Renate Reinsve's Partner: Inside Her Relationship with Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel

Renate Reinsve is gearing up for what could be a landmark year in her already impressive career. The 38-year-old Norwegian actress is set to star in Backrooms, a feature-length adaptation of director Kane Parsons' acclaimed YouTube series.

Reinsve has already established herself as one of cinema's most celebrated performers. Her breakout role in 2021's The Worst Person in the World earned her the Best Actress prize at Cannes, and she subsequently received an Oscar nomination for her work in last year's Sentimental Value.

Who is her boyfriend?

The actress is currently in a relationship with Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, a Norwegian filmmaker who happens to carry one of cinema's most storied family legacies. Halfdan is the grandson of legendary actress Liv Ullmann and visionary Swedish director Ingmar Bergman.

Their creative partnership

The couple's professional lives are deeply intertwined. Halfdan's directorial debut, Armand, featured Reinsve in the lead role and earned the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival just a couple of years ago.

In January 2025, Vogue Scandinavia placed the pair on its cover, with editor-in-chief Martina Bonnier describing them as the "Norwegian film power couple." During the accompanying interview, Halfdan spoke candidly about their dynamic: "We have a really special chemistry and we kind of thrive on each other's work and ideas."

Family comparisons

Halfdan has also drawn parallels between his partner and his grandmother's legacy. "For the first time since my grandmother we have a true Norwegian star with Renate! I can't speak to its relation to the past of Nordic cinema because it was so different making films when Ingmar was doing it. He made 53 films, which would be impossible today," he reflected in another interview.

Reinsve is also a mother to a son she shares with animator Julian Nazario Vargas, her former partner.