Alexander Skarsgård, Swedish actor
Alexander Johan Hjalmar Skarsgård (Swedish: [alɛkˈsǎnːdɛr ˈskɑ̌ːʂɡoːɖ] (listen); born 25 August 1976) is a Swedish actor. Born in Stockholm, he began acting at age seven, but quit at 13. After serving in the Swedish military, he returned to acting and gained his first role in a US film in the comedy Zoolander. In 2008, he played Marine Brad Colbert in the miniseries Generation Kill. His popular breakthrough came when he portrayed vampire Eric Northman in the television series True Blood (2008–2014).

After appearing in films such as Melancholia (2011), Battleship (2012) and The Legend of Tarzan (2016), he starred in the drama series Big Little Lies (2017–2019) as an abusive husband, which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Critics' Choice Television Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. From 2019 to 2021 he starred in the films Long Shot (2019) and Godzilla vs. Kong (2021), appeared as the demon Randall Flagg in the miniseries The Stand (2020–2021), and guest starred in the third season of the HBO drama series Succession (2021).