Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (pronounced "Nikolai") (born 27 July 1970) is a Danish actor. His breakthrough came in the Danish 1994 film Nattevagten (Nightwatch). He is best known for playing the lead roles in the short-lived series New Amsterdam and the television pilot Virtuality, which are available for viewing on Hulu and Veoh. Coster-Waldau began his US film career with his role in Black Hawk Down, directed by Ridley Scott. He was in several other Ridley Scott films, including Wimbledon and Kingdom of Heaven.

Biography
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is married and has two daughters. His wife is a former Miss Greenland.

Being from Denmark, Nikolaj speaks with a Danish accent in real-life: the upper-class English accent that he adopts when playing Jaime Lannister is not his natural speaking voice, but a conscious part of his performance.

Career
Nikolaj played a Danish villan in the award winning Norwegian movie Headhunters (Hodejegerne) in 2011, the movie won an Empire award for best thriller, beating Oscar winners Skyfall and Argo.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau appears in the 2012 horror movie Mama, and the scifi movie Oblivion with Tom Cruise.

He stars in HBO's Game of Thrones as Jaime Lannister. He was announced in the role on 20 August 2009. He was part of the initial starring cast and remains a member of it for the second, third seasons and fourth season.

Comments
Nikolaj commented on the journey that Jaime goes through with Brienne of Tarth in Season 3:


 * "I think Jaime is a very honorable man inside and I think he actually recognizes something of himself in Brienne, and it's kind of reawakened. But, I think the years spent in King’s Landing, in that horrible place, has made him a very cynical human being and meeting someone who is almost naïve, but also, just as you said—earnest—is, even though he's not aware of it—and he’s not, [and if he did], he would never admit it—but it does touch something inside of him."

Nikolaj also said what first went through his mind when he found out that Jaime would lose his right hand (in Season 3's "Walk of Punishment"):


 * "I thought that was like—just amazing. It’s such a horrible thing to happen… If he had to pick a limb to lose, this would be the last one, I’m sure. This is his sword hand, this is what defines him, this is the one thing that he is incredible at… I think he sees himself as a soldier and it‘s very important for him and his identity to be the very best. And it has nothing to do with him being a Lannister and the family money and all the wealth and all that. It’s all about his skill and suddenly that one thing is gone and that’s just so interesting. For me as an actor, I know this is huge because, before this, he has this wonderful, annoying arrogance and wit and fearlessness with people and it’s just interesting what will happen next. And of course, I know what will happen next, but I think that to have a guy who starts in this one extreme and you go to the other, you couldn’t ask for more as an actor, really.