She has been praised both in Sweden and abroad for her roles in films and TV series, now she is in cinemas in the Swedish musical drama Nova & Alice. Josefin tells our reporter about, among other things, how she is bad at being free, avoids being private on social media and that she recently discovered that it is super-duper fun to sing in the studio. PHOTO MARICA ROSENGÅRD HAIR, MAKEUP ELVA AHLBIN

When I finish a job, I always feel like I want to do something completely different, something new. For me, Nova & Alice is something completely new!

When INRIKES calls Josefin via Zoom, the undersigned is greeted with a happy smile. Josefin has a day off for once and is at her home in Stockholm.

– I am in the middle of filming the drama series Skiftet, which will premiere on Netflix in 2026. It is an interesting story about the first female police officers on patrol in Sweden in 1958. Josefin smiles and points to her dark, straight-cut bangs that she wore for the role. Behind her is a bright, fresh living room with large green plants by the windows. Along one wall, a well-stocked bookshelf can be seen.

VI have seYou've been internationally acclaimed in TV series like Top Dog, Snow Angels and Vikings, and now you're in the movie Nova & Alice where you play a singer and artist. I admire you for being able to do so many completely different kinds of roles and still make them all believable.

– Thank you, that makes me so happy to hear. For me, it is a desire and an aspiration to do as many different things as possible. When I finish a job, I always feel that I would like to do something completely different, something new. For me, Alice & Nova something completely new! Partly because I get to sing and play the piano. Hedda and I play artists and we are the ones singing in the film. We recorded the songs in the studio so that the soundtrack will be released on Spotify before the cinema premiere. Singing in the studio was completely new to me and it was super-duper fun. I liked working with the director Emma Bucht, who has directed a lot of comedy and theatre. I have mainly done thrillers and crime series before, so this is a new world for me.

You sing and act very well in the film. Have you always been involved in music?

– I have my piano at home that I play on sometimes, but I wouldn't call myself a musician. I've sung my whole life, but I've maybe not kept it up that much. Throughout my childhood I was in musicals and I love singing. My favorite musical is without a doubt Hair, I've loved those songs since my mother introduced me to the movie when I was 8 years old.

How much did you practice singing before the start of the show? Nova & Alice?

– Both Hedda and I went to a singing teacher and took lessons to train our voices. We also had to practice singing into a microphone and singing live on stage. It's important to be able to move properly so that it looks natural when performing in front of an audience.

Tell us about the music in the film.

– It's newly written music that hasn't been heard before. The songs were written by artists like First Aid Kit, Stella Explorer, Molly Sandén and several other talented songwriters. It's so fun to make a music film that isn't based on real people but is completely original and it's Hedda and I singing.

Alice, who Hedda plays in the film, is a more commercial artist than your character Nova, but may not thrive in that role.

– Nova despises Alice at first, because she feels that she doesn't belong to her and she judges her quite harshly based on the fact that she knows she doesn't write her own songs, because that's something that Nova values highly.

Your character has great integrity as a musician and for her it is important to be able to write her own songs, to do 'her own thing'. Is this something you identify with?

– Absolutely. For me, it's important that you get down to the bottom of what you do. It shouldn't be like you're just following someone else's wishes, you have to feel free and have choices. These are things you have to grapple with in the film industry too. Really good roles don't grow on trees and you have to have a salary and food for the day, but at the same time it's very difficult to say yes to projects that don't resonate with me or where I don't understand the meaning of the story.

Do you want to direct in the future?

– I've thought about it sometimes, but damn, you have to work hard if you're going to direct. Then you can't just immerse yourself in a character like you can when you're an actor, but there's probably a lot about the work as a director that's very difficult. I don't know if I could do it. But sure, it might be fun some day when you get a little older and the roles don't appear at such a high pace on a rolling tape. Being an actor is a special profession, especially as a woman, between 30 and 40 we have our glory days, while for guys it's 40 and up.

Are you attracted to acting in theater?

– Yes. I think that theater will be appreciated more and more in the future. With AI appearing more and more in the film and TV industry, I think it will feel exotic to go to the theater and see real people acting for real, so I think theater will have a revival in 10–15 years.

What do you like to do on a day off?

– I'm bad at being free. I climb the walls if I'm free for too long. But I like meeting friends, drinking wine and cooking together. I like hanging out with my child and my boyfriend, maybe we'll go away and check into a hotel some night to get away from home and to eat and drink well.

Do your boyfriend and daughter accompany you when you film?

– When I filmed the Danish series Carmen Curlers in Denmark, my daughter came along and I breastfed between takes. When we filmed Nova & Alice in Western Sweden, I had an apartment in Gothenburg and my boyfriend and daughter were there. Now it's not as easy because she goes to preschool and needs to be in Stockholm, she has her own life that's ticking away. My job is a little different now that I have children, everything has to be planned differently and there are certain jobs I choose not to do. It's tough to say no because times are the way they are, but I'm grateful for the roles I've done before, because it means I can afford – both financially and career-wise – to say no to things I don't want to do. For me, it's about whether I think it's an interesting role and whether it's a story that I think needs to be told. If I think it feels good and there's a good script, an exciting director and interesting actors, I say yes.

Do you remember the first day of filming your first big film role?

– Yes. I was 19 years old and I had been cast as Mikael Blomkvist's daughter in the American version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Mikael was played by Daniel Craig and David Fincher directed. There were so many impressions. I was so nervous. I remember having to sit and wait in a hotel room for several hours until it was my turn to film. I remember it felt luxurious because there were big bowls of fruit and chocolate in the hotel room. It felt strange that I had my own escort following me everywhere, but I then understood that it was so that the film crew would know exactly where I was at all times if they needed to get hold of me to film a scene. I was so nervous. But once I started filming, everything was okay. Both David Fincher and Daniel Craig were nice, warm and funny so the whole thing was a very fun experience.

As an actor and celebrity, do you feel pressure to be an influencer on social media too??

– I don't feel any pressure, but there can be some kind of expectation on you. I've pretty much chosen not to go that route. I have a pretty complicated relationship with celebrity and what it means to be public. I don't really enjoy being recognized. I have an Instagram account, where I choose to show what I've done professionally. I don't need to be more private than that. I don't really like the internet to be honest. Maybe I live in the wrong time, because I want to meet real people, have a cup of coffee with a real friend, buy clothes in a store – for real – where I can try on the clothes and try them on.

What will you be doing in ten years?

– Oh, what a difficult question. In ten years… I hope I have a few more children. I can see myself in a deck chair with a drink in my hand and some kids running around. (Laughs)

Career-wise then?

– I don't have a plan like that, I just drive when fun things come up.

In ten years, maybe you'll direct a new production of the musical Hair on a large theater stage?

– Yes, maybe! (Laughs) You never know.

JOSEFIN ASPLUND LIKES…

… David Dencik is one of my favorite actors. I got to work with him a little bit in Call Girl. I think he's amazing and I would love to work with him again.

… to cook. I have a thing with my friends that every time we meet, we pick a new country and we're going to cook that country's national dish or main dish the next time we meet.

…to read. Right now I'm reading the biography of Jane Fonda. It's going pretty slowly because I'm reading a lot of scripts at the same time.

… ball sports. I like to play tennis, football and handball.

… to listen to music. My playlist right now has some 60s music, as well as artists like Stromae and Tennis, plus a lot of Bamse, for my daughter's sake. There's a lot of Bamse in my life thanks to my daughter.

FAVORITE PLACE IN SWEDEN: •Vadstena. I spent all my summers there as a child, I love that place. Now we have a summer cottage nearby.

3 FAVORITE CITIES IN THE WORLD: • Tokyo is one of the coolest cities I've been to. I love Tokyo because it's completely crazy and packed with so many new and different impressions from what I'm from and used to. • Bogota, the capital of Colombia. The people there are absolutely fantastic and I love all the art and culture in the city. • Rome. It has the best food and you love the architecture.

ABOUT THE MOVIE Nova & Alice is about two mismatched artists who are reluctantly forced to tour together by their manager (Johan Rheborg). Alice (Hedda Stiernstedt) is the established star who has a large audience but has never written a song of her own, whose brilliance is quickly fading. Nova (Josefin Asplund) is the new, cocky artist whose career is skyrocketing, but her life off stage is chaotic. The clash is inevitable – both musically and personally. But when the tour bus glides between the summer Swedish concert stages, everything is put at risk – and they have no idea that this is the summer that will change everything.

JOSEPHINE ASPLUND Age: 32. Occupation Actor. Bor Stockholm as a base. Family Boyfriend Niklas Clarkson, journalist at Swedish Radio, daughter Ellen, 2. Career in brief: She made her breakthrough in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo at the age of 19, where Daniel 'James Bond' Craig played her father. She has starred in internationally acclaimed films and TV series such as Top Dog, Snow Angels, Vikings, Carmen Curlers, The Circle, Himmelsdale n and Conspiracy of Silence. . Currently The film Nova & Alice will be released in theaters September 13th.