13 Facts About Fanny Westerdahl

Fanny Amalia Westerdahl or Fanny Hjortsberg was a Swedish stage actress, active between 1829 and 1862.

Fanny Westerdahl is known to have performed in some opera performances.

Fanny Westerdahl belonged to the elite actresses at the Royal Dramatic Theatre of mid-19th-century Sweden.

Fanny Westerdahl was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on 21 February 1817.

Fanny Westerdahl was the daughter of a concert conductor at the Hovkapellet.

Fanny Westerdahl was enrolled as a student at the Royal Dramatic Training Academy in 1828.

Fanny Westerdahl was engaged at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in 1829 and made her proper debut in 1831, as "Carolina" in Baschan in Suresne.

Fanny Westerdahl was described as beautiful, with a good technique in managing her voice in both speaking and lyric drama, a quick and skillful mimic, and a good comprehension of the character of her roles.

Fanny Westerdahl took her profession seriously, and made a study trip to Paris to study the French theater in 1838.

Fanny Westerdahl was a dramatic actress, but as was common at the time when the royal opera and theater where both placed under the same management as the "royal theaters", singers and actors were allowed and expected to be available for both genres providing they had the ability, and Westerdahl is known to have occasionally performed an operatic part, such as when she replaced Elisabeth Frosslind in Cendrillon.

Fanny Westerdahl's position was illustrated by her salary: in 1843, she had a salary of 1400 riksdaler, which was only marginally less than the stars Emilie Hogquist and Nils Almlof and the same amount as the Ballet master of Royal Swedish Ballet, Anders Selinder.

Fanny Westerdahl formally retired with a pension in 1862, but was active as a guest actor for several years afterwards.

Fanny Westerdahl married the actor Carl Edvard Hjortsberg in 1847, and divorced him in 1849.