Einar owes a lot to Sandra Bullock:

Einar Haraldsson’s story is like an exciting movie with an unexpected twist. He went to the police academy at the age of 19, worked in the investigative police in Iceland, later became Sandra Bullock’s bodyguard and is currently working as a film actor. Although he started chasing his acting dream late, having reached retirement age, he has no time to stop today.

19 years old to the Police Academy:

Einar was born in 1955 and grew up in a large group of siblings in Reykjavík. And like so many little boys, he found police work extremely exciting. When he was six years old, he announced to his parents that he was going to either be a cop or a firefighter.

He ended up choosing the previous job title:

“At that time, in 1974, there was a 20-year age limit for the police academy and I was still 19, but they accepted me. And in 1976 I started working for the police.”

The working environment of police officers was obviously different in the 1970s than it is today. Murders and brutal violent crimes were rare.

One time we received a call about a boat that had capsized in the harbor. We found it upside down and saved seven people, but heard a knocking in the hull; the people were stuck down. We can’t find them. Eventually a rescue team arrived and found five dead. It was terrible. They were still alive when we first arrived.”

Einar and his former colleagues meet regularly and agree that they would not want to work as police officers today because of how much society has changed.

“What motivated me to continue in the police work was to protect and help people. And I really enjoyed myself in the police at the time, I was able to work well with people and was involved in diverse projects,” says Einar.

First impressions of the business:

Einar was for many years the secretary of the Icelandic division at the International Policemen’s Friendship Association.

“In connection with that job, I had the opportunity to travel around the world to see how police authorities work. For example, I went to Georgia, Germany, Italy and Spain.”

In the early 1980s, Einar received an invitation to come and spend six weeks in Los Angeles, to get to know the police officers and the working environment at the LAPD. He went to film with them on calls and it was quite different from calls in Iceland.

Most of the police officers that Einar met were also working as bodyguards for the various movie stars who lived in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles.

“Through them I got to meet a lot of them, like Clint Eastwood and Elton John which was a really interesting experience.”

This was Einar’s first encounter with the film industry and acting. He heard from more than one person that he could very well be at home in the acting profession.

“When you quit the cops, you should be an actor.” They said I had a sense of humor and a good stage presence. I just laughed at this idea.

Sandra Bullock was the influence:

Einar left the police service in 1993. He worked for several years in Denmark, in security and lifeguarding.

At one time, he had met a young and aspiring actress named Sandra Bullock. They became the greatest. It ended up that Sandra invited Einar to come out and join her bodyguard team. He worked for Sandra for ten years.

“Then she ended up marrying Jessie James and the two of us didn’t get along too well. But it was an absolutely wonderful time, one of the best in my life, because Sandra is an absolutely amazing woman, the most wonderful woman I’ve ever met – apart from my wife, of course,” says Einar glettinn.

“We still have a good relationship today, I picked her up at the airport when she arrived in Iceland at the time and was in her arms during her stay in Iceland.”

Sandra had a word with Einar at the time that he had a lot to do in the film industry.

“It rubs off on you. You’re in the wrong job. You belong in acting,” she said. I just thanked her. But something caught fire there.

Skeptical at first:

The acting dream was still there. Einar came across an ad in a newspaper about an acting course; scene work for films by actress Sigrún Sólar Ólafsdóttir. He decided to take the plunge and signed up for the course.

“But I’m not going to deny that of course I thought to myself that I was probably too old for this. I asked people: ‘Am I too old to start this?’ They said no. I asked my wife, and she said: “Why not? You have nothing else to do!” says Einar, laughing.

“I went to the course out of pure ignorance. I showed up for the first time and everyone there was a few decades younger than me, most of them the age of my grandchildren. I immediately thought to myself that I didn’t fit in there. I had two masks on me, but it quickly disappeared. I was immediately welcomed with open arms.”

Experience and age often provide a deeper insight into human behavior and emotions and life roles, and that translates into acting. Einar’s worries turned out to be completely unfounded.