Anja Schmidt was born in Visby, Sweden. She spent seven years of her childhood in Tokyo, Japan and returned to Sweden at the age of nine, an experience which she later made a film about, Moments Turn to Years (1997). After graduating from Saltsjöbadens Samskola Anja attended the University of Stockholm and later Lund where she studied Social Science, French, Economical History and Drama.Anja worked as a photo and fashion model during her late teens and early twenties before turning to acting, her first film being Joe Hill (1971), by the director Bo Widerberg. The film was shown at the Cannes Festival where it obtained the Prix du Jury. Bo Widerberg had met Anja with her friend, the actor Thommy Berggren and offered her the female lead in Joe Hill, where Thommy played the lead.After her studies Anja worked mainly on stage touring in Sweden, her most important work during this period being the monologue The Love Story of the Century by Märta Tikkannen and Miss Julie (1983) by Strindberg with the free theater group Garderobsteatern, which she was a part of for ten years.Anja has since then been part of the cast in a number of TV-series, films and commercials alongside with a variety of stage and studio work as voice over and dub artist. Some of the titles being Torsten och Greta (1983), Kulla-Gulla (1986), Livsfarlig film (1988), Kuriren (1988) _Nyckelfrågan_ (1989), Den svarta cirkeln (1990), Tintin (1995), År av drömmar (1994), Inte bara mördare (2000), Ronny & Julia (2000), Les enquêtes de l'inspecteur Wallander: Sidetracked (2008), En ö i havet (2003), Skägget i brevlådan (2008), Max's Movie (2015).Since 1997 Anja has been working as a casting director, project leader and coach alongside with acting on stage, in TV-series, commercials and voice overs.A choice of casting titles are Les enquêtes de l'inspecteur Wallander: Sidetracked (2008), Maria Larssons eviga ögonblick (2008), Unga Sophie Bell (2014), Dom över död man (2012). Show less «