Biography
Astrid Henning-Jensen (10 December 1914 – 5 January 2002) was a Danish film director, screenwriter, editor and actress. Born Astrid Smahl in Frederiksberg, she trained as a stage actress before marrying director Bjarne Henning-Jensen in 1938 and beginning work as his assistant at Nordisk Film in 1941.
The couple frequently collaborated as co-directors and writers. Henning-Jensen directed numerous shorts, documentaries, television films and features over more than five decades, including Boy of Two Worlds (1959), Winterborn (1978) and Early Spring (1986). She also appeared as the Housekeeper in Lars von Trier’s The Element of Crime (1984). In 1981 she served on the jury of the Berlin International Film Festival and received the Berlinale Camera award in 1996.
