Mikael Åke Persbrandt (; born 25 September 1963) is a Swedish actor. In Swedish films, he is perhaps best known for playing Gunvald Larsson in the ''

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi music, lo-fi style, and became ...

'' series of movies. He is internationally known for his starring role in the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-winning feature, ''

In a Better World ''In a Better World'' ( da, Hævnen, "The Revenge") is a 2010 Danish drama thriller film written by Anders Thomas Jensen and directed by Susanne Bier. The film stars Mikael Persbrandt, Trine Dyrholm, and Ulrich Thomsen in a story which takes ...

'', directed by

Susanne Bier Susanne Bier (; born 15 April 1960) is a Danish filmmaker. She is best known for her feature films ''Brothers'' (2004), '' After the Wedding'' (2006), ''In a Better World'' (2010), and '' Bird Box'' (2018), and the TV miniseries ''The Night Mana ...

. His performance earned him a 2011 European Film Award nomination for Best Actor. Other parts include the role of Carl Hamilton from the novels by

Jan Guillou Jan Oskar Sverre Lucien Henri Guillou (, ; born 17 January 1944) is a French-Swedish author and journalist. Guillou's fame in Sweden was established during his time as an investigative journalist, most notably in 1973 when he and co-reporter Pet ...

Beorn Beorn is a fictional character created by J. R. R. Tolkien, and part of his Middle-earth legendarium. He appears in ''The Hobbit'' as a " skin-changer", a man who could assume the form of a great black bear. His descendants or kinsmen, a group ...

in ''

The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the '' ...

'', as well as Jakob Nyman in the British TV series ''

Sex Education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual acti ...

''.

Early life

Persbrandt was born in

Jakobsberg Jakobsberg is a suburban area (pop. 24,046) within Stockholm urban area, and the seat of Järfälla Municipality, Stockholm County in Sweden. Jakobsberg, Järfälla's commercial and administrative centre, grew up around the railway. In the ...

Järfälla Municipality Järfälla Municipality ( sv, Järfälla kommun) is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden, and is considered a suburb of Stockholm. Its seat is located in Jakobsberg, part of the Stockholm urban area. Järfälla has not been a ...

Stockholm County Stockholm County ( sv, Stockholms län, link=no ) is a county or '' län'' (in Swedish) on the Baltic Sea coast of Sweden. It borders Uppsala County and Södermanland County. It also borders Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The city of Stockholm ...

. He was baptized in the Finnish Church in

Gamla stan Gamla stan (, "The Old Town"), until 1980 officially Staden mellan broarna ("The Town between the Bridges"), is the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Gamla stan consists primarily of the island Stadsholmen. Officially, but not colloquially, Gamla stan ...

. Persbrandt has stated that he has ancestry from

Åland Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1 ...

on his mother's side, and that he thinks his paternal ancestors were

Walloons Walloons (; french: Wallons ; wa, Walons) are a Gallo-Romance ethnic group living native to Wallonia and the immediate adjacent regions of France. Walloons primarily speak '' langues d'oïl'' such as Belgian French, Picard and Walloon. Walloo ...

Career

He has performed onstage with the

Royal Dramatic Theatre The Royal Dramatic Theatre ( sv, Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern, colloquially ''Dramaten'') is Sweden's national stage for "spoken drama", founded in 1788. Around one thousand shows are put on annually on the theatre's five running stages. The the ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

and in numerous film and TV roles. Persbrandt is well known for his role as the

hardboiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence o ...

police inspector Gunvald Larsson, in the ''Beck'' series of films. He won the

Guldbagge Award The Guldbagge Awards ( sv, Guldbaggen, en, Gold scarab) is an official and annual Swedish film awards ceremony honoring achievements in the Swedish film industry. Winners are awarded a statuette depicting a rose chafer, better known by the name ...

for

Best Actor in a leading role Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporatio ...

twice, the first in 2009 for ''

Everlasting Moments ''Everlasting Moments'' ( sv, Maria Larssons eviga ögonblick) is a 2008 Swedish drama film directed by Jan Troell, starring Maria Heiskanen, Mikael Persbrandt and Jesper Christensen. It is based on the true story of Maria Larsson, a Swedish wor ...

'' and the second in 2014 for '' Nobody Owns Me''. In 2015, Persbrandt reported that he would quit starring in his popular role of Gunvald Larsson. In 2019, Persbrandt began playing Jakob Nyman in the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

comedy drama ''

''. He was a leading actor in the film '' The Salvation''.

Public image and legal issues

Sex appeal

Persbrandt has often been noted for his good looks, and when Swedish media makes lists of the most attractive Swedish men, he has often been on those lists.

''Expressen'' dispute

In December 2005, Persbrandt notified police that the newspaper ''

Expressen ''Expressen'' (''The Express'') is one of two nationwide evening newspapers in Sweden, the other being '' Aftonbladet''. ''Expressen'' was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and its slogans are "it stings" or "''Expressen'' to your rescue". ...

'' had made false accusations about him having acute alcohol poisoning and being admitted to a clinic in

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

. The information was inaccurate. ''Expressen'' apologised and admitted that their information was false, but the apology was not accepted by Persbrandt. Otto Sjöberg, at the time editor of the newspaper was fined 75,000 SEK (≈ 6800 €, US$8900), in damages to Persbrandt.

Drug use

Persbrandt was arrested twice in 2011 for

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

use and received a fine. In April 2014, he was sentenced to five months' imprisonment for another cocaine offence, but on appeal this was reduced to 75 hours'

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performed ...

Personal life

He is in a relationship with

Sanna Lundell Sanna Cecilia Lundell (born 6 November 1978 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a Swedish freelance journalist and television presenter. She is the daughter of the singer Ulf Lundell. She has done journalistic work for the magazines ''Mama'', ''M-Magasin' ...

and the couple have three children together. He had previously been married to

Maria Bonnevie Anna Maria Cecilia Bonnevie (born 26 September 1973) is a Swedish- Norwegian actress. She was born in Västerås, Sweden, but grew up in Oslo, Norway. Her parents are Norwegian actress Jannik Bonnevie and Swedish actor Per Waldvik. Bonnevie wa ...

Theatre

All the performances are in Swedish.

Filmography

Discography

Albums

References

External links

*
Official home pageOfficial fan-site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Persbrandt, Mikael 1963 births Swedish male film actors Male actors from Stockholm Living people Sommar (radio program) hosts Best Actor Guldbagge Award winners 20th-century Swedish male actors 21st-century Swedish male actors Swedish male stage actors Swedish male voice actors Swedish male television actors People convicted of drug offenses Swedish people of Finnish descent Swedish people of Belgian descent