Or 'Grattis på födelsedagen!' as they say in Sweden.
Peter Stormare, who turns 56 today, is certainly one of my favourite (supporting) actors just because he embodies 'weird' nearly as convincingly as the amazing Giovanni Ribisi. I guess with that rather frightening paralysed hound dog face of his and the accent, it's hard not to be typecast as the *insert any non-English nationality* badguy.
For me, Stormare's most memorable role has got to be psycho Gaear Grimsrud in Fargo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJUvPZI3Cr4&fs=1
Although his version of Satan in Constantine scares me into wanting to be good forever:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSAOulIoXXU&fs=1
And this Swede is showing no signs of slowing down. He currently has no less than seven films in completion-/pre- and post-production stages. So expect to see a lot more of this fella in the near future.
Here are 10 things you perhaps didn't know about Peter Stormare:
1. Peter Ingvar Rolf Storm was born in Kumla, Sweden, which is mainly known for its prison - the largest in the country.
2. He started out at the Swedish Royal Dramatic Theatre where he changed his name from Storm to Stormare because there was another actor called Peter Storm.
3. He was discovered by Ingmar Bergman and began his film career with a brief appearance in Bergman's 1982 masterpiece Fanny och Alexander.
4. His American screen debut was alongside Robin Williams in Awakenings.
5. In 1998 Stormare got to play Carl Hamilton, who is sort of the Swedish version of James Bond (a lot more Daniel Craig than Roger Moore by the way).
6. He is the godfather of fellow Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård's son Gustaf Skarsgård, also an actor.
7. Stormare is an accomplished playwright and musician. He's even got his own record label http://youtube.com/v/A7PFI2CrwdA Blonde From Fargo - Bono is a fan of his music.
9. In 2007, he turned down an offer to appear in Lost because he had already done a 20-episode stint on Prison Break and actually prefers acting in movies.
10. He is now an American citizen (deserter!) and lives in sunny L.A. (who wouldn't?).
