Biography

Elina Löwensohn is a Romanian-American actress. She had roles in the films Simple Men (1992), Schindler's List (1993), Amateur (1994), Nadja (1994) and The Wisdom of Crocodiles (1998). Löwensohn was born in Bucharest, Romania. After the death of her father, a Holocaust survivor, her mother emigrated to the United States with her, where her mother went on a hunger strike to get a visa for her.

After finishing high school, Löwensohn studied acting in New York City and played in several successful theatre productions. She started her film career in 1991 with Theory of Achievement. Some of her notable roles are Diana Reiter in Schindler's List (1993), Katya in the 1994 Seinfeld episode "The Gymnast", Iris in Six Ways to Sunday (1997), and Anne Levels in The Wisdom of Crocodiles (1998).
- IMDb mini biography by: Bonitao

Often works with director Hal Hartley.

Often works with director Bertrand Mandico.

Her mother went on a hunger strike in the U.S. to get Elina a visa.

Her mother was a dancer in Bucharest. She emigrated to the US after the death of Elina's father. He was a survivor of a Nazi concentration camp.

Speaks English, French and Romanian.

Now a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Member of the 'Official Competition' jury at the 20th Namur International Festival of French-Speaking Film in 2005.

[on acting] It's really simply the script, and wishing to plunge myself in the unique universe of an auteur, if that universe exists. [2012]

[on Hal Hartley] He saw me in some plays, we did Theory of Achievement (1991), and that was the first film I ever did. And then I did Simple Men (1992). So Hal is my beginning...I admire what he is about, and I'm extremely grateful to have begun with someone like him - because at the time of course, we never realise when we do a project if it's going to be written in history or not. But both him and Michael Almereyda, these films - even though Nadja (1994) is not known in France, it has become a real cult film - represent a period of time in cinema that today almost is nonexistent. Or maybe it's existent with people like Guy Maddin, who are doing [films] in a similar way, inventing and having the freedom to invent and create cinema. [2012]