A Celebration of the great Mads Mikkelsen on his 55th birthday
By: Anders Frejdh
Published: 2020-11-22
A celebration of Mads Mikkelsen is one of the best actors in his generation, a wonderful human being and one of the biggest reasons to re-watch Casino Royale (2006) because of his outstanding performance as Le Chiffre. (The casino scene between him and Bond is a class act.)
With this special page, From Sweden with Love would like to celebrate Mads Mikkelsen on his birthday.
Cast members from Casino Royale kindly shared their thoughts with us about working with Mads:
"In those 4 weeks of filming, he was the most affable person I ever met. Very professionell while acting, very pleasant after it. I really wish him All the best and he should keep well and fit!"
– Andreas Daniel alias "DoubleD" (nickname given to him during filming by Martin Campbell)
"I knew Mads was widely respected as an artist and as a person before we met. I've enjoyed his films like The Hunt and After the wedding. I wish him a happy birthday." – Charlie Levi Leroy
"Working with Mads was most certainly one of the highlights of my film career. You can't find a more genuinely chilled, fun, loving and sociable Actor ...thanks Mads." – Tom So
Mikkelsen was born in the Østerbro area of Copenhagen, the son of Bente Christiansen and Henning Mikkelsen, a cab driver. He is the brother of actor Lars Mikkelsen. After attending Århus Theatre School, he made his film debut in the movie Pusher (1996). He has starred in popular Danish movies such as Flickering Lights (Original title: Blinkende lygter) in 2000, The Green Butchers (Original title: De grønne slagtere) in 2003, Pusher II in 2004, and Adam’s Apples (Original title: Adams æbler) in 2005.
Mikkelsen’s longest running role was as a policeman in the Danish television series Unit One (Original title: Rejseholdet). He also starred as Tristan in the Jerry Bruckheimer production of King Arthur, as well as playing the villain Le Chiffre in the 2006 James Bond film, Casino Royale. Also in 2006 he took the lead role in the Oscar nominated After the Wedding (Original title: Efter brylluppet).
In 2008, when the Quantum of Solace video game was released, Mikkelsen reprised Le Chiffre, voicing the character throughout. Also in 2008, Mikkelsen, along with fellow James Bond villain Richard Kiel, was invited by Swiss watchmaker Swatch to Bregenz, Austria to present the Swatch 007 Villain Collection.
In 2010, he starred in the remake of Clash of the Titans, as Draco, the leader of the king’s guard alongside Sam Worthington.