Bio
Lars Mikkelsen is a Danish actor best known to international television audiences for his role in the drama series Forbrydelsen, later released worldwide as The Killing.
He also had a starring role as Charles Augustus Milverton, an evil blackmailer who extorts money from wealthy nobles, in the third season of the television drama series Sherlock, in 2014.
Lars was born in Gladsaxe near Copenhagen, Denmark as the first child of Bente Christiansen, an occupational health nurse, and Henning Mikkelsen, a bank clerk.
Lars grew up in Copenhagen, where about one and a half years after him brother Mads Mikkelsen was born, who's also an actor now. At first the family lived in the middle class district Østerbro but later they moved on to the working class district Nørrebro.
During his childhood Lars played handball and sang a few years in the school choir. On a New Year's Eve party 1985/86 he met Anette Støvelbæk and since then both have been a couple (their marriage followed in October 1989).
After his school days Lars joined the military services, where he did his basic military service for nine months in the Kongelige Livgarde (Royal Guards), an infantry regiment of the Danish army. The military service wasn't the right thing, so he searched for something new after having finished it and decided then to study biology.
Later he dropped out of college and enrolled in juggling school. At this school he learned juggling and fire breathing among other things. Afterwards he toured with two friends as traveling artists through Europe, where they performed on streets of cities like Paris, Munich, Moscow and Warsaw.
Two years later he came into contact with a children's circus, where he additionally learned pantomime as well as street and children's theatre.
At the age of 27, having been five years on the road as a juggler, Lars decided to become a real actor. So he applied at the Statens Teaterskole (National Theatre School of Denmark) in Copenhagen, where he was accepted and where from 1991-1995 he carried through his acting training.
Shortly afterwards he got already his debut as an actor in the play Dracula at the Aalborg Theater. Since his graduation from the theatre school Lars has appeared in dozens of plays, movies and TV series.
With his role in the successful Danish crime series Forbrydelsen (The Killing, 2007), playing the mayoral candidate Troels Hartmann, he received even more recognition.
Lars lives with his wife and his sons Lue (born in 1995) and Thor (born in 2001) in the Copenhagen district Vesterbro.