Alicia Vikander

Born in Sweden in 1988, Alicia Vikander trained as a dancer in addition to acting. The Gothenburg native's first onscreen role was in the Swedish TV movie "Min balsamerade mor," in 2002, although her big break didn't come until her stint in the Swedish soap opera "Andra Avenyn" ("Second Avenue") (SVT, 2007-2010).

In 2012, Vikander made her first international appearances in the period pieces "A Royal Affair" (2012) and "Anna Karenina" (2012). Although her supporting role in Joe Wright's "Anna Karenina" was her English-language debut, "A Royal Affair" gained her equal or greater acclaim, as she was the lead actress, and the film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2013 Academy Awards.

Predictably, the exposure led to a variety of new roles. She appeared in the fantasy action film "The Seventh Son" (2014), and the Australian crime thriller "Son Of A Gun" (2014), but also stayed true to her period roots for films like "Testament of Youth" (2015), in which she played World War I pacifist Vera Brittain.

Vikander next played the android in Alex Garland's acclaimed artificial intelligence drama "Ex Machina" (2015), her biggest international role to date. She quickly followed that breakthrough with supporting roles in the summer action reboot "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." (2015), epic fantasy "Seventh Son" (2015), period romance "The Light Between Oceans" (2015), John Wells-directed restaurant drama "Adam Jones" (2015), and "The Danish Girl" (2015), starring Eddie Redmayne.

That film, directed by Tom Hooper and based on the life of Lili Elbe, one of the first known recipients of sex-reassignment surgery, was a critical and popular success that won Vikander numerous honors for her role as artist Gerta Wegener, including Screen Actors Guild and Critics Choice awards, plus the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Co-starring roles in the Bradley Cooper romantic drama "Burnt" (2015) and franchise reboot "Jason Bourne" (2016) raised her mainstream profile even further, while the historical drama "The Light Between Oceans" (2016) was an art house hit on which she met her future husband, co-star Michael Fassbender. (The couple married in Ibiza in October 2017.)

Vikander next starred in the Wim Wenders thriller "Submergence" (2017) and Lisa Langseth's drama "Euphoria" (2017), while the filmed-in-2014 "Tulip Fever" finally limped into theaters after an extended period on the shelf.