Gustaf Skarsgård
Gustaf Caspar Orm Skarsgård is a Swedish actor. He is known for his roles in Evil, The Way Back, Kon-Tiki, and Oppenheimer. He also appeared in the HBO TV series Westworld, as Merlin in the Netflix TV series Cursed, and as Floki in the History Channel series Vikings.
Early life
Skarsgård was born on 12 November 1980 in Stockholm, Sweden, to Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård and his first wife, My, a physician. He has 5 siblings: Alexander, Sam, Bill, Eija and Valter, and two half-brothers Ossian and Kolbjörn by his father's second marriage to Megan Everett. Alexander, Bill, Valter, and Kolbjörn are also actors. His godfather is Swedish actor Peter Stormare. Gustaf decided to follow in his father's footsteps as an actor at the age of six and attended drama school.Career
Skarsgård’s film debut was in 1989 in the short film Prima Ballerina, where he played a ballet pupil. The same year, Skarsgård starred in the Swedish Film Codename Coq Rouge. Gustaf Skarsgård continued with several children's and youth roles, for example, Min vän Percys magiska gymnastikskor and Skuggornas hus.He attended the Swedish National Academy of Mime and Acting in Stockholm from 1998 to 2003, before joining the Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm. He played in several of Shakespeare’s, Chekhov's and Söderberg’s works both on the Royal Dramatic Theatre and on Stockholm City Theatre. In 2003 he performed in Evil and 2008 in Patrik 1,5. For both roles he was nominated for the Guldbagge Award as Best Supporting Actor and as Best Leading Actor. The same year he was awarded the Shooting Star at the Berlin International Film Festival. He finally won the Guldbagge as Best Leading Actor for his performance in Förortsungar.
In 2008, he played Arvid Stjärnblom opposite Livia Millhagen's Lydia Stille in Daniel Lind Lagerlöf's stage directing debut of The Serious Game at Stockholm City Theater. The production received mixed reviews from critics.
In 2012, Skarsgård joined the History Channel's series Vikings in the main role of Floki, the shipbuilder. In 2018, he joined the cast of Westworld as Karl Strand for five episodes.
In March 2020, Skarsgård starred in a main role as Merlin, in Cursed, a Netflix original television series based on a re-imaging of the Arthurian legend.
In 2022, Skarsgård starred in Swedish film What Remains, a psychological thriller which follows the disquieting relationship between a possible serial killer, played by Skarsgård, his troubled psychiatrist, and the detective assigned to the case, played by Gustaf Skarsgård's own father, actor Stellan Skarsgård.
Personal life
Skarsgård was in a relationship with actress Hanna Alström from 1999 to 2005. Since 2017, Skarsgård has been in a relationship with Caroline Sjöström, with whom he has a daughter, born in November 2020.Skarsgård has protested the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. He read the names of Palestinian children killed in Gaza at a protest in Stockholm in October 2024, and supported the Global Sumud Flotilla campaign in 2025.