Biography
Born on the 22nd of November 1965, Mads Dittman Mikkelsen grew up on Østerbro (East Bridge), one of the more questionable neighbourhoods in Copenhagen. Born into what he himself describes as a "communist family," Mads became socially and politically aware at very early age and the "International Workers' Day" on May 1st was a big day in the Mikkelsen family. Even as a young boy, Mads felt a great need to express himself. As great "Monty Python" fans, he and his older brother Lars Mikkelsen competed in memorizing as many lines possible. However, the fact that both brothers grew up to become actors, he claims to be "purely coincidental." Along with being an eager handball player, Mads practiced elite gymnastics from he was 9 till he was 20.

Before he became an actor, Mads worked as a professional dancer and was a member of the "Mikado" ensemble for ten years, from 1982 to 1992. In 1996, he graduated from the Aarhus Film Academy. After his role in the short feature film "The Glass House Prisoner," Mads got his feature film debut as the bald-headed junkie Tonny in Nicholas Winding Refn's "Pusher" from 1996 and delivered an unforgettable performance as the less-than-talkative Lenny in 1999's "Bleeder" by same director. He repeated this petty crime pattern as the trigger-happy Arne in Thomas Jensen's cult crime comedy "Flickering Lights" from 2000.

Same year, Mads Mikkelsen landed the part as Alan Fischer, the devil-may-careish crime detective on the Emmy winning TV-show "Unit One" and soon, he became a Danish household name. And with the leading role in Hella Joof's gay comedy "Shake It All About" from 2001, Mikkelsen's popularity reached a whole new level. In Susanne Bier's romantic dogma-drama "Open Hearts" from 2002, he delivers a convincing portrait of a man torn between his family and his mistress. Next step was the part as dry-witted psychologist in "Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself" directed by Lone Scherfig.

In 2004 Mads signed up for the role as the aloof knight Tristan in Bruckheimer blockbuster "King Arthur," getting himself a growing international fanbase and a Hollywood breakthrough. Teaming up once again with Refn, he then went back to basics, reviving his debut character Tonny in "Pusher II." The movie premiered in December 2004 and earned him a Robert award for Best Male Performance of the Year.

Mads is married to choreographer Hanne Jacobsen, going on seventeen years and together, they have the two children Viola and Carl.

(Taken from mads-mikkelsen.net)