Mads Mikkelsen

 ( Official Website ) 

Mikkelsen played Hannibal Lecter in NBC's TV series Hannibal (2013–15), alongside Hugh Dancy as Special Agent Will Graham. The series has been a critical success, with Mikkelsen's performance as Lecter earning praise. Mikkelsen was initially dubious about accepting the role, as he believed that Anthony Hopkins' portrayal of Lecter was "done to perfection". He said of his character, "He's not a classic psychopath or a classic serial killer. I believe that he's as close to Satan as can be – the fallen angel. He sees the beauty in death. And every day is a new day, full of opportunities."

In 2013, he appeared alongside Shia LaBeouf and Evan Rachel Wood in Charlie Countryman, which had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, and later that year played the title character in , which had its premiere at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. In 2014, he starred in The Salvation, a Danish western. Mikkelsen appeared on Rihanna's music video for "Bitch Better Have My Money" as her accountant, the song's titular "bitch" who stole from her. In 2016, Mikkelsen was a member of the main competition jury of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. In October 2016, he joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as Kaecilius in the Marvel Studios film Doctor Strange, alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and Tilda Swinton. Although his character was criticized for being underused and another "generic baddie" for Marvel, Mikkelsen's performance was a favorite of Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com: "Mikkelsen is a master at being in on the joke while still delivering every line with imagination and feeling.... he's often knowing and wry, even arch, a mix of performance traits that's often hard to combine with any success." In December 2016, Mikkelsen portrayed Galen Erso in the Star Wars spin-off film, . In 2018, he starred in a survival thriller Arctic, directed by the Brazilian filmmaker Joe Penna. He played the villainous mayor in Doug Liman's adapted science fiction film Chaos Walking, based on Patrick Ness' trilogy novels of the Chaos Walking.

Mikkelsen starred in Hideo Kojima's video game Death Stranding. In 2018, he had a supporting role in Julian Schnabel's film At Eternity's Gate starring Willem Dafoe. In 2019, he starred in Jonas Åkerlund's action film Polar, which is based on Víctor Santos' graphic novel . On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 19% based on reviews from 47 critics. Mikkelsen has also appeared in Carlsberg's new 2019 UK advert, announcing that the brand's flagship beer has been rebrewed to become a Danish pilsner.

Mikkelsen reunited with Thomas Vinterberg for the Danish comedy drama Another Round, which won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film and earned Mikkelsen a BAFTA Nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

In November 2020, Mikkelsen was revealed to be in early talks with Warner Bros. for the role of Gellert Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts series from , in which Warner Bros. asked Johnny Depp to step down after the latter lost in a defamation trial against News Group Newspapers. On 25 November, Warner Bros confirmed that Mikkelsen was cast as Grindelwald in the film.

In April 2021, Mikkelsen joined the cast of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

He is also set to star in Amma Asante's Cold War thriller Billion Dollar Spy.

In May 2022, it was announced he would be reprising his role of Duncan Vizla in a new film titled The Black Kaiser, with Jonas Åkerlund returning to direct the film, which Mikkelsen had co-written. That same year, it was announced he would star in Nikolaj Arcel's new film The Promised Land which started shooting in September 2022.

He will reunite with Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller on his directorial debut Dust Bunny, with shooting to commence in 2023.

In late summer 2024, filming began on the Danish film The Last Viking, directed by Anders Thomas Jensen, with whom Mikkelsen has frequently collaborated. The actor plays the role of Manfred, the brother of the main character, portrayed by Nikolaj Lie Kaas.

In May 2025, Variety reported that Mikkelsen would voice the character Severin, the father of Kai, in the animated film North, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen. North is directed by fantasy filmmaker Bente Lone. Around the same time, it was announced that Mikkelsen would star in the prison drama Last Meals, which centers on a former White House chef who prepares final meals for death row inmates, and a prisoner (played by Boyd Holbrook) who decides to go on a hunger strike. Filming for Last Meals is set to begin in Ireland in 2025, with a script by Justin Piasecki (Relay) and direction by Ramin Bahrani.

It was also announced that Mikkelsen would appear in the directorial debut of Lee Smith, the Oscar-winning editor of Dunkirk and Inception. The Arctic action thriller Sirius is inspired by the Danish special forces unit known as the Sirius Patrol, tasked with guarding the 8,700-mile frozen and perilous coastline of Greenland.

Mikkelsen has lived in Copenhagen all his life, except when living in Toronto while filming Hannibal. "DP/30 @ TIFF 2012: The Hunt & A Royal Affair, actor Mads Mikkelsen" YouTube. Retrieved 30 May 2013. He is based in Denmark and has a residence on the Spanish island of Mallorca, which he first visited in the late 1990s.

At the 2023 Bambi Awards in Munich, Mikkelsen dedicated his Bambi Award in the Category "Actor International" to his granddaughter Maria. The Bambi has the same name as his daughter's favourite film - "and she has just given me a granddaughter," he said.

• Ove Holger Krak (2025). 9788772258447, Krak. ISBN 9788772258447

• Interview with Mads Mikkelsen at Eurochannel