[1] Gråbøl has become known in Denmark for playing emotional roles, but she achieved international fame as a detective—the cool and distant lead character Inspector Sarah Lund in all three series of The Killing (Danish: Forbrydelsen).

In the UK it was broadcast on BBC4 with great success, winning a BAFTA award, and bringing Gråbøl celebrity status.

[7] Responding to a newspaper advertisement at the age of 17, she was given the role of an artist's nude model in Oviri, a 1986 film about Paul Gauguin with Donald Sutherland.

[9] She said, "I thought it would be like a summer holiday job ...then one film led to another and suddenly I was an actor and I never really felt that I had made the decision ...

Producers of the show envisioned breaking the clichés of female characters usually portrayed on television and film.

[11] Gråbøl had become known in Denmark for playing emotional characters, and the role of the cool and distant Lund was a stark departure.

Although already well known in Denmark, Gråbøl now found herself stopped on the street as fans of the show wanted to know the secret of the killer.

[12] Gråbøl had been a famous actress in Denmark for twenty five years when she suddenly, to her surprise, achieved cult status in Britain.

[14] The BAFTA was awarded to Gråbøl, creator and writer Søren Sveistrup, producer Piv Bernth and director Birger Larsen.

Commenting on the first series of The Killing remake, while saying she thought the American version was good, Gråbøl said it was unfortunate that American audiences would not accept shows with subtitles because with the success of the show in Britain, "there's a strong sense of a cultural exchange going on.

[8][21] In 2015 she played a role, together with Swedish actress Frida Farrell, in the music video "Under the Make-up" for the song with the same title by the Norwegian band a-ha.