Rolf Åke Mikael Nyqvist (; 8 November 1960 – 27 June 2017) was a Swedish actor. Educated at the School of Drama in Malmö, he rose to prominence domestically for playing police officer John Banck in Beck (1997-1998) and for his leading role in the 2002 film Grabben i graven bredvid.

He later received international attention for his role as Mikael Blomkvist in the 2009 film adaptations of Stieg Larsson's Millennium series: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, as well as reprising the role in the accompanying television series. He also notably portrayed antagonists Kurt Hendricks in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) and Viggo Tarasov in John Wick (2014). In 2004, he played the leading role in As It Is in Heaven which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 77th Academy Awards.

Early life Rolf Åke Mikael Nyqvist was born on 8 November 1960 in Stockholm, the son of Marcello Lo Cicero, an Italian pharmacist from Florence, and a Swedish mother (born 1941). As a child, he was adopted from an orphanage by Åke Nyqvist and his wife Gerd Ellen Maria (Nordborg) Nyqvist. At age 17, Nyqvist spent his senior year of high school as an exchange student in Omaha, Nebraska. There, he took his first acting class and played a small part in the school's production of Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller.

He returned to Sweden and was accepted at ballet school, but gave it up after one year. An ex-girlfriend suggested he try theatre, and at age 24, he was accepted to the Malmö Theatre Academy.

Career Nyqvist's first major role was as police officer John Banck in the first set of Beck TV series in 1997. His first big breakthrough came in 2000 with the film Together directed by Lukas Moodysson. The movie achieved great international success and earned Nyqvist his first Guldbagge Award nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his portrayal of a misguided husband with anger issues. He later played the leading man in the Swedish romantic comedy Grabben i graven bredvid for which he won a Guldbagge Award for Best Actor in Leading Role.

In 2004, he played the lead role in As It Is in Heaven as Daniel Daréus, a conductor and musician. As It Is in Heaven was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. In 2006, he starred in Suddenly where Nyqvist plays Lasse – a man who must come to terms with the sudden loss of his wife and son. In the 2007 film The Black Pimpernel, Nyqvist portrays Swedish ambassador to Chile, Harald Edelstam, who helped many people flee execution by dictator Augusto Pinochet during and after the 1973 Chilean coup d'état.The black pimpernell Retrieved 29 June 2017

Nyqvist received international attention starring as Mikael Blomkvist in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish title: ), The Girl Who Played with Fire (Swedish title: ), and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest (Swedish title: ). These films were adapted from the Millennium series of novels by Stieg Larsson.

He starred as a terrorist in the 2011 film, Abduction, directed by John Singleton. He was also part of the permanent ensemble at the Swedish Royal Dramatic Theatre. Nyqvist appeared in the 2011 action thriller Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, the fourth film of the series. In the film, Nyqvist portrays a madman code-named 'Cobalt', who wants to instigate a global war between Russia and the United States because he believes a war will restore ecological balance to the planet. In 2014, he appeared in John Wick as a New York Russian mob boss who is forced to protect his son from a legendary hit man played by Keanu Reeves. In one of Nyqvist's final roles, he starred as Russian captain Sergei Andropov, one of only three survivors of a sabotaged submarine in Hunter Killer. The movie was released posthumously on 26 October 2018. He is interviewed on the DVD and Blu-ray releases; in the section on the production of the movie.

Personal life Nyqvist described his childhood, including being placed in an orphanage, his adoption, and his search for his biological parents, in his autobiographical memoir Just After Dreaming (Swedish: När barnet lagt sig), published in 2010. In the book, he reflects on discovering his adoption and the emotional process of reconnecting with his birth parents later in life.

In 1990, he married Finnish scenographer Catharina Ehrnrooth. The couple had two children, a daughter and a son.

Death

Nyqvist died of lung cancer on 27 June 2017 in Stockholm at the age of 56.

Filmography Year Title RoleNotes 1982 Kamraterna The model TV film 1987 Jim och piraterna Blom 1990 Pass TV film1996 Jerusalem Carpenter 1 Sånt är livet Kalle Andersson 1997 Tic Tac Vinni 1997–1998 Beck John Banck TV series, 7 episodes1998 Nightwalk Short Waiting for the Tenor The director Personkrets 3:1 Karl-Erik TV film1999 Breaking out Diego En dag i taget Henrik TV series2000 10:10 Magnus Short Together Rolf Nominated – Guldbagge Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Hjärta av sten Lev 2001 Making Babies Doctor Home Sweet Home Kent2002 Grabben i graven bredvid Benny Guldbagge Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Bäst i Sverige! Giuseppe 2003 Smala Sussie Mörka Rösten ("Dark Voice") Detailjer Erik2004 London Voodoo Magnus ABBA: Our Last Video Ever TV short Day and night Jacob As It Is in Heaven Daniel Daréus Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film nominated filmNominated – Guldbagge Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role2005 Shadow world Henrik Short Naboer Åke Mother of Mine Hjalmar Jönsson Nominated – Guldbagge Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Bang Bang Orangutang Sven Blomberg Wallander: Mastermind Lothar Kraftzcyk2006 Search Janne Elias og kongeskipet Joviale Swedish version, Voice Suddenly Lasse 2007 The Black Pimpernel Harald Edelstam Arn: The Knight Templar Magnus Folkesson2008 The Kautokeino Rebellion Lars Levi Laestadius Downloading Nancy Stan Iscariot Masen2009 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Mikael Blomkvist The Girl Who Played with Fire Bröllopsfotografen Stage actor The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest Mikael Blomkvist2010 The Woman That Dreamed About a Man Johan Among Us Ernst Lars Hakansson TV film2011 Staffan TV film Abduction Nikola Kozlow Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol Kurt Hendricks 2012 Disconnect Stephen Schumacher2013 Zero Hour White Vincent TV series Europa Report Andrei Blok The Girl from Nagasaki Father Lars Days and Nights Johan2014 Paris Follies Jesper Min så kallade pappa Martin Sandahl John Wick Viggo Tarasov 100 Code Mikael Eklund TV series2015 The Girl King Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna Colonia Paul Schäfer Nominated – German Film Award for Best Supporting Actor The Girl in the Book Milan Daneker 2016 Frank & Lola Alan Larsson Den allvarsamma leken Markel I.T. Henrik 2017 Madiba Hendrik Verwoerd Miniseries Du Forsvinder Bernard Berman 2018 Kursk Nesterov Posthumous release Hunter Killer Captain Sergei Andropov 2019 A Hidden Life Bishop Joseph Fliessen Final film role; Posthumous release

Bibliography Dansa för oss (2013) När barnet lagt sig (2011)

References

External links

Michael Nyqvist at the Royal Dramatic Theatre Larsson Trilogy from Quercus, publishers of Stieg Larsson The official Millennium site of Nordstedt Publishing The Michael Nyqvist Archives – English-language website on his career