Mikael Persbrandt

Persbrandt was arrested twice in 2011 for cocaine use and received a fine. In April 2014, he was sentenced to five months' imprisonment for another cocaine offence, but on appeal this was reduced to 75 hours' community service.

He has performed onstage with the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm and in numerous film and TV roles. Persbrandt is well known for his role as the hardboiled police inspector Gunvald Larsson, in the Beck series of films. He won the Guldbagge Award for Best Actor in a leading role twice, the first in 2009 for Everlasting Moments and the second in 2014 for Nobody Owns Me. In 2015, Persbrandt reported that he would quit starring in his popular role of Gunvald Larsson. In 2019, Persbrandt began playing Jakob Nyman in the Netflix comedy drama Sex Education.

In December 2005, Persbrandt notified police that the newspaper Expressen had made false accusations about him having acute alcohol poisoning and being admitted to a clinic in Uppsala. The information was inaccurate. Expressen apologised and admitted that their information was false, but the apology was not accepted by Persbrandt. Otto Sjöberg, at the time editor of the newspaper was fined 75,000 SEK (≈ 6800 €, US$8900), in damages to Persbrandt.

Mikael Åke Persbrandt (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈmîːkaɛl ˈpæ̂ːʂbrant] ( listen ) ; born 25 September 1963) is a Swedish actor. In Swedish films, he is perhaps best known for playing Gunvald Larsson in the Beck series of movies. He is internationally known for his starring role in the Academy Award-winning feature, In a Better World, directed by Susanne Bier. His performance earned him a 2011 European Film Award nomination for Best Actor. Other parts include the role of Carl Hamilton from the novels by Jan Guillou, Beorn in The Hobbit, as well as Jakob Nyman in the British TV series Sex Education.