Home   >   Movie Stars   >   N   >   Brigitte Nielsen
Brigitte Nielsen

Brigitte Nielsen

Brigitte Nielsen is a Danish actress who became very popular in 1980s B-movies, most notably as the titular character in Red Sonja, due to her stature (she stands at 6 ft 1 in, or 185 cm, tall) and sultry looks. Because of these attributes, she was termed an amazon by the world press. Nielsen reached the height of her fame in 1987, when she played the assassin Karla Fry in Beverly Hills Cop II. She became famous for her love life as well, marrying actor Sylvester Stallone (her co-star in Rocky IV and Cobra), then becoming engaged to football player Mark Gastineau, with whom she had a son. Nielsen has three more children by two of her four ex-husbands, photographer/director Sebastian Copeland (Orlando Bloom's cousin), and actor Raoul Meyer.

Nielsen started a short-lived music career shortly after her divorce from Sylvester Stallone in 1987. She released her debut album Every Body Tells A Story in that year and recorded with Austrian pop sensation Falco. Body Next To Body went to #22 in Germany and #6 in Austria. She released a follow-up album in 1992, although it was also not a success.

In the 1990s, she hosted an English-language talk show that was broadcast across Europe, to much acclaim. The show revived public interest in Nielsen and helped her brush off the misconception that she could only be known for her beauty.

She appeared on the third season of the VH1 reality show The Surreal Life, which was filmed in July and began airing in early September 2004. In the show, Nielsen was seen flirting with Public Enemy rapper Flavor Flav and it was confirmed that they were a couple, even though she was still legally married to Raoul Meyer. The show was such a success, due mainly to the interplay between the unusual couple, that VH1 produced a spin-off reality show called Strange Love, which began airing on the channel on January 9, 2005.

Nielsen also appeared with Flav on the VH1 Big in '04 Awards.

In January 2005 she appeared in the UK TV programme Celebrity Big Brother along with her former mother-in-law Jackie Stallone and the writer Germaine Greer.

Nielsen married for the sixth time in March 2005 to 26 year old Italian barman Mattia Dessi, who appeared briefly on Strange Love. The marriage is not official, because her divorce from her previous husband is not finalized.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2005.

Brigitte Nielsen Facts

Birth NameGitte Nielsen
OccupationActress
BirthdayJuly 15, 1963 (60)
SignCancer
BirthplaceRødovre, Denmark
Height6' 1" (1m85)  How tall is Brigitte Nielsen compared to you?

Selected Filmography

Beverly Hills Cop II
Rocky IV
Cobra
Mercenaries
Red Sonja
The Comedy Central Roast of Flavor Flav
Chained Heat 2
Continue » Find more details on the Brigitte Nielsen Movies page