Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Coster-Waldau at Game Of Thrones season 3 Seattle premiere, March 21, 2013
Born	(1970-07-27) 27 July 1970 Rudkøbing, Denmark
Occupation(s)	Actor, producer, screenwriter
Spouse	Nukâka Motzfeldt (1998-present)
Children	2

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Danish pronunciation: [ˈneɡolaɪ̯ kʌsdɐ ˈʋaldɑʊ̯]; born 27 July 1970) is a Danish actor. He received his education at Statens Teaterskole in Copenhagen in 1993, and his breakthrough in Danish film came with the 1994 hit Nattevagten (Nightwatch). He played Detective John Amsterdam on the Fox television series New Amsterdam. He also appeared as Frank Pike in the 2009 Fox television film Virtuality, which was originally intended as a pilot. Since April 2011, he became known to a broad audience by playing the part of Jaime Lannister in the HBO series Game of Thrones.

Personal life

Coster-Waldau was born in Rudkøbing, Denmark, to Fritzer Waldau (of German descent; died in 1998) and Hanne Søborg Coster, a librarian, and grew up in Tybjerg. He has two older sisters, Rikke and Dorte, and was raised mainly by his mother. He lives north of Copenhagen, Denmark with his wife, Greenlandic actress, singer and former Miss Greenland, Nukâka Motzfeldt, and two young daughters, Safina and Filippa. His father-in-law is Josef Motzfeldt, a member of the Parliament of Greenland and leader of the Inuit Community party.

Career

Coster-Waldau was educated at the National Theater School in Denmark from 1989 to 1993. He had his debut as Laertes in Hamlet at the Betty Nansen Theater. His role in movie Nightwatch (1994) made him famous in Denmark. After leaving his handprint on the European film and television industry, he made his transition to American cinema.

In 2001, he began his U.S. career with a role in Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down as Medal of Honor recipient Gary Gordon. Coster-Waldau says "My first U.S. movie was Black Hawk Down and a friend helped me put myself on tape up on the attic over my apartment in Copenhagen. We shipped it out and I got lucky." Next, he landed a lead role in Michael Apted’s Enigma co-starring Kate Winslet, Dougray Scott and Saffron Burrows.

Scott brought Coster-Waldau back for his 2005 epic film Kingdom of Heaven starring Orlando Bloom, Liam Neeson and Eva Green. Additionally, Richard Loncraine, who first cast Coster-Waldau in his 2004 film Wimbledon alongside Paul Bettany and Kirsten Dunst, brought him back for Firewall, a thriller starring Harrison Ford and Bettany.

Aside from acting, he has also written, produced and directed films in his native Denmark. He is the Executive Vice President of Hemmingsen Entertainment Corporation and affiliate Hemmingsen Creek Productions.

He starred as John Amsterdam, an immortal New York homicide detective who will become mortal after he finds his true love, in the canceled Fox drama series New Amsterdam.

He also plays Jaime Lannister on HBO's fantasy series, Game of Thrones based on author George R. R. Martin's best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels. Coster-Waldau commented about the character: "What's not to like about Jaime? As an actor I couldn't ask for a better role" and said his feelings when he first entered the huge and impressive set were "pure awe and excitement".

BuddyTV ranked him #85 on its list of "TV's Sexiest Men of 2011".

He starred in the 2013 horror film Mama alongside Jessica Chastain, about a couple faced with the challenge of raising two nieces who were left alone in the forest for five years. He also played Sykes, a battle-hardened, intelligent and highly athletic military weapons expert in the science fiction action thriller film Oblivion, with Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, and Olga Kurylenko.

Filmography

Non-English language

(Danish unless indicated)

• Nattevagten (1994)
• Nattens engel (1998)
• Vildspor (1998) [also screenwriter]
• Antenneforeningen (1999)
• Misery Harbour (1999)
• På fremmed mark (2000)
• Manden bag døren (2003)
• Rembrandt (2003)
• Den gode strømer (2004)
• Supervoksen (2006)
• Underbar och älskad av alla ("Wonderful and loved by everyone", Swedish, 2006)
• De unge år: Erik Nietzsche sagaen del 1 ("The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche part 1", 2007)
• Kautokeino-opprøret (Norwegian, 2008)
• Himmerland (2008) [also co-producer]
• Ved Verdens Ende (2009)
• Hodejegerne (Norwegian, 2011)
• Aurum (2012) [executive producer]

English language

Film and television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Bent	Wolf
2000	Lock, Stock...	Jordi	TV series, 2 episodes
2001	Enigma	Puck
2001	Black Hawk Down	Gary Gordon
2004	My Name Is Modesty	Miklos
2004	Wimbledon	Dieter Prohl
2005	Kingdom of Heaven	Village Sheriff
2005	The Headsman	Martin	Alternatively titled Shadow of the Sword
2006	Firewall	Liam
2007	The Baker	Bjorn	Alternatively titled Assassin in Love
2008	New Amsterdam	John Amsterdam / John York	TV series, 8 episodes
2009	Virtuality	Commander Frank Pike	TV movie
2011	Blackthorn	James Jovin
2011-present	Game of Thrones	Ser Jaime Lannister The Kingslayer	TV series, 19 episodes Nominated—Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Drama Supporting Actor 2013 Nominated—Scream Award for Best Ensemble Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
2013	Mama	Lucas / Jeffrey
2013	Oblivion	Sykes
2013	A Thousand Times Good Night	Marcus
2014	The Other Woman		Filming

External links

• Nikolaj Coster Waldau at IMDb