Stellan Skarsgård

Born: June 13 1951
Where: Goteborg, Sweden

The Breaking the Waves star is one of the few actors after Max Von Sydow and Erland Josephson to make the switch from Scandinavia to Hollywood.

Skarsgard firmed his position as their successor with his portrayal of the oil rig worker who asks his wife (Emily Watson) to sacrifice her life for him in Lars von Trier's art-house hit.

He began acting as a teenager and won recognition by age 16 for his co-starring role in the TV series Bombi Bitt.

He then spent 16 years working with Stockholm's Royal Dramatic Theatre Company excelling in classic plays, alternating with the occasional film appearance (Anita, Swedish Nymphet and Tabu).

Skarsgard became firmly established in features with his award-winning turn in The Simple-Minded Murderer.

By the end of the 80s, he had begun to appear in international films, portraying an engineer in Philip Kaufman's The Unbearable Lightness of Being and a Soviet submarine commander in John McTiernan's The Hunt for Red October.

In 1996, he had the male half of the title role in Harry and Sonja and was a dirty, mean seal hunter in Zero Kelvin.

1997 shaped up to be the actor's biggest year with roles in the British comedy-drama My Son the Fanatic, Savior, set against the backdrop of the Bosnian conflict, Steven Spielberg's period drama Amistad and Good Will Hunting.

Subsequent appearances included Ronin and shark thriller Deep Blue Sea as well as Von Trier's Dancer in the Dark.

He starred opposite Harvey Keitel as German conductor Dr Wilhelm Furtwangler in the World War Two drama Taking Sides as well as the routine thriller The Glass House.

Recent work includes City of Ghosts and Lars Von Trier's controversial Dogville with Nicole Kidman.