Biography of Alexander Skarsgard

Name

Alexander Skarsgard

Date of Birth

August 25, 1976

Birth Place

Stockholm, Sweden

Say hello to Sweden's sexiest import, 6'4" True Blood star Alexander Skarsgard! But while the hunky actor skyrocketed to fame playing bad-boy vampire Eric Northman on the HBO series, he's more than just a pretty face.
The son of actor Stellan Skarsgard, he began his career at age 8 as a child actor in his native Stockholm, Sweden, but soon left the entertainment industry after a brief brush with fame. As a teen, he served in the country's Royal Navy and later, briefly attended Leeds Metropolitan University in England before returning to acting.
Following a bit part as a male model in 2001's Zoolander, Skarsgard turned in similar, smaller appearances until Generation Kill, the career-making 2008 HBO miniseries that eventually led to True Blood. The actor has since segued back onto the big screen with starring roles in the 2011 dramas Straw Dogs – where he met onetime flame Kate Bosworth – and director Lars von Trier's Melancholia. 

Model Behavior

Having secured several roles in Swedish films, Skarsgard makes his Hollywood debut after auditioning on a whim for the Ben Stiller comedy Zoolander. He makes a brief appearance in the film as male model Meekus, one of Stiller's roommates who memorably blows up in a gas station accident. Skarsgard moves to Hollywood in 2004 to further his career.

Going in for the 'Kill'---karsgard lands his big break when he is cast as Sgt. Brad "Iceman" Colbert in Generation Kill, an HBO miniseries based on a book about a reporter embedded within a Marines battalion during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. "We made it for all those soldiers over there because you don't really see what's happening on a daily basis, what the soldiers are going through and what kind of baggage they come home with," he tells GQ UK. "So it was just important to make it right for these guys."

 'True' Success

HBO taps Skarsgard for the role of bad-boy vampire Eric Northman on True Blood, an adaptation of Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse novels. Following a brief appearance in the show's first season, his second-season storyline, which includes a love triangle with costars Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer, turns Skarsgard into a fan favorite.