Alexander Skarsgård

Alexander Johan Hjalmar Skarsgård is a Swedish actor born on 25 August 1976 in Stockholm. The son of actor Stellan Skarsgård, he began acting as a child before stepping away from the craft. After serving in the Swedish Navy, he returned to acting and achieved international prominence through roles in major television series and feature films, earning honors including a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award.

Skarsgård was raised in Stockholm as the eldest child of Stellan Skarsgård and physician My Skarsgård. He made his screen debut at age seven in Åke and His World. At age 13, his role in The Dog That Smiled brought him widespread recognition in Sweden, but discomfort with fame led him to quit acting. At 19, he served 18 months in an anti-sabotage and anti-terrorism unit of the Swedish Navy. He later attended Leeds Metropolitan University in England and took a theatre course at Marymount Manhattan College in New York, which confirmed his desire to pursue acting professionally.

After returning to Sweden to work in film, television, and theatre, Skarsgård secured his first American film role in Zoolander (2001). He earned a Guldbagge Award nomination for his performance in The Dog Trick (2003). His international breakthrough came in 2008 when he played US Marine Brad Colbert in the HBO miniseries Generation Kill. That same year, he was cast as the Nordic vampire Eric Northman in the HBO series True Blood, a role he played until 2014.

In the 2010s, Skarsgård appeared in films such as Melancholia (2011), Battleship (2012), What Maisie Knew (2012), The East (2013), and The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015). He played the lead role in The Legend of Tarzan (2016) and appeared in War on Everyone (2016). From 2017 to 2019, he starred as Perry Wright in the drama series Big Little Lies, winning a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award. His later roles in the decade included the miniseries The Little Drummer Girl (2018) and the feature films Mute (2018), The Aftermath (2019), and Long Shot (2019).

Skarsgård maintained a high profile in the 2020s, starring as Randall Flagg in the miniseries The Stand (2020–2021) and appearing in the films Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) and Passing (2021). He produced and starred in the epic film The Northman (2022) and appeared in Infinity Pool (2023). Skarsgård also portrayed tech mogul Lukas Matsson in Succession (2021–2023), receiving nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award.

He stars in the science-fiction comedy series Murderbot (2025–present) and the film Pillion (2025), and hosted Saturday Night Live in January 2026. Skarsgård lived in the United States for two decades before moving back to Stockholm in 2023. He has a son, born in 2022, with Swedish actress Tuva Novotny. An honorary degree recipient from Leeds Metropolitan University, he also participated in a 2013 Walking with the Wounded trek to the South Pole.