Mads Mikkelsen

Background

Mads Dittmann Mikkelsen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is the son of Henning Mikkelsen, a cab driver, and Bente Christiansen. He has an older brother, Lars, who is also an actor. He was raised in the Norrebro district. During his childhood, he had a passion for gymnastics and trained as a gymnast to pursue athletics. In addition, he studied dance at the Balettakademien in Gothenburg, where he also became fluent in Swedish. During his dancing career, he met choreographer Hanne Jacobsen, whom he married. He was a professional dancer for almost a decade until he left it behind to study drama at the Aarhus Theatre School in 1996.

Mikkelsen made his film debut in 1996 as a drug dealer in Nicolas Winding Refn’s film “Pusher,” which became an international hit. In 2002, Mikkelsen landed a starring role as a young doctor who falls in love with the girlfriend of one of his patients in “Open Hearts.” His breakthrough role was as a sensitive policeman in Niels Arden Oplev’s Danish television series “Rejseholdet.” This role won him the 2002 Best Actor Award from The Danish Television Festival.

In 2016, Mikkelsen became a member of the main competition jury of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. He also starred in Hideo Kojima’s video game “Death Stranding” and was cast to star in the big-budget film “Indiana Jones 5,” set to release in 2023.