Portrait of Stellan Skarsgård

Birthday profile

Stellan Skarsgård

Stellan Skarsgård, Swedish actor

Born
June 13, 1951
Age in 2026
75
Zodiac sign
Gemini
Birth year
1951

About Stellan Skarsgård

Stellan John Skarsgård ( STEL-un SKARS-gord, Swedish: [ˈstɛ̂lːan ˈskɑ̌ːʂɡoːɖ]; born 13 June 1951) is a Swedish actor. He is known for his collaborations with director Lars von Trier, appearing in Breaking the Waves (1996), Dancer in the Dark (2000), Dogville (2003), Melancholia (2011), and Nymphomaniac (2013). Skarsgård's early English-speaking film roles include The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Good Will Hunting (1997), Ronin (1998), and King Arthur (2004). His accolades include two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Critics’ Choice Award. Skarsgård has since starred in blockbusters such as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007). He also starred in the musical Mamma Mia! (2008) and its 2018 sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, the thriller Angels and Demons (2009), and the neo-noir thriller The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011). He played Dr. Erik Selvig in five Marvel Cinematic Universe films, starting with Thor (2011), and portrayed Baron Harkonnen in Denis Villeneuve's two-part Dune adaptation, Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024). For his performance as an aging, once-celebrated filmmaker in Sentimental Value (2025), Skarsgård won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He is also known for his work in television portraying Boris Shcherbina in the HBO miniseries Chernobyl (2019), for which he received the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film and a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, and Luthen Rael in the Star Wars political spy thriller series Andor (2022–2025). Skarsgård's first American film was the 1985 film Noon Wine, directed by Michael Fields, in which Skarsgård played a mentally disturbed immigrant farmhand being chased by a bounty hunter. Of Skarsgård's work in Swedish film, he is known for Good Evening, Mr. Skarsgård is a supporter of Palestine, protesting the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip and auctioning off a signed Mamma Mia! record for a fundraiser for humanitarian aid.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Stellan Skarsgård timeline

  1. Skarsgård's first American film was the 1985 film Noon Wine, directed by Michael Fields, in which Skarsgård played a mentally disturbed immigrant farmhand being chased by a bounty hunter.
  2. Skarsgård's early English-speaking film roles include The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Good Will Hunting (1997), Ronin (1998), and King Arthur (2004).
  3. For his performance as an aging, once-celebrated filmmaker in Sentimental Value (2025), Skarsgård won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

The world when Stellan Skarsgård was born

Stellan Skarsgård was born in 1951. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1951

  • #1 song"Too Young" – Nat King Cole
  • Top movieAn American in Paris
  • Top TV showI Love Lucy
  • Best-selling bookThe Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentBobby Thomson's "Shot Heard Round the World"
  • Top headlineI Love Lucy premieres and becomes a cultural phenomenon
  • Technology milestoneFirst commercial computer (UNIVAC I) delivered
  • Defining fadI Love Lucy
  • Notable inventionSuper Glue
  • World population2.59 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderHarry S. Truman
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • Also wonRochester Royals (NBA)
  • U.S. population154.0M

1951 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Stellan Skarsgård's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19512026
Gas$0.27$3.45/gal
Average home$8,800$435,000
Average income$5,500$67,500
Minimum wage$0.75$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.53$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population154.0M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.