She became famous in Sweden in the 1990s, after portraying the teenage girl Victoria Bärnsten in the soap opera Tre kronor.

Thereafter, she appeared in numerous productions, and received a Guldbagge Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for the 1997 film Under ytan.

Later that same year, unable to cope with her new-found celebrity, she took a break from filming and moved to Copenhagen, where she worked in a café.

Sällström's last role was in an Ystad theatre production of Anton Chekhov's play The Seagull, which she left prematurely due to illness.

"[8][9] Henning Mankell's grief and guilt over her death swayed him from writing the last two novels of his projected Linda Wallander trilogy.