Karl David Sebastian Dencik (born 31 October 1974) is a Swedish-Danish actor. He has acted in both Swedish and Danish films, his break-through in Sweden being his role in Lasermannen (TV series) and has then had major roles in English-language films and series including Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), Top of the Lake (2017), McMafia (2018), Chernobyl (2019), and the James Bond film No Time to Die (2021). Dencik is a twice Robert Award winner, for Best Actor in a Leading Role for A Soap (2006) and Robert Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Television Role for The Chestnut Man (2021). He won a Guldbagge Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Perfect Patient (2019). He is also a seven-time Bodil Award nominee.

Early life and education

Karl David Sebastian Dencik was born 31 October 1974 in Stockholm, Sweden, to Lars Dencik, a social psychologist and Kerstin Allrot, a former film historian and producer. His last name is Slovak and comes from his paternal grandfather, who left Liptovský Mikuláš, Czechoslovak for asylum in Sweden to escape the Nazi persecution of Jews in Slovakia in 1939. The family moved to Denmark in 1976, where Dencik spent his childhood. As a teenager he studied in Brazil, where he discovered capoeira, the Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance and music. The dance aspect of Capoeira led him to take an interest in theatre. In 1999 Dencik moved to Stockholm to study at the Swedish National Academy of Mime and Acting (Teaterhögskolan), where he graduated in 2003.

Career

Dencik first performed on stage, including a role in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. Dencik's first film appearance was a bartender in the 2003 film Reconstruction by Christoffer Boe. After several minor roles in films, he became an established actor in Sweden for his lead role as real-life far-right serial killer John Ausonius in the three-part mini-series Lasermannen in 2005. The mini-series received praise by Swedish critics and viewers as "one of, if not the best", most well-made true crime & political drama production in Swedish modern film history. The whole cast received praise but especially Dencik's acting was called "uniquely brilliant". In 2006 he played the transsexual Veronica in Pernille Fischer Christensen's A Soap, for which he received the Robert Award for Best Actor. In 2006 he starred in the comedy Everything About My Bush (known as Allt om min buske in Swedish). In 2007 he appeared in the Danish feature film Daisy Diamond, directed by Simon Staho. He portrayed Fred Åkerström in the 2010 biographical film Cornelis. In 2011 he appeared in the Hollywood adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and played Toby Esterhase in the film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. He also starred in the gay-themed Brotherhood and the Dimension Films thriller Regression. In 2017 he played brothel owner Alexander "Puss" Braun in Jane Campion's acclaimed Top of the Lake. McMafia (2018) saw Dencik play Russian boss Uncle Boris Godman, inspired by the book McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld (2008) by journalist Misha Glenny. Dencik then portrayed a rogue scientist, Valdo Obruchev, in the James Bond film No Time to Die (2021).

Personal life

Dencik is married to Danish lawyer Sofie Dencik. They live in Copenhagen and have two children.

Awards and nominations

Selected filmography

Film

Television