Lars Mikkelsen

Lars Dittmann Mikkelsen (; born 6 May 1964) is a Danish actor. He has played Copenhagen mayoral election candidate Troels Hartmann in the drama series The Killing, Charles Augustus Magnussen in the third series of Sherlock, the Russian president Viktor Petrov in the American House of Cards on Netflix, the mage Stregobor on The Witcher also on Netflix, and Grand Admiral Thrawn in Star Wars Rebels and Ahsoka. In 2011, he won the Reumert Award. Early life Mikkelsen was born in Gladsaxe near Copenhagen. He and his younger brother, actor Mads Mikkelsen, were raised in the Nørrebro district. After secondary school, he enlisted for military service in the Royal Danish Army. He then studied biology at the University of Copenhagen but gave up the course to earn his living as a street performer in European cities with his mime and juggling acts. Career At the age of 27, he enrolled at the National Theatre School of Denmark from which he graduated in 1995. In addition to his role in the drama series released worldwide as The Killing, he subsequently appeared in two other internationally acclaimed Danish drama series, Those Who Kill and Borgen III. He also had a leading role in an episode of the BBC drama Sherlock as blackmailer Charles Augustus Magnussen. In the American television series House of Cards, he played the president of Russia. He won an International Emmy Award in 2018 for his role in Danish television drama Herrens Veje, which was broadcast in the UK in 2019 as Ride Upon the Storm. From 2016 to 2018, he voiced Grand Admiral Mitth'raw'nuruodo "Thrawn" in the third and fourth seasons of the animated series Star Wars Rebels, and reprised the role in the 2023 live-action Disney+ series Ahsoka. In addition to his native Danish, Mikkelsen speaks fluent Swedish, German and English, and he has mastered various accents. He has stated that he and his brother first picked up English by listening to Monty Python records and learning the comedy sketches.