Profile of the Day: Greta Garbo

Do you have Swedish roots? On this day in 1905, Swedish actress Greta Garbo was born in Stockholm, Sweden.

Image: Greta Garbo / Library of Congress

She was born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson to Anna Lovisa Karlsson and Karl Alfred Gustafsson. She grew up in poverty and daydreamed about becoming an actor from an early age. At 13, she dropped out of school to care for her sick father, who died in 1920.

After getting her start as a hat model in commercials for a department store, Garbo was recruited to attend the prestigious Royal Dramatic Theatre’s Acting School in Stockholm. She found success in film in Sweden and Germany before making her way to the United States at the age of 19. She soon was known as one of Hollywood’s biggest starts during the Golden Age of film. She became one of the highest paid actresses of the time and was nominated for three Academy Award for Best Actress.

Garbo died on April 15, 1990 at the age of 84.

Explore Greta Garbo’s family tree on Geni and share your connection to the Hollywood legend.

View Greta Garbo’s Geni Profile