Gustaf Skarsgård Famous For His Portrayal of Floki in Vikings; Five Facts to Know

The Skarsgård family is this generation “The” Hollywood family with most of the sons going into acting following in the footsteps of their father and the only daughter of the family also dabbling with modeling. Gustaf is second of eight Skarsgard children, six from Stellan Skarsgard’s earlier marriage to My Skarsgard, Alexander, Gustaf, Sam, Bill Skarsgård , Eija and Valter. Gustaf is also a big brother to two more children Ossian and Kolbjorn from Stellan’s second marriage to Megan Everett.

Gustaf is the second of all the children, and he looks the oldest of all the siblings. He was born on 12 November 1980 in Stockholm, Sweden, and like most of his brothers; he was also an early bloomer when it comes to acting in movies. The actor then started pursuing acting as a whole career after joining the Royal Dramatic Theatre where like his father before him, Gustaf acted in plays which included Shakespeare and Chekov.

Source: Interview Magazine

The Skarsgard family is almost like Swedish royalty; they just need a camera crew to follow them around to make it all seem like they are the Kardashians of Sweden. So, here are five facts you should know about the actor Gustaf Skarsgard.

5. Gustaf Is The Only Son Who Takes After Stellan Out Of All The Skarsgård Family Members

All the children in the Skarsgard household grew up in a free environment when it comes to growing up. Every time Stellan is asked about his children, the actor always says he stayed out of the children’s lives, showing them the way and letting them do whatever they want to. Alexander talked about the difficulty of bringing girls home when he was still in school, their father used to walk around the house in his robes, and it would be weird and embarrassing for everyone to see outside of the family.

Though the brothers lover their father, everyone stayed away from the personality of Stellan but not Gustaf. The campy fun-loving goofball of a father passed on his weirdness all of it to his son Gustaf, and he is only one in the family who seems to be worthy enough to carry the legacy of Stellan.

4. It Was A Problem For The Actor When He Started Losing Hair

Hair is the first thing people see when they look at you from a distance, and it is particularly important to male members of the earth. We lose hair after the age of 25, and it accelerates for some and stalls for the fortunate ones, but Gustaf was not on the fortunate side of things. He started getting hair fall early on, and pretty soon, his whole head was clean without hair.

The actor struggled a lot with hair loss, and it got so bad, he lost his head at his brothers and sister when they took off his hat in a pub. According to an interview the actor gave, he went crazy and mad at his siblings.

3. The Role Of Floki Is The One Which Made Him Widely Popular Out Of All The Other TV Shows

In 2012 after the massive success of Game of Throne on HBO, most other channels were on the look-out for a new massive medieval franchise of their own which resulted in History Channel hitting gold with the Vikings. Based on the legend of 'Ragnar Lothbrok' the series took off, and one of the favorite actors in the series was Gustaf Skarsgard and his portrayal of 'Floki' in the series.

The character was so beloved it lasted all of the series, and he is set to come back for a final season this fall when Vikings returns for a sixth season. The actor was popular before the role of Floki, but this role was the one which propelled the actor to worldwide fame.

2. Gustaf Struggled With Drug Abuse

The actor always struggled with the problem of substance abuse from a pretty young age, and he was also an alcoholic, but then his mother suffered from cancer, and during her recovery, she started abusing alcohol to help herself through the pain. After a while, she needed to control her drinking so; she started attending classes to control her alcohol habits which were also attended by her son.

Gustaf kicked his alcohol abuse habits to the curb and in the end resulted in the actor getting sober for a year when he was again dragged into the old habits again, but he again managed to stay clean, now the actor is clean and sober for almost six years.

1. Gustaf Was Married To His Wife Hanna Alstrom For Almost Seven Years

Hanna Alstrom is also an actress in the Swedish film industry, and like most of all reel life couples, the relationship between Gustaf and Hanna started on the sets of a movie. Both the actor and actress were playing supporting roles in the TV series ‘Skuggornas hus’ back in 1996, and the two got married in 1999.

The married couple then took to the movie ‘Cleo’ as in movie partners in 2002, but the relationship between the two didn’t last long for the two. They got separated and divorced in 2005, and since then, Gustaf is still living a single life.

Source: Henry Lundholm

Gustaf is coming back for the final season of Vikings, and he is also set to star in the Netflix series about the Arthurian legend in the highly anticipated show Cursed.