Mads Mikkelsen is a synonym to the great success the Danish film industry has had since the mid-1990s. He was born in Østerbro, Copenhagen, to Bente Christiansen, a nurse, and Henning Mikkelsen, a banker. Starting out as a low-life pusher/junkie in the 1996 success Pusher (1996), he slowly grew to become one of Denmark’s biggest movie actors. The success in his home country includes Flickering Lights (2000), Shake It (2001) and the Emmy-winning police series Unit 1 (2000). His success has taken him abroad where he has played alongside Gérard Depardieu in Dina (2002) as well as in the Spanish comedy Torremolinos, le strip-tease de ma copine (2003) and the American blockbuster King Arthur (2004). He played the role of Dr. Hannibal Lecter in the critically acclaimed NBC series Hannibal (2013), from 2013 to 2015, with great success.