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Mikael Nyqvist
Nyqvist in 2013
Born	Rolf Åke Mikael Nyqvist (1960-11-08)8 November 1960 Stockholm, Sweden
Died	27 June 2017(2017-06-27) (aged 56) Stockholm, Sweden
Occupation(s)	Actor, writer
Years active	1987–2017
Spouse	Catharina Ehrnrooth ​(m. 1990)​
Children	2

Rolf Åke Mikael Nyqvist (Swedish: [ˈnŷːkvɪst]; 8 November 1960 – 27 June 2017) was a Swedish actor. Educated at the School of Drama in Malmö, he became well known for playing police officer Banck in the 1997–1998 Martin Beck TV series and for his leading role in the 2001 film Grabben i graven bredvid. He was internationally recognized for his role as Mikael Blomkvist in the acclaimed Millennium series and as the lead villains in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (as Kurt Hendricks) and John Wick (as Viggo Tarasov). In 2004, he played the leading role in As It Is in Heaven which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 77th Academy Awards.

Early life

Rolf Åke Mikael Nyqvist was born on 8 November 1960 in Stockholm, the son of a Swedish mother and an Italian father (from Florence). As a young child, he was adopted from an orphanage. At age 17, Nyqvist spent his senior year of high school as an exchange student in Omaha, Nebraska. There, he took his first acting class and played a small part in the school's production of Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. He returned to Sweden and was accepted at ballet school, but gave it up after one year. An ex-girlfriend suggested he try theatre and, at age 24, was accepted to the Malmö Theatre Academy.

Career

Nyqvist's first major role was as police officer John Banck in the first set of Beck TV series in 1997. His first big breakthrough came in 2000 with the film Together directed by Lukas Moodysson. The movie achieved great international success and earned Nyqvist his first Guldbagge Award nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his portrayal of a misguided husband with anger issues. He later played the leading man in the Swedish romantic comedy Grabben i graven bredvid for which he won a Guldbagge Award for Best Actor in Leading Role.

"If the measure of an actor is the impression made on the audience, well, then Michael Nyqvist is the greatest of all time."

In 2004, he played the lead role in As It Is in Heaven as Daniel Daréus, a conductor and musician. As It Is in Heaven was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. In 2006, he starred in Suddenly where Nyqvist plays Lasse – a man who must come to terms with the sudden loss of his wife and son. In the 2007 film The Black Pimpernel, Nyqvist portrays Swedish ambassador to Chile, Harald Edelstam, who helped many people flee execution by dictator Augusto Pinochet during and after the 1973 Chilean coup d'état.

Nyqvist garnered international attention starring as Mikael Blomkvist in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish title: Män som hatar kvinnor), The Girl Who Played with Fire (Swedish title: Flickan som lekte med elden), and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest (Swedish title: Luftslottet som sprängdes). These films were adapted from the Millennium series of novels by Stieg Larsson.

He starred as a terrorist in the 2011 film, Abduction, directed by John Singleton. He was also part of the permanent ensemble at the Swedish Royal Dramatic Theatre. Nyqvist appeared in the 2011 action thriller Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, the fourth film of the series. In the film, Nyqvist portrays a madman code-named 'Cobalt', who wants to instigate a global war between Russia and the United States because he believes a war will restore ecological balance to the planet. In 2014, he appeared in John Wick as a New York Russian mob boss who is forced to protect his son from a legendary hit man played by Keanu Reeves. In a movie shot in 2017 and 2018, Nyqvist starred as Russian submarine captain Sergei Andropov in Hunter Killer. In the film (spoiler warning) he is one of only three survivors of his submarine that has been destroyed by Russian sabotage. The movie was released posthumously on 26 October 2018. He is interviewed on the DVD and Blu-ray releases; in the section on the production of the movie.

Personal life

Nyqvist described his childhood, and his quest as an adult to find his biological parents, in his autobiographical novel, Just After Dreaming (Swedish title: När barnet lagt sig).

In 1990, he married the Finnish scenographer Catharina Ehrnrooth. They had two children—Ellen, born in 1991, and Arthur, who was born in 1996.

Death

Nyqvist died of lung cancer on 27 June 2017 in Stockholm. He was 56.

Filmography

Bibliography

• Dansa för oss (2013)
• När barnet lagt sig (2011)

References

1. "Tatt's Sweden's underbelly". couriermail.com.au. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
2. "Swedish star Michael Nyqvist's beautiful personal drama". Vancouver Observer. 14 December 2010. Archived from the original on 3 February 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
3. ^ Haag, Matthew (27 June 2017). "Michael Nyqvist, a Star in 'John Wick' and the Swedish 'Dragon Tattoo,' Dies at 56". New York Times. Archived from the original on 28 June 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017 – via NYTimes.com.
4. "Skådespelaren Michael Nyqvist död – DN.SE". Dagens Nyheter. 27 June 2017. Archived from the original on 27 June 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
5. Bucher, Chris (27 June 2017). "Catharina Ehrnrooth, Michael Nyqvist's Wife: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy.com. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
6. "Mikael Nyqvist död berör stora delar av världen". Expressen. Archived from the original on 2 July 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
7. "Michael Nyqvist – lika trevlig som han var begåvad". Aftonbladet. Archived from the original on 28 June 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
8. "Skådespelaren Michael Nyqvist är död i cancer – blev 56 år". Expressen. Archived from the original on 29 June 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
9. ^ "Michael Nyqvist – Guldbaggen 2017". Guldbaggen. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
10. Poehler, Greg (27 June 2017). "If the measure of an actor is the impression made on the audience, well, then Michael Nyqvist is the greatest of all time. Sweden mourns" (Tweet). Retrieved 5 July 2017 – via Twitter.
11. "'John Wick,' 'Dragon Tattoo' star Michael Nyqvist dies at 56". ABC News. Archived from the original on 28 June 2017. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
12. Stedman, Alex (27 June 2017). "Michael Nyqvist, 'Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' Star, Dies at 56". Variety.com. Archived from the original on 30 June 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
13. ^ "Michael Nyqvist talks about "Suddenly" – Cinema Without Borders". cinemawithoutborders.com. Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
14. The black pimpernell Archived 30 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 29 June 2017
15. Nevins, Jake (28 June 2017). "Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist, of Dragon Tattoo and John Wick, dies at 56". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 June 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
16. Erfors, Staffan (11 June 2010). "Michael Nyqvist aktuell för Hollywoodfilm". Dagens Media (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 14 June 2010. Retrieved 28 September 2010.
17. Søndberg, Ole (26 April 2010). "Michael Nyqvist to star in The Man From Beijing". YellowBird (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 21 September 2010. Retrieved 28 September 2010.
18. Nyheter, SVT. "Skådespelaren Michael Nyqvist är död". Sveriges Television. Archived from the original on 28 June 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
19. Sneider, Jeff (24 September 2010). "Update: 'Dragon Tattoo' Star Michael Nyqvist Will Play Villain in 'M:I:4'". The Wrap. California. Archived from the original on 26 September 2010. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
20. Ebert, Roger (14 December 2011). "Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol Movie Review (2011)". Roger Ebert. Archived from the original on 23 April 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
21. "Michael Nyqvist: "Jag höll på att förblöda"". Expressen. Archived from the original on 11 May 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
22. ^ "Jag var en svår jävel". Aftonbladet. Archived from the original on 31 May 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
23. Hällsten, Annika (29 June 2017). "Grabben som tog farväl". Hufvudstadsbladet (in Swedish). p. 24. Archived from the original on 28 June 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
24. "Catarina Nyqvist". Daily Entertainment News (DN). 14 March 2013. Archived from the original on 23 October 2018. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
25. Vlessing, Etan (27 June 2017). "Michael Nyqvist, 'Dragon Tattoo' Star, Dies at 56". hollywoodreporter.com. Archived from the original on 27 June 2017. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
26. "Skådespelaren Michael Nyqvist död". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). 27 June 2017. Archived from the original on 27 June 2017. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
27. ^ "Michael Nyqvist – Filmpunkten". www.filmpunkten.se. Archived from the original on 17 August 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
28. ^ Staff, Hollywood.com (6 February 2015). "Michael Nyqvist – Biography and Filmography – 1960". Archived from the original on 8 July 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
29. Spindler, Ylva Lagercrantz. "Tvivlet spelar huvudrollen (SvD Premium)". Archived from the original on 13 November 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.

External links

• Michael Nyqvist at IMDb
• Michael Nyqvist at the Royal Dramatic Theatre
• Larsson Trilogy from Quercus, publishers of Stieg Larsson
• The official Millennium site of Nordstedt Publishing (in Swedish)
• The Michael Nyqvist Archives – English-language website on his career

• 1960 births
• 2017 deaths
• Male actors from Stockholm
• Sommar (radio program) hosts
• Swedish male film actors
• Swedish people of Italian descent
• Best Actor Guldbagge Award winners
• Best Supporting Actor Guldbagge Award winners
• Swedish adoptees
• Deaths from lung cancer
• Deaths from cancer in Sweden
• Swedish expatriates in the United States