1. Alicia Vikander

Vikander was born and raised in Gothenburg. Her professional acting career has featured in Swedish short films and TV series, although she began acting at the tender age of seven. She first rose to prominence after playing the role of Josefin Björn-Tegebrandt in the drama series Andra Avenyn (2008–2010). She gained wider recognition in 2012 for playing Kitty in Joe Wright’s adaptation of Anna Karenina and Queen Caroline Mathilde in the Danish film A Royal Affair . A multi-award-winning actress, she has won an Academy Award, a Critics’ Choice Award and more. She also played Lara Croft in the adventure film Tomb Raider (2018).

2. Anna Odell

As an artist and film director, Odell first gained notoriety in 2009 after faking and filming a suicide attempt on Liljeholmsbron in Stockholm, which sparked a cultural debate. Then, 4 years later, she gradually made her way into the hearts of Swedish critics and audiences after starring in The Reunion (2013), a film she also wrote. This highly interesting film won her international awards, including two in Venice. She is married to her Swedish heartthrob Mikael Persbrandt who starred in her latest film X & Y (2018).

3. Joel Kinnaman

Born to a Swedish mother and an American father, Kinnaman spoke English to his father throughout his childhood, an act that gave him an edge after crossing the Atlantic to make it in Hollywood. After making his mark in Sweden through the film trilogy Easy Money it came as no surprise when he became a household name in the US, starring in the reboot of RoboCop, the supervillain film Suicide Squad and the sci-fi series Altered Carbon. In mid-2014, Kinnaman began dating Swedish tattoo artist Cleo Wattenström. In April 2016, Kinnaman announced that he and Wattenstrom were married. They split in 2018.

4. Malin Åkerman

Åkerman is a Swedish-American actress, model, and singer. Her family moved to Canada when she was 2 after her father found a job there. As a child, she had no plans to become an actress, but she says her passion for acting grew after she was offered guest roles in a television series. She won her first leading roles in the feature films The Heartbreaking Child (2007) and 27 Dresses (2008). In December 2019, Åkerman appeared in En del av mitt hjärta (A Piece of My Heart) musical music film directed by Edward af Sillén, based on the music by one of Sweden’s best-selling artists Tomas Ledin.

5. Bo Svenson

An award-winning writer, producer and director, Svenson was born in Sweden to Lola Iris Viola, a singer and actress. He began his acting career in the late 1960s as a recurring role on the hit television series Here Comes the Bride starring Lumberjack Olaf “Big Swede” Gustavsen. One of his most famous roles in films was the role of murder witness-turned-vigilante Michael McBain in the 1976 classic Breaking Point . He played Soviet agent Ivan in the Magnum, PI episode “Did You See the Sunrise?” (1982) and many years later had a cameo as an American Colonel in Inglourious Basterdsin recognition of gratitude for his role in The Infamous Bastards ; This made him the only actor to appear in both films.

6. Stellan Skarsgård

He is known for his roles as Jan Nyman in Breaking the Waves (1996), Captain Tupolev in The Hunt for Red October (1990), Prof. Gerald Lambeau in Goodwill Hunt (1997), Bootstrap Bill Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean : Dead Man (2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007) Bill Anderson in Mamma Mia! (2008) and the sequel Mamma Mia! Here we go again (2018), Commander Maximilian Richter in Angels and Demons (2009), Martin Vanger in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), Dr. Erik Selvig in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Thor films(2011), The Avengers (2012), Thor: The Dark World (2013) and Avangers: Age of Ultron (2015) and The Grand Duke in Cinderella (2015). He started his acting career early and by the age of 21 already had extensive experience in film, television and stage. He is married to a doctor and has 8 children.

7. Gustaf Skarsgård

Known for his role as Floki in the History Channel series Vikings as well as for his roles in the films Evil (2003), The Way Back (2010) and Kon-Tik I (2012), this actor has made a name for himself outside of Scandinavia. At the age of 9 he acted in the Swedish film codenamed Coq Rouge. Skarsgård won a Guldbagge Award for Kidz In da Hood . In 2007 he won the European Film Academy’s Shooting Stars Award.

8. Dolph Lundgren

An actor, director, screenwriter, film producer and martial artist, he rose to prominence in 1985 when he starred in Rocky IV as the imposing Soviet Union boxer Ivan Drago. Since then he has appeared in numerous films, most of which have been in the action genre. Before his acting days, Lundgren was a scholar. He earned a degree in Chemical Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in the early 1980s and a Masters in Chemical Engineering from the University of Sydney in 1982. He also received a Fulbright scholarship to study at MIT. He is married to Anette Qviberg-Lundgren, an interior designer and fashion designer. The couple reside in Marbella, Spain, with their two daughters.

9. Josephine Bornebusch

Bornebusch started her acting career in the Swedish drama series Rederiet in 1999 and a year later she starred in the films White Water Rage and Wings of Glass together with Alexander Skarsgård . The 1.77 meter tall actress is also one of the regular hosts of Fredag ​​Hela Veckan , a Swedish version of Saturday Night Live . She has starred as “Mickan” in the comedy series Solsidan .

10. Max von Sydow

He is a Swedish-born French actor. He has been a French citizen since 2002. Sydow has appeared in well over a hundred films and TV shows. Some of his most memorable film roles include Knight Antonius Block in Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal (1957), Jesus in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965); October in The Quiller Memorandum (1966); Karl Oskar Nilsson in The Emigrants (1971); Roy Lindberg in The Apple War (1971); Father Lankester Merrin in The Exorcist (1973); Joubert the Assassin in Three Days of the Condor (1975); Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon(1980) and many more. In 2016, Sydow joined the cast of the HBO hit series Game of Thrones, playing the role of the Three-Eyed Raven, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.