She was born in Kristiania as a daughter of newspaper editor and theatre director Einar Skavlan and music educator Margrethe Bartholdy.

[2] She was involved in resistance work during World War II, and joined the unofficial "Stanislavskij Group" in 1943.

During the 1960s she also played for Fjernsynsteatret, with roles such as Angustias in an adaptation of García Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba, and as Missis Smith in Ionesco's The Bald Soprano.

Her debut as producer was an adaptation for television of Baroness Emma Orczy's novel The Scarlet Pimpernel, for Fjernsynsteatret in 1968.

Her debut as stage producer was an adaptation of Bill Naughton's play Spring and Port Wine, for Det Norske Teatret in 1969.