A(nother) new feature here at
FTWW, in which we celebrate the unsung heroes of the cinema: those hard-working,
multi-faceted professionals who've dipped their toes into just about every
motion picture ever made - though you'd be hard-pressed to remember who they are
or where you'd seen them before. In their own way, their talents are every bit
as recognizable as Robert De Niro's or Meryl Streep's - even if their faces are
not. With this series, hopefully, we aim to change all that.
Born June 13, 1951,
in Gothenburg, Sweden, Stellan Skarsgård didn't initially plan on becoming an
actor (he says he wanted to be a diplomat), yet he lucked into it anyway, when
he was cast as the title character in the TV series Bomvbi Bitt och jag (Bombi
Bitt & I, 1968) at 16 years old. The role catapulted him to the status
of a rock star in his native country, and in 1972, Skarsgård joined The Royal
Dramatic Theatre Company in Stockholm, where he worked regularly on stage and
in film for directors such as Alf Sjberg and Ingmar Bergman. It wasn't until
1985, however, that he gained international acclaim, playing a mentally-disturbed
immigrant farmhand in the American
Playhouse episode Noon Wine. He
won the Guldbagge and Silver Berlin Bear awards for his efforts. Naturally, it
wasn't long before Hollywood came calling.
