Rolf Åke Mikael Nyqvist was born in Stockholm, Sweden, and was adopted from an orphanage when he was over a year old. His biological parents were Swedish and Italian, respectively. Nyqvist's early life was marked by a desire to pursue a career in hockey, but an injury led to an early retirement.
At the age of 17, Nyqvist went to Omaha, Nebraska, as an exchange student for a year. During his time there, he discovered his passion for acting and took his first acting classes. He played a part in a school production of Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman".
Upon returning to Sweden, Nyqvist was accepted into ballet school but dropped out after a year, citing that he was too "stiff" for the demands of ballet. He then turned to theatre, where he was accepted into the Swedish Academic School of Drama in Malmö at the age of 19.
Nyqvist's early career was marked by roles in theatre and film, with his breakthrough coming in 1997 with the role of police officer Banck in the first series of "Beck" films. He gained international recognition for his role as Rolf in Lukas Moodysson's film "Together" in 2000, which earned him a Guldbagge nomination for Best Supporting Actor and a win for Best Actor at the Gijón International Film Festival.
Nyqvist's subsequent roles included the leading man in the Swedish romantic comedy-drama "Grabben i graven bredvid" in 2002, for which he won a Best Actor Guldbagge award, and the leading role in the Academy Award-nominated film "As It Is in Heaven" in 2004. He was nominated for a Best Actor Guldbagge award for his performance in the film "Mother of Mine" in 2005.
Nyqvist's later roles included the Swedish ambassador Harald Edelstam in the film "The Black Pimpernel" in 2007, and the role of Mikael Blomkvist in the Millennium Trilogy, based on the novels by Stieg Larsson. The trilogy, which included "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", "The Girl Who Played with Fire", and "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest", was released in 2009 and garnered international critical acclaim.
Nyqvist's subsequent roles included the villainous roles in the Hollywood action movies "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" in 2011 and "John Wick" in 2014. He also appeared in two films based on novels by Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell, "Kennedy's Brain" in 2010 and "The Man from Beijing" in 2011.
Nyqvist was diagnosed with lung cancer and passed away in Stockholm in June 2017, aged 56. He was married to set designer Catharina Ehrnrooth and had two children, Ellen and Arthur.
