Helen Sjöholm

Marie Helen Sjöholm (Swedish pronunciation: [hɛˈleːn ˈɧø̌ːhɔlm]; born 10 July 1970) is a Swedish singer, actress and musical theatre performer who lives in Gamla Enskede in Stockholm. She grew up in Sundsvall and started to sing in choirs at an early age, working, among others, with Swedish conductor Kjell Lönnå. By the end of the 1980s she toured with the group "Just for Fun".

Career

Her career as a performer of musical theatre began with small-scale concert presentations of Chess, in which she sang the role of Florence. She took part in a number of smaller productions, including Little Dorrit in Enskede and the musical Elvira Madigan at Malmö Music Theatre in Malmö, Sweden.

Her big breakthrough occurred in 1995 when she created the title role in Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus' Kristina från Duvemåla, which she played on and off for nearly four years (during the musical's entire run). Minneapolis Star and Tribune in its review of the concert version of the musical performed by the original cast in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1996 described her as "extraordinary" (14 October 1996, page 05B). In 1998, she played Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof, taking a break from Kristina. In 2000, she returned to Malmö Music Theatre to portray the role of Fantine in Les Misérables, and in 2002 she created the role of Florence in the reconceived Swedish production of Chess, opposite original London star Tommy Körberg as Anatoly. Having left this production upon closing in 2003, Sjöholm took part in Chinarevyn, a revue starring many well-known Swedish performers including Magnus Härenstam, Lasse Berghagen, Loa Falkman, Sissela Kyle and herself.