Ågren was born in Landskrona, Sweden, a town she once described to Italian entertainment journalists as a "Northern Naples."[2] Her modeling career brought her to Rome where she studied acting at the Drama School directed by Alessandro Fersen.[3] She made her film debut in Luciano Salce's Colpo di stato,[3] and her early roles included the Michael Caine film Pulp (1972) as a receptionist, and the Jack Lemmon comedy Avanti! (1972) as a nurse.