Icelandic actress Anita Briem grew up in her native country as the daughter of two musicians (a vocalist and a percussionist), and reportedly turned to acting well before the age of ten, tackling numerous stage roles, radio voice-overs, dramatic parts on television, and a host of other assignments.
By all accounts a prodigy with a heightened degree of initiative, Briem moved to England at the age of 16 to begin classical training in theater; by the age of 19, she landed a prestigious three-year enrollment at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. The actress subsequently retained an emphasis on stage work, in productions including {+Losing Louis} and {+Catalogue of Misunderstanding}, then moved into British television (with guest bits on Doctor Who and The Doctors), and finally, embarked on a career in theatrically released features. Her assignments in that venue included Luis de la Madrid's grisly, low-budget horror vehicle The Nun and the Eric Brevig-directed special-effects extravaganza Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D (2008). Briem was also a main character on the short-lived ABC legal drama The Evidence (2006), but she gained much more small-screen exposure a couple years later when she was cast as Jane Seymour, the third wife of Henry VIII, in the second season of the popular Showtime historical drama The Tudors. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide. 