Rolf Åke Mikael Nyqvist (Swedish:[ˈnŷːkvɪst]; 8 November 1960 – 27 June 2017) was a Swedish actor. Educated at the School of Drama inMalmö, he rose to prominence domestically for playing police officer John Banck inBeck (1997-1998) and for his leading role in the 2002 filmGrabben i graven bredvid.
Rolf Åke Mikael Nyqvist was born on 8 November 1960 inStockholm, the son of Marcello Lo Cicero, an Italian pharmacist fromFlorence, and aSwedish mother (born 1941).[1][2][3] As a child, he was adopted from an orphanage by Åke Nyqvist and his wife Gerd Ellen Maria (Nordborg) Nyqvist.[4][5] At age 17, Nyqvist spent his senior year of high school as an exchange student inOmaha, Nebraska.[6] There, he took his first acting class and played a small part in the school's production ofDeath of a Salesman byArthur Miller.[4] He returned to Sweden and was accepted at ballet school, but gave it up after one year.[7] An ex-girlfriend suggested he try theatre, and at age 24, was accepted to theMalmö Theatre Academy.[8]
Nyqvist's first major role was as police officer John Banck in the first set ofBeck TV series in 1997.[9] His first big breakthrough came in 2000 with the filmTogether directed byLukas Moodysson.[10] The movie achieved great international success and earned Nyqvist his firstGuldbagge Award nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his portrayal of a misguided husband with anger issues.[11] He later played the leading man in the Swedish romantic comedyGrabben i graven bredvid for which he won a Guldbagge Award for Best Actor in Leading Role.[11]
"If the measure of an actor is the impression made on the audience, well, then Michael Nyqvist is the greatest of all time."
—American actorGreg Poehler paid his last respect to Nyqvist after the Swedish actor died on 27 June 2017.[12]
In 2004, he played the lead role inAs It Is in Heaven as Daniel Daréus, a conductor and musician.As It Is in Heaven was nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Foreign Film.[13][14] In 2006, he starred inSuddenly[15] where Nyqvist plays Lasse – a man who must come to terms with the sudden loss of his wife and son.[15] In the 2007 filmThe Black Pimpernel, Nyqvist portrays Swedish ambassador to Chile,Harald Edelstam, who helped many people flee execution by dictatorAugusto Pinochet during and after the1973 Chilean coup d'état.[16]
He starred as a terrorist in the 2011 film,Abduction, directed byJohn Singleton.[18][19] He was also part of the permanent ensemble at the SwedishRoyal Dramatic Theatre.[20] Nyqvist appeared in the 2011 action thrillerMission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, the fourth film of the series.[21] In the film, Nyqvist portrays a madman code-named 'Cobalt', who wants to instigate a global war between Russia and the United States because he believes a war will restore ecological balance to the planet.[22] In 2014, he appeared inJohn Wick as a New York Russian mob boss who is forced to protect his son from a legendary hit man played byKeanu Reeves.[23] In one of Nyqvist's final roles, he starred as Russian captain Sergei Andropov, one of only three survivors of a sabotaged submarine inHunter Killer. The movie was released posthumously on 26 October 2018. He is interviewed on the DVD and Blu-ray releases; in the section on the production of the movie.
Nyqvist described his childhood, including being placed in an orphanage, his adoption, and his search for his biological parents, in his autobiographical memoirJust After Dreaming (Swedish:När barnet lagt sig), published in 2010. In the book, he reflects on discovering his adoption and the emotional process of reconnecting with his birth parents later in life.[24]
In 1990, he married Finnish scenographer Catharina Ehrnrooth.[25] The couple had two children: a daughter and a son.[26]
^Strage, Fredrik (22 September 2009)."Jag var en svår jävel".Aftonbladet (in Swedish).Archived from the original on 31 May 2017. Retrieved25 June 2025.
^Hällsten, Annika (29 June 2017)."Grabben som tog farväl".Hufvudstadsbladet (in Swedish). p. 24.Archived from the original on 28 June 2017. Retrieved25 June 2025.
