Mina Sundwall

Biography

Mina Sundwall is an American TV and movie actress, singer and songwriter known for her roles such as Penny Robinson in Lost in Space(2018), Francesca in #Horror(2015), Justine in Maggie's Plan (2015), Maya Kelder in Freeheld(2015).

Some of Mina's recent works include playing Genevieve in the Graduates(2023), Sofia in the short film Wake(2023), Dodie in Jesus Revolution(2023) among others.

Childhood- Family

[Mina Sundwall childhood]

Mina Sundwall was born on 23rd October 2001 in New York City, New York, United States to Nadia Leonelli(Mother) and Fredrik Sundwall(Father).  

Her mother Nadia Leonelli (Italian immigrant) is a producer, she has produced movies such as Perfume(2001), A Bronx Tale(1993), Acts of Worship(2001) and a dozen more.

Her father Fredrik Sundwall (Swedish immigrant) is a producer as well. He produced the short film 'Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear (2010)', the one in which Mina made her debut.

Mina is of Swedish and Italian origins. She spent a part of her childhood in Europe. She mostly grew up mostly in New York, but lived for some time in France and Madrid.

She is multilingual because of her upbringing. She speaks fluent English, French, Spanish, can handle Swedish to an extent (and wishes her family doesn't disown her :)). She doesn't speak Italian (which is her mother's first language)

She doesn't have other siblings, but her parents have a dog which Mina thinks is loved more than herself by her parents.

[Mina Sundwall with her parents- Photo Credits PMc]

Education

• Private tutor: She has a private tutor who teaches her, so that she can balance her time perfectly between school and acting. They schedule classes whenever she has free time, she is graduating from a regular High school. She is good at school and she likes exams. She wants to go to college.
• United Nations International School: She Graduated from the High School in  2019
• The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute: She attended the acting school founded by actor & director Lee Strasberg in 1969. It is located in Union Square on East 15th Street, in New York City, New York.
• Graduation: She joined college for graduation with major in psychology.

[Mina Sundwall- The Bare Magazine]

Career

Mina's acting career started with a small role in the short film "Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear".

In the TV series Calebrity Ghost Stories, she plays Kathy in the episode S4E13 (The episode with Victoria Rowell, Dot Jones, Carlos Mencia, Linda Blair)

In the short film 'The water gun chronicles'  written and directed by Maurice R. Keyes, she played Kara Foxx.

In the 10 minute short film First Prize written and directed by Kevin McMullin, she played a ballerina.

In the Stephen King novel based crime drama A Good Marriage(2014), She played the young Petra.Kristen Connolly played the adult Petra Anderson.

She played Mia Harris in the episode "Glasgowman's Wrath" (S16E6) of the crime series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

In the 2015 romantic comedy movie Maggie's Plan, she played Justine Harding. Great Gerwig (Maggie Hardin), Ethan Hawke (John Harding), Bill Hader (Tony), Maya Rudolph (Felicia), Travis Fimmel (Guy Childers) and others.

In the drama film Freeheld directed by Peter Sollett, she played Maya Kelder.

In the 2015 horror crime movie #Horror, written and directed by Tara Subkoff, she played Francesca. Francesca along with Ava, Georgie, Cat White is one of the teen girls that gets killed in the movie.

In the 2017 comedy short movie "Un vase à Chinatown", written and directed by Jeremy Hung, she played Cecile

In the 2018 short movie 'Seen from Above', she played Vivian.

In the 2020 short film Emma, she played the titular role of Emma. It starred Nicholas Masson along with her in the lead.

In DC's action series 'Legends of Tomorrow', she plays Lita, a recurring character in 8 episodes across season 5 and 6.

Lost in Space

In the 2018 American Science fiction series based on the 1812 novel The Swiss Family Robinson, she played Penny Robinson, a rebellious daughter of adult lead characters Maureen (an aerospace engineer played by Molly Parker) and John (a former U.S. Navy SEAL played by Toby Stephens) .

She is known for frequently sneaking out of the spaceship. She becomes inspired to write about her experiences.

Vijay Dhar (played by Ajay Friese) is her love interest. Will Robinson (played by Maxwell Jenkins) ,a prodigy, is her brother. Judy Robinson (played by Taylor Russell) is her half-sister.

Jane Anonymous

In the short thriller podcast series "Jane anonymous" adopted from the novel "YA" written by Laurie Faria Stolarz, she plays the titular role of Jane.

The story is about Jane, who is kidnapped and held captive fo 7 months.

Michael Cimino played Mason, Jude B. Lanston played Agent Brody, Carie Kawa as Sylvia

In 2022, she voiced the character Thrud in the video game God of War: Ragnarok.

She played Dodie in the 2023 drama movie Jesus Revolution based on the true story of a spiritual awakening in the early 1970s, its origins in the Southern Californian hippie community.  Joel Courtney, Jonathan Roumie,  Kimberly  Williams-Paisley,  Anna Grace Barlow, Kelsey Grammer apepared in the main roles.

She played Sofia in the short film Waka(2023)

The Graduates

In the 2023 drama film The Graduates, she played the lead character Genevieve. The story of a young girl that has lost her boyfriend to gun violence in the previous year. The story deals with her struggles, the community's struggles to find ways to heal from the gun violence tragedy.

Alex R. Hibbert (as Ben), Yasmeen Fletcher (Romie), Ewan Manley (Becker), John Cho (John) appeared in the main roles.

The movie received great critic review, and was premiered at multiple film festivals such as Tribeca Festival of June 2023, Deauville American Film Festival of September 2023.

Interesting Facts & Trivia

• Singer & Songwriter: Mina has interest in music, when not working (acting) she tries music. She can also play Guitar and Piano.
• As of 2018, Lost in Space has been her favorite project. Ninth and Fourth episode in the first season are her favorite episodes.
• She is an outgoing girl and socializes easily.
• She plays video games, but not too well according to her own confession.
• Cyber bullying: She was cyber bullied by a friend who turned foe.
• She is afraid of the dark.
• She supported both Croatia and France in the 2018 football world cup.
• She is lactose intolerant.
• She has the rare red hair and blue eyes combination.
• She can not eat spinach.
• She dreams of doing a historical French movie.
• She wanted to be forensic pathologist as a kid.

Activism & Philanthropy

• March for our lives: Mina supports gun control laws, she participated in the campaign.
• She supports LGBT, she can be seen supporting pride on the social media.
• Service: She wants to go on service trips to Ghana and different countries to contribute towards upliftment of humanity, to get to spend time with kids from different background.
• She supports immigration into USA, she is a daughter of immigrants herself
• Abortion rights: she expressed her heartbreak after the Supreme court overturned Roe vs Wade. She advocated for the abortion right under human right.
• Friends Of Normie: She supports the rescue organization that saves cats and kittens
• SAG AFTRA Strike: she supported the Screen actors guild strike demanding higher pay for screen actors in 2023 

Filmography

Movies

Series

Music Video

Video Game

Q & A

• Actors she wants to collaborate with?
  • Juliette Binoche, Idris Elba, and Sarah Paulson. [2]
• Director she wants to collaborate with?
  • Julia Ducournau [2]
• Her advice to young people who want to pursue a career in the entertainment industry?
  • it’s better to give 100% and fall flat on your face than give 50% out of fear of embarrassment or playing it safe.
• When asked about acting
  • There are no tricks to acting, it all comes with a lot of hard work, lot of studying, lot of perseverance."
• Her tips for those who want to learn acting
  • Find a really good teacher, someone who will sit with you, listen to you, and push you." and "Do as much work as possible, whether it is a short small film." [2]

Quotes

• [To her mother on her birthday] You are the most beautiful, the most caring, most badass woman I have ever met.
• [On Guns] People should not be afraid of going to school, or concert halls, or supermarkets, or in their backyard because of guns.
• I wish I could spend all my time with my friends but at the same time, I don’t like it when someone wants to own me.
• I worry, I often over-think things, and I am more comfortable with boys than girls.
• I really need authentic friendships where I know that no matter what happens, these real friends will be there for me no matter what and I will be there for them
• [About New York] Every corner of New York is different, some posh and clean, some nitty gritty, I like that it is very genuine, very raw and real.
• Recognition based on talent and not on gender is the best thing that can happen for gender equality
• [On why she was attracted to acting] I’ve always had a need to tell stories. It’s like a little voice in my head that won’t shut up. So any opportunity I get is exciting and fresh [2]
• Sometimes you learn more from rejection than anything [2]

Sources

1. Mina Sundwall on wikipedia
2. The Mud Mag interview
3.