Greta Garbo had the Sun in Virgo, the Moon in Taurus and Gemini rising: one of the great stars of early Hollywood, with a quiet, perfectionist Sun and a Moon hidden away in the most private part of the chart.

She was born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson at 7:30 in the evening on 18 September 1905 in Stockholm. Astro-Databank rates the time AA, from a birth record in hand. She worked at the PUB department store in Stockholm before acting school, and The Saga of Gösta Berling (1924) took her to Hollywood. She starred in Anna Christie, Grand Hotel, Queen Christina, Camille and Ninotchka, then left films in 1941, at 36, and never went back. She died in New York in 1990.

Sun in Virgo in the 6th house

Her Sun is at 25 degrees of Virgo, in the 6th house of daily work and craft. Virgo is the most exacting sign, and the 6th house is about doing the work well rather than being seen doing it. Garbo was known for subtle, understated acting and for controlling her own roles and contracts once she could. The Sun squares Pluto in her 1st house, which adds a powerful, guarded intensity to the face the camera loved.

Moon in Taurus in the 12th house

Her Moon is in Taurus, the steadiest Moon sign, in the 12th house, the house of solitude and things kept out of sight. It is one of the clearest pictures of privacy in astrology. Garbo avoided parties and interviews from the start of her career, and after she left films she lived quietly in New York for almost fifty years, walking the city alone and collecting paintings by Renoir and Bonnard. A Taurus Moon loves beauty and comfort, and hers found them in private. The Moon makes an exact square to Venus in Leo, a tension between the glamour on screen and the need to hide.

Gemini rising, with Jupiter in the 1st house

Gemini rising is light, quick and changeable on the surface, and Jupiter sits close to her Ascendant: a face that seemed to hold many moods at once. Her Midheaven, the public role, is in Capricorn, the sign of authority. By 1932 she could set the terms of her own contracts, and when she walked away from Hollywood, it was on her own terms. In Grand Hotel (1932) she spoke the line most people remember her by: "I want to be alone."

Compare your chart with hers

If you share her Virgo Sun, her Taurus Moon or her Gemini rising, add your details below to see how your chart meets hers. Ingrid Bergman, another Stockholm-born Virgo, has her chart here.