David Dencik

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David Dencik
Dencik in 2014
Born
Karl David Sebastian Dencik

Stockholm, Sweden
OccupationActor
Years active2003–present

Karl David Sebastian Dencik (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈdentʂiːk]) is a Swedish-Danish actor. He has acted in both Swedish and Danish films, and has also had major roles in English-language films and series including Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), Top of the Lake (2017), McMafia (2018), Chernobyl (2019), and the James Bond film No Time to Die (2021).

Dencik is a twice Robert Award winner, for Best Actor in a Leading Role for A Soap (2006) and Robert Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Television Role for The Chestnut Man (2021). He won a Guldbagge Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Perfect Patient (2019). He is also a seven-time Bodil Award nominee.

Early life[edit]

Dencik was born in Stockholm, Sweden. The year he was born the family moved to Denmark, where he spent his childhood. As a teenager he studied in Brazil, where he discovered capoeira, the Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance and music. The dance aspect of Capoeira led him to take an interest in theatre.[1] In 1999 he moved back to Stockholm after being accepted at the Swedish National Academy of Mime and Acting, where he graduated in 2003.[2]

His Slovak last name, Denčík, comes from his paternal grandfather, a Czechoslovak from Liptovský Mikuláš in present-day Slovakia. In 1939 he obtained asylum in Sweden to escape the Nazi persecution of Jews in Slovakia. In Sweden he met David Dencik's paternal grandmother, a Swede. They had a son, Lars Dencik, David's father, a social psychologist. Dencik's mother, Kerstin Allrot, is a Swedish former film historian and producer.[3] [4][5] His wife is a lawyer who works in Copenhagen.[2] Dencik lives in Denmark but as his work takes him to Sweden he also has an apartment in Stockholm.

Career[edit]

After having had minor roles in different films, David Dencik became an established actor in Sweden for his role as the killer John Ausonius in the three-part TV mini-series Lasermannen in 2005.

In 2006 he starred in the comedy Everything About My Bush (known as Allt om min buske in Swedish). In 2007 he appeared in the Danish feature film Daisy Diamond, directed by Simon Staho.

He portrayed Fred Åkerström in the biographical film Cornelis, starring Hank Von Helvete as Cornelis Vreeswijk. In 2011 he appeared in the Hollywood adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and played Toby Esterhase in the film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. He also starred in the gay-themed Brotherhood and the Dimension Films thriller Regression. In 2017 he played brothel owner Alexander "Puss" Braun in Jane Campion's acclaimed Top of the Lake. McMafia (2018) saw Dencik play Russian boss Uncle Boris Godman, inspired by the book McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld (2008) by journalist Misha Glenny.[6] Dencik then portrayed a rogue scientist, Valdo Obruchev, in the James Bond film No Time to Die (2021).[7]

Selected filmography[edit]

Dencik in Mission 1325

Film[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
2003 Reconstruction Bartender
2007 All About My Bush Henning
Daisy Diamond Jens
2008 Not Like Others Taxi Driver
2009 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Janne Dahlman Swedish version
Brotherhood Jimmy
2010 Rosa Morena Jakob
2011 War Horse German Base Camp Officer
Room 304 Martin
Rebounce Marcel
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Toby Esterhase
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Young Morell English version
2012 A Royal Affair Ove Høegh-Guldberg
All That Matters Is Past Ruud
Hamilton: In the Interest of the Nation Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden
2013 We Are the Best! Klara's father
2014 The Absent One Ulrik Dybbøl
Serena Mr Buchanan
2015 Regression John Gray
Men & Chicken Gabriel
2016 Across the Waters Arne Itkin
2017 Backstabbing for Beginners Rasnetsov [8]
The Snowman Dr Idar Vetlesen
2019 Waiting for the Barbarians The Clerk
The Perfect Patient Thomas Quick
2021 No Time to Die Valdo Obruchev
2022 Black Crab Colonel Raad
Diorama Björn
Attachment Lev
Kysset
2023 Together 99 (Tillsammans 99) Peter

Television[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
2005 Lasermannen John Ausonius 3 episodes
2011–12 Lykke Professor Anders Assing 18 episodes
2013 The Borgias Cardinal Orsini 2 episodes
2016 Follow the Money Simon Absalonsen 10 episodes
2017 Top of the Lake: China Girl Puss 6 episodes
Genius Niels Bohr 3 episodes
2018 McMafia Boris Godman 2 episodes
2019 Quicksand Peder Sander 6 episodes
Chernobyl Mikhail Gorbachev 3 episodes
2021 The Chestnut Man Simon Genz 6 episodes
2022 The Ipcress File Colonel Stok 6 episodes
Love & Anarchy Filip 1 episode
The Kingdom Bosse 3 episodes
Vuxna människor Nathan 8 episodes
2023 Huset Henrik 6 episodes

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Actor extraordinaire David Dencik!" (in Swedish). Sveriges Radio P3. 9 October 2012. Retrieved 30 April 2018. Han kan hjula bra och är en capoeira-mästare.
  2. ^ a b Quist, Dorte (1 February 2011). "David Dencik: Svært at miste min mor" (in Danish). Billed Bladet. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  3. ^ "Kerstin Allroth" (in Swedish). Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  4. ^ Dencik, Lars (21 October 2013). "The Art of Being Jewish in the Swedish Modernity" (PDF). Zentrum Jüdische Studien Berlin-Brandenburg. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 October 2013. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  5. ^ Lustig, Sandra; Leveson, Ian, eds. (2008). Turning the Kaleidoscope: Perspectives on European Jewry. Berghahn Books. p. 224.
  6. ^ Miska, Brad (12 February 2015). "Dimension's 'Regression' Trailer, In English This Time!". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  7. ^ Thomas, Leah Marilla (4 November 2021). "The 12 Best Characters In No Time to Die Ranked". /Film. Archived from the original on 16 February 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  8. ^ "Backstabbing for Beginners". Copenhagen Film Fund. Retrieved 30 April 2018.

External links[edit]

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