Hilje Murel

[1][2] In 1998, shortly after graduation from the EMA Higher Drama School, Murel began an engagement as an actress at the Ugala theatre in Viljandi where she made her stage debut in the role of Ida in Astrid Saalbach's 1986 play The Dance Lesson.

Memorable performances there include roles in works by Shakespeare, Molière, Leo Tolstoy, David Harrower, Thorbjørn Egner, Friedrich Schiller, Mark Twain, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Conor McPherson, Ben Travers, Mark Ravenhill, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Eve Ensler, Giovanni Boccaccio, Erich Maria Remarque, Nikolai Gogol, Jean Anouilh, Anton Chekhov, Otfried Preußler, Alistair Beaton and Donald Margulies.

She has had other roles in productions of works by authors and playwrights including Tennessee Williams, Juan Rulfo, Arthur Miller, Halldór Laxness, Tom Stoppard, Andrus Kivirähk, Tracy Letts, Jane Bowles and David Hare.

[2] In 2003, she appeared in the role of Linda's daughter in the Rando Pettai-directed, Peep Pedmanson-written comedy Vanad ja kobedad saavad jalad alla (English release title: Made in Estonia).

[6] In 2013, she played the role of Berit Piir in the family-fantasy drama Väikelinna detektiivid ja valge daami saladus, directed by René Vilbre and written by Mikhel Ulman.

[8] In 2020, she voiced the character of Mother Rat in the Meelis Arulepp and Karsten Kiilerich-directed animated film Sipsik, based on the popular 1962 children's book of the same title by Eno Raud.

In 2007, she appeared as Külli in the Andri Luup-directed joint Estonian-Finnish television comedy film Kinnunen, about a Finnish misfit (played by Sesa Lehto) searching for a wife in Estonia.