Alexander Johan Hjalmar Skarsgård is a Swedish actor. He is best known for his roles as vampire Eric Northman on the HBO series True Blood, Meekus in Zoolander and Brad Colbert in the HBO miniseries Generation Kill. Skarsgård was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He is the son of Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård and his first wife, My, a physician. He has six younger siblings: Gustaf, Sam, Bill, Eija and Valter Skarsgård, and a half-brother, Ossian. His brothers Gustaf, Bill, and Valter are also actors. A director friend of his father gave Skarsgård his first film role when... he was seven years old. He played Kalle Nubb in Åke och hans värld . In 1989, the lead role in the Swedish television production Hunden som log made him famous in Sweden at the age of thirteen. Uncomfortable with being recognized, he quit acting for the next seven years. At age 19, he applied to do his national service. He served in the Swedish military for 18 months, in a unit that dealt with anti-sabotage and anti-terrorism in the Stockholm archipelago.
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