Childhood & Early Life
Alicia Amanda Vikander was born on October 3rd, 1988, in Gothenburg, Sweden to stage actress Maria Fahl Vikander and psychiatrist Svante Vikander. Her parents separated when she was only two months old, following which she was raised by her single mother.
Her father later remarried, and she has five step-siblings from his second marriage. According to her, while she got full attention of her mother as an only child, she also experienced being in a large family while visiting her father biweekly.
At the age of seven, she appeared as a child actor in a production of 'Kristina från Duvemåla' at The Göteborg Opera, written by ABBA stars Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. She also appeared in musicals such as 'The Sound of Music' and 'Les Misérables'.
She began training ballet with the 'Svenska Balettskolan i Göteborg' when she was nine, and at 15, moved to Stockholm alone to train at the ballet's upper school. She did summer courses at institutes around the world in the following years, including at the School of American Ballet in New York City, but her dance career was later sidelined due to injuries.
By the time she was sixteen, she was already working on television as an actress, and had even considered leaving school to focus on the series 'En decemberdröm', directed by Tomas Alfredson. After completing graduation, she enrolled into a law school, but could not attend due to her emerging acting career.
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Career
Alicia Vikander had appeared in several Swedish TV shows and telefilms since 2002, and began appearing in short films in 2006. In 2007-08, she gained popularity for her recurring role as Jossan Tegebrandt Björn in the Swedish TV drama 'Andra Avenyn' (in English 'Second Avenue').
She made her feature film debut in the lead role of Katarina in the Swedish film 'Pure' (2010), in which she portrayed a troubled secretary desperately trying to escape her life. For her performance in the film, she earned the 'Rising Star Award' at the Stockholm Film Festival, the 'Shooting Star Award' at the 'Berlin International Film Festival' and the prestigious 'Guldbagge Award for Best Actress'.
In 2011, she bagged lead role in the Swedish drama film 'The Crown Jewels'. In the movie she portrayed the character of Fragancia Fernandez, a woman arrested for attempted murder.In 2012, she earned critical acclaim for her portrayal of Kitty in the English-language film adaptation of 'Anna Karenina', in which she starred alongside Keira Knightley, Jude Law and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. In the same year, she made her first appearance in a Danish film, playing Queen Caroline Mathilde in 'A Royal Affair', which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
In 2012, she earned critical acclaim for her portrayal of Kitty in the English-language film adaptation of 'Anna Karenina', in which she starred alongside Keira Knightley, Jude Law and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. In the same year, she made her first appearance in a Danish film, playing Queen Caroline Mathilde in 'A Royal Affair', which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
She again managed to earn praise for her role as German Pirate Party member Anke Domscheit-Berg in the 2013 biographical thriller film 'The Fifth Estate', even though the film received mixed reviews. The same year, jury president Martin Scorsese awarded her with the 'Marrakech International Film Festival Award for Best Actress' for her lead role as Erika in the Swedish film 'Hotell'.
In 2014, her appearance in the Australian crime thriller 'Son of a Gun' was well-received by critics, even though the film was dismissed as "forgettable". That year, she also worked on the poorly-received fantasy-adventure film 'Seventh Son' and the critically acclaimed drama film 'Testament of Youth' alongside Kit Harington and Emily Watson.
2015 turned out to be an incredible year for her as she appeared in substantial roles in eight films. The role of humanoid AI robot Ava in 'Ex Machina' was the first to earn her widespread attention, as well as nominations for 'Golden Globe' and 'BAFTA' as a supporting actress.
In 2015, she was cast as painter Gerda Wegener opposite Eddie Redmayne's Lili Elbe in Tom Hooper's romantic drama film 'The Danish Girl', loosely based on the lives of the two painters. The role earned her the ‘Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress', 'SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role', and the 'Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Supporting Actress'.
In 2015, she also appeared in the Bradley Cooper-starrer 'Burnt', played the female lead in the action-spy film 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.', and narrated the Swedish documentary 'Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words'. 2016 saw her starring opposite Matt Damon in 'Jason Bourn' and alongside Rachel Weisz and future husband Michael Fassbender in the film adaptation of the novel 'The Light Between Oceans'.
She played the lead role in the period drama 'Tulip Fever' (2017), originally filmed in 2014, which was a critical and commercial failure. Also in 2017, she appeared alongside Eva Green in the Swedish-British-German drama film 'Euphoria' and starred opposite James McAvoy in the romantic thriller, 'Submergence'.
She recently portrayed the iconic role of Lara Croft in the 2018 action-adventure film 'Tomb Raider', in which her performance has received praise despite mixed response to the franchise's attempt to rebrand the character. She is currently filming for the upcoming mystery film 'The Earthquake Bird' and might portray Agatha Christie in a biographical film.
Personal Life & Legacy
Alicia Vikander began dating her co-star Michael Fassbender while filming for 'The Light Between Oceans' in late 2014 and made the first public appearance together at the 2016 'Golden Globes'. They got married in a private ceremony in Ibiza, Spain on October 14, 2017 and currently live in Lisbon, Portugal.
She identifies herself as a feminist and often speaks up against gender inequality in the film industry. In November 2017, she signed an open letter containing numerous accounts of sexual harassment, assault and rape suffered by women in the Swedish industry, which was published in the Swedish paper 'Svenska Dagbladet'.
