Ólína grew up in Reykjavík with her mother, actress Bríet Héðinsdóttir, and her father Þorsteinn Þorsteinsson, a writer and translator of dramatic literature.
Eventually, Ólína was hired as a contracted star player at the National Theatre of Iceland, where she spent the next fourteen years appearing in over 50 productions and portraying a range of leading characters in contemporary and classical plays.
She also contributed to several stage productions of comedy and farce, such as Ray Cooney's Two for One and in Michael Frayn's Noises Off as the misfortunate actress Dotty Otley.
She has interpreted many classical characters such as Irena, in Chekhov's Three Sisters, Aglaja in a dramatization of The Idiot by Dostoyevsky and Queen Margaret in Shakespeare's Richard III for which she garnered the prestigious “Grima awards” (The Mask) in 2004.
[1] Ólína has been featured in numerous high-profile stage productions with several different acting companies, tackling leading roles in plays by masters of the absurd such as in Eugène Ionesco's The Lesson, her portrayal of Roxie Hart in Chicago by Kander and Ebb as a guest star with the Reykjavík Theatre Ensemble.