Nikolaj Coster-Waldau | |
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Coster-Waldau at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con International
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Born |
Rudkøbing, Denmark |
27 July 1970
Alma mater | Danish National School of Theatre and Contemporary Dance |
Occupation | Actor, producer, screenwriter |
Years active | 1993–present |
Spouse(s) | Sascha Nukâka Motzfeldt (m. 1998) |
Children | 2 |
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Danish pronunciation: [neɡ̊olaɪ̯ kʰʌsd̥ɐ ˈʋald̥ɑʊ̯]; born 27 July 1970) is a Danish actor, producer and screenwriter. He graduated from Danish National School of Theatre in Copenhagen in 1993. Coster-Waldau's breakthrough performance in Denmark was his role in the film Nightwatch (1994). Since then he has appeared in numerous films in his native Scandinavia and Europe in general, including Headhunters (2011) and A Thousand Times Good Night (2013).
In the United States, his debut film role was in the war film Black Hawk Down (2001), playing Medal of Honor recipient Gary Gordon. He then played Detective John Amsterdam in the short-lived Fox television series New Amsterdam (2008), as well as appearing as Frank Pike in the 2009 Fox television film Virtuality, originally intended as a pilot. He became widely known to a broad audience for his current role as Ser Jaime Lannister, in the HBO series Game of Thrones. In 2017, he became one of the highest paid actors on television and earned US$1.1 million per episode of Game of Thrones.
Coster-Waldau was born in Rudkøbing, Denmark, the son of Hanne Søborg Coster, a librarian, and Jørgen Oscar Fritzer Waldau (died 1998). He has spoken in interviews about his father's problems with alcohol, as well as his parents' divorce. He has two older sisters, and was raised mainly by his mother. He grew up in Tybjerg, a small village between Ringsted and Næstved in southern Zealand.