Mads Mikkelsen - Frequently Asked Questions

It occurred to me that legions of people will have questions that my web research has not yet found the answer to. Or, they wanna ask questions without having read the site. And I have a few questions of my own that I'd just like to throw up there for posterity and maybe some anonymous benefactor will enlighten us. Or mislead, too, because under the guise of anonymity, it's always fun to mislead! I do it all the time.

So, here's some dead throwaways:

What colour is Mads' hair and eyes?

Both are brown. No need to change that.

How tall is Mads?

I'm guessing between 5'10" – 6'2". Actually, my guess, while a wide range, was not off: IMDB says 5' 11-3/4" and 182 cm which are two different heights.

How old is Mads?

His birthday is 22 November 1965, so he's 40 now and will be 41 later.

Why does IMDB give people's ages and birthplaces?

Beats the hell out of me. Merely because people are curious about age. Why do European CVs do that? Aren't some facts about you just a little bit private and you should disclose them only when you want to? It strikes me as overtly competitive and discriminatory: "Let's see. You were born in (say 1954). What have you done with your life, now that you're (half a century) old? I see you wasted some time compared to buddy over here…" It's not particularly good yardstick to measure ourselves by, is it?

OK, enough of my ranting…

What's Mads' astrological sign?

Scorpio. And all Scorpios are evil, in my humble opinion (my friend and astrologer Glen being the one exception). Apparently Scorpios are also very horny (or that might just be Glen talking about himself). So you can take the good with the bad if you have any Scorpios in your life.

This basic astrological chart is missing the rising sign and the houses, because you need time of birth for that. As of midnight on Sunday, November 21, 1965:

Sun is in Scorpio
Moon is in Scorpio
Mercury is in Sagittarius
Venus is in Capricorn
Mars is in Capricorn
Jupiter is retrograde in Gemini
Saturn is in Pisces
Uranus is in Virgo
Neptune is in Scorpio
Pluto is in Virgo

Does he wear glasses or contact lenses?

This is my question. Does Mads wear glasses? I like glasses. He wore them in Elsker Dig For Evigt (which means I love you forever, but as that title was too sardonic, the English title is Open Hearts) and they looked good on him.

How good is his English?

Quite good. He's now filming in the next Bond movie Casino Royale, and he's been in three English-language movies: Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself in which he acts as the narrator (I'm lead to believe, not having seen it), I am Dina where nobody's first language is English (except British actors Christopher Ecclestone, Hans Matheson, and Kate Hardie), and of course, King Arthur. Ioan Gruffudd, in this interview, said that Mads was speaking with his own accent. He is also fluent in Swedish. (I've been told Swedish would be easier for me to learn because of its lyrical cadence, whereas Danish is flatter and more staccato. But Danish is more similar to English, I find.)

Is he single?

No. He's been married since 2002, although he's been with his wife for 16 years (this is her second marraige). Henne is lovely and has a tattoo. They have two kids. Mads likes to spend as much time with them and with his brother Lars' family as possible, especially for Sunday dinner. Lars and their father Henning also act, and have profiles at IMDB.com

How much can he bench-press?

This is what I imagine a lot of guys would like to know. So…?

What are his hobbies?

Apparently he likes playing billiards and pool. Other than that, your guess is as good as mine: Water-skiing on the Baltic. Whittling. (All Danes are crafty with wood, you know. It's a rule.) Maybe he likes to drink warm whiskey, or wage war, or wander west. I bet he's had a lot of practice saying words with W and TH in them because my Danish dad sure can't. And now I have trouble with the Danish d.

Any dislikes?

Well, yes, actually. Apparently he smokes and has for most of his life; Queens is his brand. Oh, you mean his dislikes? Well, flying and talking on the phone stresses him out. I can relate.

Can you give him a message for me?

No. And if you send me one, I might keep it for a good laugh.

If I were to send him a birthday present, where would I send it?

Oh, I know where you can send it alright, but I don't know if I want to inflict on him what happened to Keanu Reeves when he worked on a Shakespeare production in Winnipeg in the early '90's (the beginning of his career, by some standards). Friends of an acting coach of mine worked with Reeves and had nothing but glowing things to say about his work ethic and manners. During the production, he received truckloads of gifts from people all over; he ended up giving nice bottles of wine he received to the cast and crew, donating all the stuffed animals to the children's hospital…

The moral of the story is, if you really wanna send Mads a giftie, by all means you will figure out how on your own. But maybe in lieu of a gift you could donate to a charity instead.

OK, what charities does Mads support?

Good question! I'd like to know. Might I suggest World Wildlife Fund?

How can we see more Mads?

Write to a few Hollywood producers and tell them you want to see more movies with Mads in them. He's already fulfilled the Immigration and Naturalization Service's requirements for a visa, and I'm willing to bet that he's fulfilled whatever Screen Actors' Guild requirements he needs through his own actors' union. reminder: get more detail on this because it could be useful.

How big is Denmark?

Not big, as it turns out. It's smaller than Quebec (the province where I live, with a film industry like Denmark's) in population and landmass. That's all relative, anyway. It has just over 5 million people, the landmass is ≈43 000 km². That's approximately twice the size of Massachusetts (one of my favourite states). This doesn't take into account the Faroe Islands or Greenland. Or the island that Canada and Denmark are having a diplomatic scuffle over.