Alicia Almanda Vikander is a Swedish actor, dancer, and producer who began acting as a child in stage productions. She began her professional acting career with Swedish television and short-films and shot to fame with her performance as Josefin Bjorn-Tegebrandt in the TV drama series Avenyn (2008 - 2010). Some of her prominent movies include Pure (2010), Anna Karenina (2012), A Royal Affair (2012), Testament of Youth (2014). Vikander won the Oscar Award for Best Supporting Actor for her role as Gerda Wegener in the movie
The Danish Girl (2015), which stars
Eddie Redmayne,
Matthias Schoenaerts, and
Ben Whishaw.
Early Life
Vikander was born to Maria, a stage actress, and Svante, a psychiatrist, in Gothenburg. When she was just two months old, her parents seperated and she was raised by her mother. Having five half-siblings on her father`s side and being a single child to her mother, Vikander later revealed that she enjoyed growing up in a contrasting environment.
Before she trained as a ballet dancer at the Royal Swedish Ballet School in Stockholm, Vikander trained with the Svenska Balettskolan at the age of nine. Living alone in Stockholm, she became a principal dancer. Later, Vikander travelled around the world for ballet courses and during one summer she trained at the School of American Ballet in New York City. She was also enrolled at the law school that she never attended.
Personal Life
Vikander has been dating the actor
Michael Fassbender since 2014.
Movie Career
Before making her debut in films and television, Vikander started her career as an actress at the age of seven. She starred in the production of Kristina fran Duvemala at The Goteborg Opera. She continued to perform in the play for the next three and a half years and in 1997 she also participated in the kids` singing show, Smastjarnorna. Later, at the age of 16, Vikander almost dropped out from school in order to work with director
Tomas Alfredson for a television series.
Vikander gained recognition in Scandinavia for her performance in the TV series Andra Avenyn (2008-2010). She made her feature film debut with the Swedish movie Pure (2010) and received critical acclaim for her performance. Vikander portrays the character of a troubled secretary, Katarina, who tries to escape her life. She went on to win the Shooting Star Award at the Berlin Film Festival,
Rising Star Award at the Stockholm Film Festival, and the prestigious Guldbagge Award for Best Actress. In 2011 she was seen in another Swedish movie The Crown Jewels, which also stars
Bill Skarsgard. However, it was only in 2012 that Vikander gained international recognition for her role as Kitty in the British-historical drama, Anna Karenina, which also stars
Keira Knightley. Her performance was highly praised by the critics as well as audience and she also won the Breakthrough Performer Award at the Hamptons International Film Festival.
Adding another star to her impressive resume, in 2012 Vikander she starred in her first Danish film, A Royal Affair, which also stars
Mads Mikkelsen and Mikkel Folsgaard. The movie premiered at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival and was also nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 85th Academy Awards.
In 2013 Vikander starred in the thriller film
The Fifth Estate, which is based on the news-leaking website WikiLeaks. The film also stars
Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange, the editor-in-chief and founder of WikiLeaks. Although that the movie received poor reviews at the box-office, the performances were praised by the critics. Continuing to impress with her acting ability, Vikander next appeared in the Swedish movie, Hotell, directed by Lisa Langseth. She won the Marrakech International Film Festival award for Best Actress by the jury president,
Martin Scorsese.
The year 2015 proved to be one of the most successful years for Vikander. She achieved the feat of becoming only the second Swedish actress to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Gerda Wegener in the movie
The Danish Girl, a biographical romantic drama based on the novel of the same name by David Ebershoff - the novel is loosely inspired by the lives of the Danish painters Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener. She also won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role and the Critics` Choice Movie Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her next movie
Ex Machina (2015), the directorial debut of Alex Garland, garnered positive response and critical acclaim. She also starred in the movies
Seventh Son (2015),
The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and
Burnt (2015).
Vikander`s 2016 releases include
Jason Bourne, and
The Light Between Oceans starring
Michael Fassbender and
Rachel Weisz. Her other projects include Submergence - a romantic thriller that also stars
James McAvoy, Tulip Fever (2017) directed by
Justin Chadwick starring
Dane DeHaan and
Christoph Waltz. In 2018 she played Lara Croft in
Tomb Raider, a film based on the video game of the same name. It was followed by the psychological thriller Earthquake Bird (2019) and The Glorias (2020).
Other Ventures
In May 2016 Vikander established a production company along with her agent, Charles Collier, called Vikarious. The first film of the production house titled, Euphoria, features Vikander, Eva Green, and Charlotte Rampling, and will be directed by the Swedish director Lisa Langseth.