María Thelma on Growing Up & Living in Iceland as Thai & Icelandic

María Thelma Smáradóttir is a talented actor in Iceland. During this interview, she gives some insight on what it was like growing up in Iceland with Icelandic and Thai heritage. She was the first person of Asian descent to graduate from the Icelandic Academy of Arts in Drama. It was fascinating to hear how she had to navigate this mixed heritage and it has been like for her as a working actor in the theater and film industry here. I think it’s fantastic that she had a one woman show called “Welcome Home”, which was a spoken word performance of her mother’s immigrant story from Thailand.

The most epic thing is that her first feature film was her starring alongside Mads Mikkelsen in the movie, “Arctic”. How awesome is that?! As you can probably tell from many of my other interviews, I love to have different people from all walks of life in Iceland to tell their stories. I am grateful and honored that María Thelma was open to sharing hers.

Questions I Asked María Thelma during the Interview:

1. You are born and raised in Iceland, and you have a mix of Thai and Icelandic heritage. Can you talk about what it was like growing up in a Thai and Icelandic household? Was your mom speaking Thai to you and your siblings and your dad speaking Icelandic?

1. You are the first person of Asian descent to graduate from the Icelandic Academy of Arts in drama. Did you always want to be an actor when you were growing up?

1. Have you visited Thailand? If so, what was that like for you?

1. During your final year of the Icelandic Academy of the Arts, you chose to do a spoken word play called “Welcome Home”, which was performed at the National Theater of Iceland. Can you explain what the play was about and the inspiration behind it?

1. How was the play received in Iceland? What did your mother think of it?

1. What has being an actor been like for you? Have you found that you get many roles or has it been a struggle?

1. In 2018, you starred alongside Mads Mikkelsen in “Arctic”, which was your first feature film. What was that experience like? How was it working with such a big name in the industry?

1. Do you think the film industry in Iceland is changing to showcase more diversity in the country? Meaning, are they showing more Icelandic actors that have mixed heritage as Icelanders and not foreign nationals or visitors? Or is this something that still needs to be improved?

1. What advice do you have for people who want to act, whether it is on screen or on a stage in a theater?

1. What is your favourite Icelandic word or phrase?

Join the All Things Iceland Patreon Community

Some of you might be aware that one of my goals for the podcast is to travel around Iceland more to interview different people in each region. In July, I set up the All Things Iceland community on Patreon. It’s a membership platform that was founded in 2013. It allows for creators like me to provide exclusive content to listeners like you in exchange for a monthly subscription.

Each month I am doing Ask Me Anything videos, Live Chats, and Folklore Friday each week. Sometimes I do updates about my life in Iceland. I do not share this content on any other channel. The support from my patrons on the All Things Iceland community on Patreon will help to evolve All Things Iceland. There are several membership tiers to choose from and each tier has a variety of benefits.

If you would like to join the community, go to patreon.com/allthingsiceland. I look forward to having you join.

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Thank you kindly for listening (and reading) and see you soon!