Max von Sydow

Born: April 10, 1929
Where: Lund, Sweden

A Swedish World War II veteran, Max has been acting since he was a young man.

His debut came in 1949 in Only A Mother and, for the rest of his career, Max also spent much time on stage.

In 1955 he was brought to the Malmo Stadsteater by Ingmar Bergman, where he worked for five years.

He followed this stint with his first film under Bergman's directorial eye, The Seventh Seal.

Other collaborations between the two followed and, in 1965, Max was cast in his first Hollywood film, The Greatest Story Ever Told, in which he played Jesus.

Throughout the 70s, Max played many big screen roles, including Father Merrin in The Exorcist; Joubert, the professional killer of Three Days of the Condor; and Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon.

In 1981 Max played a benevolent Nazi in Victory, starring Sylvester Stallone, with whom he worked again in Judge Dredd 14 years later.

An excellent turn as Barbara Hershey's artist-lover in Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters brought Max critical acclaim in 1986 and, two years later, he earned his first and (to date) only Oscar nomination as Best Actor for Bille August's Pelle the Conqueror.

More recently Max guided Robin Williams across the River Styx in What Dreams May Come, and featured as a lawyer in Scott Hicks' Snow Falling on Cedars.

The veteran actor has also played a Holocaust survivor in the acclaimed Spanish film Intacto.