Frijda was born in Amsterdam as the daughter of Johannes Wiegel and Alida van Moorsel, and grew up in an SDAP family in the Rivierenbuurt.

She appeared in about twenty films - including four by Pim de la Parra, and Moutarde van Sonansee by Toon Hermans – and in a number of television series.

She has also dubbed in Dutch in several films and series, such as the sea witch Ursula in The Little Mermaid and Zira in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride.

At her farewell, Frijda's collected speeches in the city council, entitled Ik dacht dat een kunstschouw een nep-open haard was ("I thought an art show was a fake fireplace"), were presented to Mayor Eberhard van der Laan.

Party member and former PvdA councilor Pitt Treumann subsequently occupied the Red Amsterdam municipal council seat, also for a period of one year.

Her second son, Michael Frijda, is a helmsman on inland shipping and also an author: he wrote the novel Ritselingen, which was shortlisted for the Libris Prize.