Helena Mattsson made her Hollywood acting debut with the role of Lena in the made-for-television comedy film ‘Sweden, Ohio’ in 2004. The same year, she made her film debut in an uncredited role in the Swedish slasher film ‘Strandvaskaren’ (Drowning Ghost). She had small roles in one episode each of the American soap opera ‘Sex, Love & Secrets’ and the police-procedural series ‘CSI: NY’ in 2005, followed by roles in the sitcom ‘Kitchen Confidential’ and the comedy TV movie ‘American Men’. Also that year, she appeared in the official music video for the song “Country Girl” by the Scottish rock band Primal Scream. Followed by more television appearances in ‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation’ and ‘Cold Case’, the telefilm Rx, and the romantic comedy Americanizing Shelley, she had her first starring role as the alien-human hybrid Miranda Hollander in the 2007 science fiction action thriller ‘Species – The Awakening’, the fourth and final installment of the ‘Species’ film series. Later that year, she appeared in an episode of ‘CSI: Miami’ and acted in the short comedy video ‘Mrs. Right?’
In the following years, Helena Mattsson continued to appear in short roles in more films like the family comedy ‘Short Track’ (2008), the Bruce Willis-starrer sci-fi action movie ‘Surrogates’ (2009), the Marvel blockbuster superhero film ‘Iron Man 2’ (2010), the drama film ‘You and I’ (2011), the comedy film ‘The Babymakers’ (2012) and the British-American satirical black comedy ‘Seven Psychopaths’ (2012). Moreover, she also had a main role in the comedy film ‘Nobody’ (2009), provided voice to the 3D stop-motion animated fantasy film ‘Moomins and the Comet Chase’ (2010), and had starring roles in the comedy ‘Melvin Smarty’ and the crime thriller ‘Guns, Girls and Gambling’, both in 2012. During this period, her television credits included appearances in several series such as ‘Two and a Half Men’ (2008), ‘Rules of Engagement’ (2009), ‘Legend of the Seeker’ (2009), ‘NCIS: Los Angeles’ (2010), ‘The Defenders’ (2010), ‘The Mentalist’ (2010), ‘Detroit 1-8-7’ (2011), ‘Breakout Kings’ (2011) and ‘Workaholics’ (2012), and the TV movie ‘Untitled Burr and Hart Project’ (2010).
In 2010, she also had the recurring role of Irina Kosokov in three episodes of the ABC series ‘Desperate Housewives’ and appeared as Aphrodite in the commercial for Pom Wonderful. Following another recurring role in the action thriller ‘Nikita’ in 2011-12, she bagged the main role of Alexis Blume in the supernatural drama series ‘666 Park Avenue’, which was unfortunately cancelled even before the first season completed airing in 2012.
Helena Mattsson had a recurring role as Brandy Korskaya in the ABC drama series ‘Betrayal’ in 2013. The following year, she played a supporting role in the comedy film ‘Audrey’, and had guest roles in several episodes of the black comedy ‘Fargo’ and the mystery drama ‘Mistresses’. In 2015, she went on to appear in two telefilms, ‘Win, Lose or Love’ and ‘Paradise Pictures’, and had the recurring role of Agnetha in the horror anthology series, ‘American Horror Story: Hotel’. She appeared in a beaver costume alongside Danny DeVito and George Clooney in a commercial for Nespresso in November 2015.
In 2017, Helena Mattsson lent her voice to the main character Inga in the adult animated sitcom ‘Jeff & Some Aliens’ and the guest character Alva in an episode of the fantasy animated series ‘Adventure Time’. During 2017-18, she acted in movies like ‘The Persian Connection’, ‘Code of Honor’, and ‘Smartass’, and appeared in several made-for television films such as ‘The Neighborhood Nightmare’, ‘My Dinner with Hervé’, ‘My Husband's Secret Wife’, and ‘The Perfect One’ (also known as Mommy Group Murder). She went on to star in more telefilms in the following years, including ‘Shattered Memories’ (2019), ‘His Deadly Affair’ (2019) and ‘Murder in the Vineyard’ (2020), and had a major supporting role in the drama film ‘Iceland Is Best’ (2020).
Following a small role in the drama film ‘Something About Her’ and a couple guest roles in ‘Magnum P.I.’ and ‘Tacoma FD’ in 2021, Mattsson went on to appear in several episodes of the crime drama series ‘The Rookie’ (2021-22) as Ashley McGrady. In 2022, she temporarily replaced her younger sister Sofia Mattsson as Sasha Gilmore in two episodes of the long-running soap opera ‘General Hospital’. She is currently portraying the main cast Anderson/Blair Anderson in the action drama series ‘Paper Empire’ and is scheduled to star in the upcoming movies ‘Dark Asset’, ‘Little Angels’ and ‘Vanity’.
