansson's comic acting as a highlight.^[19]

Her first lead role was in Thin Blue Line as Sara, a naïve Christian woman who moves from Umeå to work as a police officer in Malmö.^[20] She received the role in part due to her experience with Norrland dialects, but she also completed further training to capture her character's specific Umemål dialect.^[21] The first season premiered in January 2021 to strong viewership figures, with over a million people tuning in to view the programme.^[22] Overall, it received positive reception from critics, with an average rating of 3.9/5 based on 15 critics' reviews on the Swedish review aggregator website Kritiker.^[23] It won Best TV Drama and Best Programme at Kristallen 2021.^[24] Nina Hampusson of Damernas Värld, Joakim Lowing of Allas, and Mikael Forssell of Svenska Dagbladet characterised Sara as her breakthrough role.^[25] She also played Sara in the next two seasons.^[26] The third was originally planned to be the last, but in September 2025 it was announced that she would be reprising her role in a Christmas special, consisting of four episodes. It is scheduled to be released in December 2026.^[27]

She appeared in Riding in Darkness, a 2022 limited series based on the 1991 case of an Ekerö riding instructor who was convicted of sexually abusing five teenage girls at his horse farm.^[28] Jansson played Frida, a victim of the riding instructor who denies what happened and continues to support him despite the abuse.^[29] Her performance and Saga Samuelsson's as the more daring victim Molly were cited as standouts by Wanda Bendjelloul in Dagens Nyheter; she wrote that they represented "two sides of the same trauma" (två olika sidor av ett och samma trauma).^[30] In November 2023, Jansson was awarded the Culture Prize from Gefle Dagblad, in recognition of a "strong breakthrough in Swedish acting" (ett starkt genombrott inom svenskt skådespeleri).^[5]

In Stormskerry Maja (2024), a Finnish historical drama film adapted from Anni Blomqvist's book series, Jansson played the titular lead.^[31] To prepare for the role, she learned to speak in an Åland dialect, milk cows, clean fish, and spin yarn.^[8] The film was a box office success in Finland; as of April 2024 it was the country's most-watched domestic film of the decade.^[32] Stormskerry Maja was nominated for nine Jussi Awards and won six, including Jansson's Jussi Award for Lead Actor of the Year.^[33] She also earned a Best Actress nomination at the Septimius Awards.^[34] That year, she made her debut as a musical artist (under the name of Ada) with "Ge mig ett svar". The song, which was produced in conjunction with Irya Gmeyner and Martin Hederos, was featured on the third season of Thin Blue Line.^[35] She also received the Såstaholm Film and Performing Arts Award, with the jury commending her work across stage and screen.^[36]

She starred in a stage adaptation of Karin Smirnoff's novel Jag for ner till bror at Teater Västernorrland in Sundsvall. The 2024 production, adapted by Ivar Waldemarson and directed by Julia Marko-Nord, received positive reviews from critics.^[37] Praise was given to Jansson's performance, with Anna Hedelius of SVT Nyheter writing: "Most of all, Amanda Jansson shines, portraying Jana Kippo as strong, vulnerable, and broken, yet also whole" (Mest av alla glänser förstås Amanda Jansson som gör Jana Kippo precis så stark, sårbar och förstörd men ändå hel).^[38] It was announced later that year that she would be reprising the role in a television adaptation of Jag for ner till bror.^[39] Released with an English title of My Brother, the series premiered on 26 December 2025.^[40] Jansson characterised Jana as her most difficult role to date.^[41] In a review for Dagens Nyheter, Fredrik Sahlin called her portrayal "phenomenal" (fenomenal), and also highlighted the dynamic between Jansson's character and her twin Bror, played by Rasmus Johansson.^[40]

Jansson initially lived in Stockholm, but moved to Gävle in 2018 to spend more time with her family.^[42] As of 2025, she continues to live in Gävle.^[43] Jansson is a supporter of theatre initiatives for children in the less populated areas of Sweden; during a visit to a youth centre in Vemdalen in Jämtland County, she said she hoped to inspire young people to pursue their passions.^[44] She also signed a petition advocating for more film and television productions to be filmed in Gävleborg County.^[45]

• Amanda Jansson at IMDb
• Amanda Jansson at the Swedish Film Database