Noomi Rapace reveals she couldn’t read or write until she was a 12 and had to teach HERSELF because she grew up with ‘no boundaries, books or TV’: ‘I was self-raised like Mowgli’

Noomi Rapace has revealed she didn’t learn to read or write until she was 12 years old because she was ‘self-taught and self-raised.’ 

Speaking to The Times about her unconventional upbringing, the 44-year-old Swedish actress reflected on growing up in Sweden and Iceland. 

Born to a Swedish actress and a Spanish flamenco singer father, she was raised by her mother and stepfather in the Nordic countries after her father walked out on the family while she was born. 

She explained: ‘There were no boundaries, really. I’m self-taught and self-raised, and I couldn’t properly read and write until I was 12, 13. 

‘We didn’t have books or TV — I was out playing and building stuff and riding horses.’

Noomi Rapace has revealed she didn’t learn to read or write until she was 12 years old because she was ‘self-taught and self-raised’ (pictured in 2023) 

Noomi soared to fame with her breakout role in 2009’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo  playing computer hacker Lisbeth Salander

Comparing herself to the feral protagonist in The Jungle Book series, Noomi continued: ‘Sometimes I felt like Mowgli, this child who was raised in the wilderness.’

Elsewhere in the interview, Noomi – who soared to fame with her breakout role in 2009’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – clarified how to pronounce her surname Rapace (rupp-ass). 

Noomi, née Norén, previously revealed that she and Swedish actor Ola Rapace, né Pär Ola Norell, created the surname when they married in 2012. 

On why they decided on Rapace, which means ‘bird of prey’ in French and Italian, she told The Guardian: ‘I’m very spontaneous. I don’t overthink stuff: “Let’s go! Let’s do it.” And there was something in me that very strongly connected with the name. 

‘But my son said once, when we just moved to London, he was eating breakfast, and I was shooting Sherlock Holmes with Guy Ritchie, and getting ready, running my lines as Simza, my fortune-teller character, and he looked up at me and was like: 

‘“Mummy, do you know I’m the first-born Rapace in the world?” So yeah, I think I picked pretty well.’

Noomi is currently on the promotional trail for her new Apple TV+ series Constellation. 

Yet the space based drama is so sinister that even its showrunner would politely turn down an invitation to take an intergalactic trip.

Created and written by Peter Harness, the eight-part psychological thriller follows astronaut Jo, played by Noomi, who returns to Earth after a disaster in space, only to discover that key pieces of her life are missing.

The action-packed series explores the dark edges of human psychology, and follows one woman’s quest to expose the truth about the hidden history of space travel in a bid to recover all that she has lost. 

Comparing herself to the feral protagonist in The Jungle Book series, Noomi continued: ‘Sometimes I felt like Mowgli, this child who was raised in the wilderness’ (Mowgli depicted by Neel Sethi in the 2016 film adaptation) 

Noomi, née Norén, previously revealed that she and Swedish actor Ola Rapace, né Pär Ola Norell, created their surname Rapace when they married in 2012 (pictured in 2010) 

Noomi is currently on the promotional trail for her new Apple TV+ series Constellation (pictured at the Alexander McQueen show earlier this month) 

Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Peter revealed the story that inspired the plot, while also admitting that he is so fearful of outer space he would only consider jumping on board a rocket if his days were numbered.

‘I was on a holiday in a cabin in the Swedish Woods once, and as night fell, we would hear a little girl calling for her mama in the forest,’ he said of how he was inspired to create the plot.

‘It was very spooky, and a bit weird, and we didn’t know where it was coming from. And we never did find out where it was coming from.

‘But a couple of nights running, we heard this sound and I always thought I have to write something about this little girl lost in the forest in Sweden.

‘And then when I was asked whether I’d like to write something about astronauts and what it’s like to for them to return to Earth, I wanted to do something about how challenging that is.

‘I have this mother trapped up there in space, trying desperately to reach her daughter. And for some reason, that daughter was the little girl who was lost in the forest… and I had to write as a show to get them back.’

Oppenheimer actor James D’Arcy plays Jo’s husband Magnus, who is desperately trying to make sense of his wife’s altered mental state following her return to Earth.

Noomi’s new space based Apple TV+ series Constellation is so sinister that even its showrunner would politely turn down an invitation to take an intergalactic trip