All about Sentimental Value star Renate Reinsve who’s nominated for Oscars’ Best Actress

Renate was raised in Norway, with her family home located in the tiny village of Solbergelva, near Oslo. When she was 17 years old, she left the country and moved to Edinburgh to experiment with her acting.

According to an interview with The Times, she grew up “on a road with some houses, deep in the forest. There was a lot of conformity, people in my life all wanted the same thing.” Renate’s primary interess were philosophy books, David Lynch films and Pink Floyd’s music.

“Where I grew up, Hollywood was so far away I didn’t dare even dream about working there, so to know I’m part of that world now is the best feeling – it’s like I finally belong somewhere I’m at home, with people who share my values and interests, who have curiosity about the same things,” she told the outlet.

Renate’s parents divorced when she was a child. She has two sisters, one half-sister and two stepsisters. However, she shared a close relationship with her childminder. 

The majority of her family worked at the hardware store her grandfather owned, but Renate didn’t have an interest in the business. “I was too difficult for my mother, although now she’s proud of me,” she told The Times of moving out at age 16. “I just wasn’t good at taking care of myself.” 

Renate was expelled from school and then decided to move to Scotland. “I decided, since I had to go away, I’d go as far away as I can,” she added.

Before Renate landed her breakout role in the 2021 film The Worst Person In the World, she planned to quit acting. “After acting school, I did some really great theatre. But somehow I ended up in film and TV doing a lot of roles that were mostly one-dimensional functions of the plot. So I had actually decided to quit. I had this big moment where I made that decision to do something else. And the very next day, Joachim called me. It was the weirdest coincidence,” she told The Guardian.

The actress is an ambassador for Louis Vuitton and frequently wears the designs of the maison’s creative director, Nicolas Ghesquière. For the BAFTAs, Renate looked stunning in a black gown from the French fashion house. The garment featured a bandeau neckline with a large asymmetric cutout on the bodice.

“It’s very sexy,” she told Vogue of the look. “I didn’t know how things would translate in the pictures. I didn’t know how the looks would affect how I feel and see myself. It’s really fascinating to be in that world, I’m learning so much.”

Renate shares a six-year-old son with her former partner, animator Julian Nazario Vargas. “It’s so crazy and my son is going a little crazy with it all. You just want to stay home for a bit and have some sanity. You keep going and going so far, and then once you get home your body’s like, I need a break after all the craziness. Then I mobilise again,” she told The Times.

Despite her demanding work schedule, her priority is always her child. “I am scared of not being present enough, or of him feeling I love something else more than him,” she admitted. “So I really, really make an effort to make him feel involved. I give him all my awards and he’s been with me to some events so he can see what they’re like and doesn’t feel totally on the outside. When we’re at events I only talk to him.”