Alexander Skarsgård Says Being Known For His Good Looks Negatively Impacted Career

Being a hunky blond in Hollywood has its perks but according to Alexander Skarsgård, it has downsides too. The Swedish actor started acting at seven but opted out of the industry aged 13. His breakout role during his return was as Marine Brad Colbert in HBO miniseries "Generation Kill."

Skarsgård went on to star in other movies like "True Blood," which gave him even more popularity and "Big Little Lies" which gave the actor an Emmy, a Golden Globe and a number of other awards. His most recent movie is "The Northman," set to be released in theaters this month.

In a recent interview, the 45-year-old talked about his acting career and how many challenges he faced trying to get more serious roles. After his first movie, he was put on a "sexy hunky hot list," which only served to give Skarsgård parts focused on his physical appearance.

Skarsgård recently opened up concerning challenges he faced at the start of his career. According to his recent interview with The Sunday Times, the actor said that his major problem was his physical appearance, or how people treated him because of his appearance.

The 45-year-old said, "I don't really know if that was the reason I wasn't getting roles. Starting out in Sweden, there was stuff about being tall and blond. But most people here are tall and blond." After being included in a "sexy hunky hot list," he added that he had issues getting serious roles.

Skarsgård continued, "Still, after my first job, I was on a stupid 'sexy hunky hot list,' and then people didn't take me seriously. If you want characters with depth but have been labeled 'a dude who takes his shirt off,' you're not going to get those offers."

After a challenging start, the Swedish actor's career took off after bagging a role in the 2008 HBO limited series titled "Generation Kill." The rest of the cast included James Ransone, Lee Tergesen, Jon Huertas, Billy Lush, Stark Sands and others.

The miniseries was well received and had an approval rating of 86 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite the success, Skarsgård still had issues working on good movies. According to him, some of the films he appeared in barely paid enough to cover the plane ticket cost back to Los Angeles. At that time, he said, "I was questioning why I was in the industry."

The 45-year-old went on to star in movies like "True Blood," "The Stand," "Succession," "Long Shot," "Passing," "Diary of a Teenage Girl," "The Legend of Tarzan" and several others. He also won an Emmy award, a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild award, and a Critics Choice award for his "Big Little Lies performance."

Despite his aversion to being seen as just a good-looking man, the "True Blood" actor has bagged the title of Sweden's Sexiest Man, not one but five times over the years. This wasn't a title he held in high esteem because during a Mirror interview in 2015, he addressed it as "trivial."

He said, "We are human, so of course, we are going to love that kind of title. I'm not trying to pretend I don't, but it's not that important at the end of the day."

Skarsgård continued, "It wouldn't do me any good if I was constantly looking at where I end up on that sexy list, or if I slipped Ken the list abs stressed out about why that was. One day you're popular, and the next day you're not. It's trivial."

Skarsgård's latest movie feature is an action-adventure epic titled "The Northman." The movie cast includes Nicole Kidman, his co-star from "Big Little Lies," Anya Taylor-Joy, Willem Dafoe, Ethan Hawke, Björk and Claes Bang.

When talking about his time filming, the actor told IndieWire, "'The Northman' was the first time I worked on something that was so meticulously stylized, and you almost had to see it as a dance between the camera and the actors, because the camera was constantly moving, and so were we. If the timing was slightly off, then we'd have to go again. I've never been more tired than after those six months."

In the movie, Skarsgård plays the role of a Viking prince on a journey to mete out vengeance to his father's murderers. The film was directed by Robert Eggers, known for his work in "The Witch, The Lighthouse."

"The Northman" will hit theaters on April 22.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMSdFM12hOw