Mikael Persbrandt is internationally known for his starring role in the Academy Award winning foreign feature, "In A Better World," directed by Susanne Bier. His performance earned him a 2011 European Film Award nomination for Best Actor. His interest in acting started when working as an extra in Ingmar Bergman's staging of William Shakespeare's "King Lear." In the early 1990s, Mikael starred in a popular TV series, "Rederiet" ("The Shipping Company.") He has also starred in other series such as "Storstad," "Den vite riddare," "Anna Holt- Polis" and in "Medicinmannen." Mikael also has an extended theatre background and collaborated successfully with director Thorsten Flinck on several Swedish productions such as "Three Sisters" and "Death of a Salesman" at the Plaza Theatre, "Mr. Puntila and His Man Matti," "The Good Person of Szechwan" and "Long Day's Journey Into Night" at the Royal Dramatic Theatre. Among his other appearances at the Royal Dramatic Theatre mention can be made of "Maria Stuart" (directed by Ingmar Bergman,) "Don Juan," "The Wild Duck," "Miss Julie" and recently "The Sea Gull." In 1997, Persbrandt starred for the first time as the tough detective, Gunvald Larsson, the role that ultimately became his major break-through. "Beck" was not only a major hit in Sweden but in Germany as well - and now consists of 24 theatrical and television movies based on the characters created by authors Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöo. Mikael's other work includes starring roles in the Swedish films "The Hypnotist", the "Hamilton" series, "Nagon annanstans i Sverige" (for which he received a 2011 Guldbagge nomination), "Stockholm East," and "Day and Night." He has starred in IFC Films' "Everlasting Moments," for which he earned the 2009 Guldbagge Award for Best Actor. In 2006, he earned Best Actor nominations for both the Bodil (Denmark) and Guldbagge Awards for his performance opposite Lena Olin in Simon Staho's "Bang Bang Orangutang." He also starred in Staho's "Day and Night," which won the Chicago International Film Festival's Silver Hugo Award for Best Ensemble Acting. In 2005, Mikael received the highly coveted Ingmar Bergman award from the Guldbagge Awards. Mikael previously received Guldbagge nominations for his performances in director Peter Possne's 2002 film, "Everybody Loves Alice," and director Bo Norgren's 1999 film, "Deathly Compulsion." He can be seen as the character Beorn in the highly anticipated, final installment of Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies," set to release December 2014. Mikael also stars in the drama "Someone You Love," which tells the story of a world-famous, hard-living Danish singer-songwriter who returns to his homeland to record a new album. After opening the 2014 Berlin Film Festival, "Someone You Love" took home the Audience Award for Best International Film at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Mikael stars opposite Mads Mikkelson in the critically acclaimed feature "The Salvation," which premiered at 2014 Cannes Film Festival with a standing ovation, and will be distributed by IFC Films.