Henny Moan

Henny Moan
Henny Moan in the 1990s
Born	Henny Elisabeth Moan (1936-02-22) 22 February 1936 (age 81) Talvik, Finnmark
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1955 – 2007
Spouse(s)	André Bjerke (1959 – 1972)
Partner(s)	Ole Paus (1973 – 1976)

Henny Moan (born 22 February 1936) is a Norwegian actress from Finnmark. She has had a long career in theatre, but is best known for her roles in certain classics of Norwegian cinema, such as the Oscar-nominated Ni liv (1957) and De dødes tjern (1958). Moan was for a period married to the author André Bjerke.

At the age of 17 she left her home in Finnmark – where she worked at a gas station – without telling anyone where she was going. She moved to Oslo where she applied to Teaterhøyskolen (the Theater Academy). Here she was accepted in the first intake in the history of the school, in 1953.

Moan has always been characterised by her short-cropped hair, a style she came up with in 1954, at a time when this was still quite uncommon for girls. She claims she originally did it because it was convenient, and because she had worn her hair like that as a child, to avoid lice and to make the hair grow out thicker.

From 1959 to 1972 Moan was married to celebrated Norwegian author André Bjerke. With Bjerke she had the daughter Vilde in 1960, who later wrote a book about her childhood. Henny and André lived together until their daughter was nine, at which point they separated.

Moan has acted both at Det Norske Teatret (the Norwegian Theater), Oslo Nye Teater and at Nationaltheatret (the National Theatre), in roles such as "Marguerite" in Dumas's The Lady of the Camellias, and "Miss Julie" in Strindbergs play by that name. In 2006 she won the award "Aase Byes ærespris" for her effort in Ibsen-roles. She played her last part before retirement early in 2007. After retiring she started working on her autobiography.