Rise to Fame
Ten years as a professional dancer before drama school at 30. His debut came in Nicolas Winding Refn's Pusher as Tonny, the tattooed, volatile sidekick to a drug dealer, which is not how most ballet-trained actors start. The Casino Royale slot as Le Chiffre, opposite Daniel Craig's first Bond outing, launched him internationally. Weeping actual blood while torturing Bond in a chair tends to leave an impression. A Cannes Best Actor win in 2012 for The Hunt confirmed he wasn't just a villain face.
In the Spotlight
When Warner Bros. needed someone to replace Johnny Depp in Fantastic Beasts 3 after Depp's UK libel loss, they gave Mikkelsen two days to decide. He called the whole thing 'chaotic.' His approach was the same one he used with Hannibal Lecter after Anthony Hopkins: find his own version, don't copy. Critics said his Grindelwald was better. Now he's filming with Martin Scorsese for Apple, opposite Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, playing a faith healer. Casting him as a straightforward hero would be the experimental choice at this point.
Side Notes
Studying dance at an academy in Gothenburg, Sweden, left him with fluent Swedish as a side effect. His older brother Lars is also a working actor, which says something about the family dinner table. The fight choreography in his action roles reads differently once you know there's a decade of professional dance behind it. His consistent line on villains, that they all believe they're the hero, isn't just a talking point. Watch the performances and the argument holds.