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[[caption-width-right:250:[[MemeticMutation He is no longer mentally ill]].]]
->''"There is a tendency to underestimate the power of what we can do without words. Sometimes you can make a scene even more powerful and precise without dialogue."''

Mads Dittmann Mikkelsen (born 22 November 1965) is a Danish actor.

Quite popular back in his home country before he reached international stardom, having been voted UsefulNotes/{{Denmark}}'s sexiest man multiple times. Before he became an actor, he was a trained gymnast and later a professional dancer, having done the latter for almost a decade. He turned to acting when he wanted to pursue the more dramatic side of expression. He is the younger brother of Creator/LarsMikkelsen, who has similarly managed to carve out some international fame. He's not related to Danish-American Creator/MichaelMadsen.


He made his film debut in Creator/NicolasWindingRefn's directorial debut in the Danish crime drama ''Film/{{Pusher}}'', and later reprised his role in ''Pusher 2''. His role as CowboyCop DI Alan Fischer on the Danish CopShow, ''Series/{{Rejseholdet}}'', significantly raised his star in Denmark. His first Hollywood debut was as Tristan in ''Film/KingArthur2004'', but internationally he's probably more well known for his role as the villain Le Chiffre from ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'', and his portrayal of Dr. Franchise/HannibalLecter in the TV Show of [[Series/{{Hannibal}} the same name]]. Outside of Denmark, or rather in Hollywood, he also more well known for playing villainous or very [[AntiHero anti-heroic]] characters, but in most of his other films he's played a variety of other characters, from cheerful, low-level gangsters to harrassed, mournful everymen. In November 2020, Creator/WarnerBrothers announced that he had been cast to take over the role of BigBad Gellert Grindelwald from Creator/JohnnyDepp for the ''Film/FantasticBeasts'' franchise starting with [[Film/FantasticBeastsTheSecretsOfDumbledore the third film]].

[[ViewerPronunciationConfusion Contrary to most English speakers' assumptions, Mads isn't pronounced "Madz", as the d in his name is silent.]] In interviews, he's clarified that the closest pronunciation is either "mess" or "mas" (as in "Tho'''mas'''").

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!!Roles
* ''Film/{{Pusher}}'' (1996)
* ''Film/{{Bleeder}}'' (1999)
* ''Film/FlickeringLights'' (2000)
* ''Series/{{Rejseholdet}}'' (2000 - 2004)
* ''Film/TheGreenButchers'' (2003)
* ''Film/KingArthur2004''
* ''Pusher 2'' (2004)
* ''Film/AdamsApples'' (2005)
* ''Film/AfterTheWedding'' (2006)
* ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'' -- Le Chiffre
* ''Film/FlameAndCitron'' (2008)
* ''Film/ValhallaRising'' (2009)
* ''Film/ClashOfTheTitans2010''
* ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers2011''
* ''Film/TheHunt2012''
* ''Film/ARoyalAffair'' (2012)
* ''Film/CharlieCountryman'' (2013)
* ''[[Literature/MichaelKohlhaas Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas]]'' (2013)
* ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'' (2013-2015)
* ''Film/TheSalvation'' (2014)
* ''Film/MenAndChicken'' (2015)
* ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'' as Kaecilius
* ''[[Film/RogueOne Rogue One: A Star Wars Story]]'' (2016)
* ''Film/{{Arctic}}'' (2018, theatrical release in 2019)
* ''Film/{{Polar}}'' (2019)
* ''VideoGame/DeathStranding'' (2019)
* ''Film/AnotherRound'' (2020)
* ''Film/RidersOfJustice'' (2020)
* ''Film/ChaosWalking2021''
* ''Film/FantasticBeastsTheSecretsOfDumbledore'' (2022)
* ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheDialOfDestiny'' (2023) -- Jürgen Voller
* ''[[Film/ThePromisedLand2023 The Promised Land]]'' aka ''Bastarden'' (2023) -- Ludwig Kahlen
* ''WesternAnimation/MufasaTheLionKing'' (2024)
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!!Tropes appearing on his works:
* AlliterativeName: '''M'''ads '''M'''ikkelsen.
* CarpetOfVirility: Has a hairy upper body that has been put to show on several works.
* ChronicallyKilledActor: Mostly for typecasting as a villain. Albeit even playing a sympathetic character in ''Film/RogueOne'' didn't prevent him from dying!
* ExcessiveEvilEyeshadow: His famous characters tend to be like this, resulting in a joke about his contract requiring some random eye tropes.
* EyeScream: He's played a few characters who get some form of damage to their eyes.
** Le Chiffre from ''Casino Royale'' has scarring to one eye and weeps blood due to vessel damage.
** His character in ''Valhalla Rising'' has only one eye and is known as "One-Eye" due to being unable or unwilling to communicate his real name.
** Duncan from ''Polar'' wears an eye patch.
** Kaecilius from ''Doctor Strange'' gets some nasty-looking markings around his eyes due to drawing power from the Dark One, consisting of cracked skin exposing purple flesh beneath. The same thing happens to his followers too.
* {{Omniglot}}: Beyond his native language of Danish, he can speak fluent Swedish, and at least some French.[[note]]He has given interviews in French, and has even co-starred in French movies, but it's not widely known how well he can speak it.[[/note]] In an interview for ''Hannibal'', Mikkelsen said he's not quite as fluent in English as he appears to be, and sometimes has to look up certain words from the scripts in a dictionary. Though this might have as much to do with the show's PurpleProse as anything else.
* ProductionPosse: [[invoked]] With Creator/NicolasWindingRefn and Creator/AndersThomasJensen.
* SharpDressedMan: As Le Chiffre and as Dr. Hannibal Lecter, but in real life he prefers to wear very comfortable and casual clothing.
* SoMyKidsCanWatch: An unusual variant. He had no idea who Music/{{Rihanna}} was before he was asked to appear in her "Bitch Better Have My Money" music video, so he asked his kids (who are a little older than the usual subjects of this trope), who cursed at him and yelled at him that he better accept the role or they would kill him.
* {{Typecasting}}: While he’s a very versatile actor, if he’s in an English speaking and/or franchise role, he’s usually playing a villain.
* VillainousCheekbones: Mikkelsen has high, prominent cheekbones that suit his villainous {{typecasting}} in English works.
* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: Film critics and analytics has noted that Mikkelsen often retains a slight hint of a Danish accent in many of his roles, but also that [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools this actually works immensely in his favor]], as the Danish accent is relatively obscure and it lends an air of authenticity to many of his "villain of ambiguous, possibly European nationality" roles.
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