Peter Vilhelm Franzén (born 14 August 1971) is a Finnish actor, author, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for his role as King

Harald Fairhair Harald Fairhair (; – ) was a Norwegian king. According to traditions current in Norway and Iceland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, he reigned from 872 to 930 and was the first Monarchy of Norway, King of Norway. Supposedly, two ...

in ''

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

'' (2016–2020).

Personal life

Franzén grew up in Keminmaa, in Northern Finland. Franzén has described his childhood as difficult due to his violent and alcoholic stepfather. Later, Franzén's relationship to his abusive stepfather was a major focal point in his semi-autobiographical novel, ''Above Dark Waters''. He met his actress wife Irina Björklund while studying in Theatre Academy of Finland. In 1999 the couple moved to Los Angeles, where they lived until 2013, after which they moved to France. They have a son, born in September 2007.

Career

As an actor, Franzén has appeared in over 50 films and TV series. For his role in '' Dog Nail Clipper'', Franzén was awarded a Jussi Award for Best Actor as well as earning praise from film critic Jay Weissberg from '' Variety'' magazine who called the actor "one of the most talented and versatile thesps in Finland". In his career he has appeared in Finnish, Estonian, German, English, Swedish, and Hungarian speaking roles. In 2015, Franzén was cast as King

from the fourth season of ''

''. Franzén has also been cast in

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

's ''

The Wheel of Time ''The Wheel of Time'' is a series of high fantasy novels by the American author Robert Jordan, with American author Brandon Sanderson as co-writer of the final three installments. Originally planned as a trilogy, ''The Wheel of Time'' came to ...

'' TV series.

Filmography

Films

Television

Video Games

Writing

In 2010 Franzén published a partly autobiographical novel Tumman veden päällä (Above Dark Waters). In 2013 Franzén wrote Samoilla silmillä, a sequel to Tumman veden päällä. In 2017 Tammi published Särkyneen pyörän karjatila, third book by Franzén.

Directing

In 2013 Franzén directed the film "''Above Dark Waters''", based on novel he had written in 2010. In 2020, he directed and narrated a viking-themed short movie called "''Age of Vikings: Fated''" which was shot in Old Swedish.

Singing

In 2021 Franzén sang the song Þat Mælti Mín Móðir (My Mother Told Me), that was performed by the Swedish band Hindarfjäll. The song first appeared in the TV-series Vikings where it was sung by

(portrayed by Peter Franzén). Here Franzén reprises his performance, singing the song in the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

language.

Awards and honours

In 2013 Franzén was awarded the Pro Finlandia Medal of the ''

Order of the Lion of Finland Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Franzen, Peter 1971 births Living people People from Keminmaa Finnish male film actors Finnish male television actors Male actors from Los Angeles Finnish expatriates in France Finnish expatriates in the United States