Even though he turns 70 on June 13, he is driving on with undiminished force. He has rightly been called a long-term Swedish export success.
His talent for high-caliber character acting means that he always performs with total credibility. This is true from his fantastic breakthrough role in “The Simple Killer” to the more bony one of Meryl Streep’s old girlfriends in the musical “Mamma Mia!”.
He broke through already as a 16-year-old in the Swedish TV series “Bombi Bitt och jag”, where he became a teenage idol by smoking, drinking and swearing.
He later appeared on the Swedish national stage “Dramaten”, of which he later became a sharp critic. He believed that the creative process of creation was no longer enough at the forefront.
At home, ever since the role of the lame Jan in “Breaking The Waves”, he has been almost a fixture in six of his friend Lars von Trier’s films – such as “Dancer in the Dark”, “Dogville” and “Nymphomaniac”.
The Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland, with whom he has made three films, has described Skarsgård as a chameleon who takes color after the task and enjoys it. And there have been many dark roles and strange existences on Skarsgård’s palette.
But he has also starred in blockbusters such as both the Abba films, the Dan Brown film adaptation “Angels and Demons” and has had major roles in works such as “Good Will Hunting”, “King Arthur” and “Pirates of the Caribbean”.
In addition, pure superhero movies like “Thor” and “The Avengers”. And the career path has been filled with lots of nominations and awards.
Not only on film, he has been extremely productive. He is also the father of no fewer than eight children across two spouses – the last, Megan Everett, is the age of his eldest son.
A few years ago, he was allegedly sterilized to put an end to the antics and the growing herd.
However, his film talents are not wasted. Five of the now grown children have thrown themselves over the acting. With the greatest success the son Alexander, who participates in, among other things, the series “True Blood” and not least “Big Little Lies”. The latter with a number of awards in the wake.