Zarah Leander (March 15, 1907 – June 23, 1981) was a Swedish actress and singer. She was born as Zarah Stina Hedberg in Karlstad, and died in Stockholm. Although Zarah Leander studied piano and violin already as a small child, and sang on stage for the first time at the age of six, she made a serious attempt at an ordinary life. As a teenager she lived two years in Riga (1922–1924), learned the then most important international language, German, took up work as a secretary, married Nils Leander (1926), and had two children (1927 & 1929).