Mikael Persbrandt was born in Jakobsberg, outside Stockholm, and developed an interest in acting while working as an extra in Ingmar Bergman's staging of William Shakespeare's "King Lear".
He started his career in the early 1990s, starring in the popular Swedish TV series "Rederiet" ("The Shipping Company"),which led to other roles in various TV productions.
However, it was his role as the tough detective Gunvald Larsson in the TV series "Beck" in 1997 that brought him major recognition, and the show has since become a huge hit in Sweden and Germany, with 46 theatrical and television movies based on the characters created by authors Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö.
Mikael has received numerous awards and nominations for his performances, including the Ingmar Bergman award from the Guldbagge Awards in 2005, and Best Actor nominations from the Bodil and Guldbagge Awards in 2006.
He has also starred in several films, including "Everlasting Moments", for which he earned the 2009 Guldbagge Award for Best Actor, and "In A Better World", which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Mikael has also worked extensively in theatre, appearing in productions such as "Three Sisters", "Death of a Salesman", "Mr. Puntila and His Man Matti", and "Long Day's Journey Into Night" at the Royal Dramatic Theatre.
In 2012, he became the owner of the private theatre Maximteatern in Stockholm, where he has participated in several successful plays, including "The Dance of Death", "MacBeth", and "Så enkel är kärleken" in 2022.
Mikael's recent roles include the Netflix series "Sex Education" and "The Kingdom Exodus", as well as the film "Hammarskjöld", for which he received fantastic praise and reviews.
He has also been nominated for several awards, including the 2023 Robert Award for Best leading male actor in a TV series for his role in "The Kingdom Exodus".
