Alexander Johan Hjalmar Skarsgård is a Swedish actor. A son of actor Stellan Skarsgård, he began acting at age seven but quit at thirteen. After serving in the Swedish Navy, Skarsgård returned to acting and gained his first role in the US comedy film Zoolander (2001). He played Brad Colbert in the miniseries Generation Kill (2008), and had his breakthrough portraying vampire Eric Northman in the television series True Blood (2008–2014).