Jesper Christensen

Born: May 16 1948
Where: Copenhagen, Denmark

The renowned Scandinavian actor made his Hollywood debut in The Interpreter as a security chief for an African dictator.

A veteran of the Danish stage, Christensen has appeared in plays by Shakespeare, Chekhov and Fassbinder.

He first attracted attention when he won a Bodil Award for Best Actor for the 1978 drama Hør, var der ikke en som lo?.

He went on to win further Bodil awards for Barbara (1997) and Per Fly's The Bench in 2000, for which he also landed the Danish Film Critics Award.

Two years' later, he was nominated for best supporting actor for Jesper Nielsen's Okay.

In 2005, veteran American director Sydney Pollack cast him alongside Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman in The Interpreter.