MADS MIKKELSEN (actor; Denmark)
Guest appearance: Friday 13. March 2026
Mads Mikkelsen is a Danish actor. He was born in the Østerbro district of Copenhagen, Denmark. He and his older brother, actor Lars Mikkelsen, were raised in the Nørrebro district.
In his youth, he trained as a gymnast, wanting to pursue athletics, but then studied dancing at the ballet academy in Gothenburg where he also became fluent in Swedish. He was a professional dancer for almost a decade until he left it behind to study drama at the Ã…rhus Theatre School in 1996, embarking on a career in acting.
Mikkelsen achieved worldwide recognition for playing Tristan in King Arthur (2004) and the main antagonist Le Chiffre in the twenty-first James Bond film, Casino Royale (2006). This recognition led to him featuring in Hollywood blockbuster films, such as Clash of the Titans (2010), Marvel's Doctor Strange (2016), Lucasfilm's Rogue One (2016), Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022), and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023).
Outside of film, he is known for his roles as Dr. Hannibal Lecter in the television series Hannibal (2013–2015) and Cliff Unger in Hideo Kojima's video game Death Stranding (2019).
On 15 April 2010, Mikkelsen was appointed Ridder (Knight) of the Order of the Dannebrog. In April 2016, the French government appointed Mikkelsen a Chevalier (Knight) of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
