Born Rolf Åke Mikael Nyqvist in Stockholm, Sweden, it wasn't until he was over a year old when he was finally adopted from the orphanage he had been given to. His father was a lawyer and his mother a writer. It wasn't until he had his first child that he decided to seek out his biological parents. After a long journey, he met his biological mother who is Swedish and is now close to his biological father who is Italian and a pharmacist.

Acting wasn't always originally on the agenda for Nyqvist. A career in hockey was desired until an injury lead to an early retirement. At the age of 17, Nyqvist went to Omaha, Nebraska in America as an exchange student for a year. This is where his passion for acting first sparked. He took his first acting classes and played in addition to other roles, a part in a school version of the drama Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller.

However, upon returning to Sweden he got accepted into Ballet school but after one year gave it up insisting he was too "stiff" and twirls and twists were not for him. An ex-girlfriend suggested to try theatre instead and at 19 years old, he was accepted into the Swedish Academic School of Drama in Malmö. He then went onto work mainly in theatre but also had several parts in film productions.

He became well known for his role as police officer Banck in the first series of Beck (1997) films made in 1997. His big breakthrough in European cinema came three years later, as he starred as Rolf, an alcoholic and abusive husband, in a film by Lukas Moodysson called Together (2000). This role landed him his first Guldbagge nomination (Best Supporting Actor) and won him the Best Actor award at the Gijón International Film Festival.

The accolades, awards and nominations flowed on from there. In 2002, Nyqvist played the leading man in the Swedish romantic comedy-drama, The Guy in the Grave Next Door (2002) directed by Kjell Sundvall and based on the novel of the same name written by Katarina Mazetti. He won a Best Actor Guldbagge award for his performance. The following year, Nyqvist starred as the leading role in As It Is in Heaven (2004) which was Academy Award nominated for Best Foreign Film and his performance as an internationally renowned, struggling conductor earned Nyqvist his second nomination for a Best Actor Guldbagge award. In 2006, he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Guldbagge award for his role in the film Mother of Mine (2005).

Catharina Nyqvist Ehrnrooth (1990 - 27 June 2017) ( 2 children)

Trivia

In 2001 he signed the appeal Swedish Film Workers for Peace and Freedom in an Independent Palestine.
Was trained at the Swedish school for acting in Malmö, Sweden.
He was a guest on the talk show Go Kväll in 2002.
Has two children: Ellen (born 1991) and Arthur (born 1996).
Was adopted from an orphanage. His biological father was Italian.
Has twice been voted 'Sexiest Man in Sweden'.
Plays "Om detta är en människa" [2000]
In May 2005 was a guest on Shan Atci show (Lobby).

Now I have a very good life and I am very proud of my work.
Where I come from, it's a little bit like England. We start from the theater, and we do films a bit on our free time. The history of making films in Scandinavia is so old, it's like the oldest. The Nordic film industry started before Hollywood in Stockholm in Copenhagen.
I think the whole mission of being here on Earth is to accept what you have, and my journey was to accept my own life and not pretend anything else. I think that's what we all struggle with.
If I compared myself to my kids, they know everything, and they're like small little hackers. I feel also that my identity can be stolen; I'm very paranoid about it compared to other people in the younger generation.
David Fincher is one of the best directors I know, so I'm really curious to see it. Really curious, and I want to hear [Daniel Craig] have the Swedish accent.
What Stieg Larsson was up to--it was the Swedish guilt over World War II. All of our neighbors had the most terrible experiences with the bad forces, but Sweden didn't. I think we use the thrillers in a different way. We never write a thriller like "Who is the murderer?". The big question in most of our thrillers is . . . "Why?".
I was not allowed to talk about being adopted when growing up. I walked around feeling like I was going to explode.
Sweden is a great country. What is not so great is that we have a society that, in a way, says it's great if you don't look right, if you don't look left, if you just look straight forward.