Alicia Vikander by Alexandra Gordienko for Marfa Journal Fall 2024

Alicia Amanda Vikander (born 3 October 1988) is a Swedish actress. She has received several nominations and awards for her acting, including an Academy Award, and was listed by Forbes in their 30 Under 30 list in 2016.

Born and raised in Gothenburg, Vikander began acting as a child in minor stage productions at the Gothenburg opera house and trained as a ballet dancer at the Royal Swedish Ballet School in Stockholm and the School of American Ballet in New York. She began her professional acting career by appearing in Swedish short films and television series and first gained recognition for her role as Josefin Björn-Tegebrandt in the drama series Andra Avenyn (2008–10). Vikander made her feature film debut in Pure (2010), for which she won the Guldbagge Award for Best Actress. She gained wider recognition in 2012 for portraying Kitty in Joe Wright's film adaptation of Anna Karenina and Queen Caroline Mathilde in the Danish film A Royal Affair.

In 2014 and 2015, Vikander achieved global recognition for her roles as activist Vera Brittain in Testament of Youth, a humanoid robot in Ex Machina, for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe and BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress, and painter Gerda Wegener in The Danish Girl, for which she received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.