Noomi Rapace is grateful to be doing more than "surviving" in her career.
Noomi Rapace is doing more than just 'surviving'
The 41-year-old actress has admitted she used to feel anxious as to whether she made the right decisions in her career on screen but she is now far more confident and assured in her work.
Noomi told the I newspaper: "It comes and goes. Now it's less than ever, I would say. For many, many years, I was just surviving, and now I feel like I'm living.
"I love making films, putting things together and connecting people. All the glamour and the glitter, it's just a loan, just a brief moment, and then you're back on set, and it's dirty and muddy and cold."
The 'Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' star compared her life to "running on a minefield" but credits her new movie 'Lamb' as a turning point in her approach.
She said: "I feel like for years I built up this protection around me. I was always on the fence, and life was like walking or running on a minefield. And you never knew when the mine would explode.
"But now I feel like I'm walking without looking down. I feel like I'm open, and 'Lamb' was the turning point. A lot of thing changed in me and I had this awakening. I reconnected with the Noomi that I was before I put on all this protection."
Noomi reflected on how she had been raised to "never show weakness" but no longer accepts living like that.
The star – who shares son Lev, 18, with former husband Ola Rapace – explained: "I have accepted imperfections and allowed myself to feel sadness, vulnerability and weakness.
"That's not weakness. I was raised in a way never to cry, never show weakness. So I became very tough.
"I don't want to live like that. I don't want to accept that way of living, and carrying myself, to bleed into my son's life. I want him to be a human that has access to all emotions, where everything is allowed."
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