Alicia Vikander: The Life Story Behind the Swedish Star

Alicia Vikander is one of the most complete actresses of her generation. She trained as a ballet dancer for nine years, she won an Oscar before she was thirty, she played a robot, a queen, a painter, and Lara Croft, and she did it all with a discipline that comes from years of standing at a barre. She was born in Gothenburg, Sweden, she grew up on the stage, and she moved to London and then to Hollywood without ever losing the precision that ballet taught her. Her career is a study in what happens when extraordinary talent meets extraordinary preparation.

What follows is her story in full: the Gothenburg childhood, the ballet school, the Swedish television years, the breakthrough in Ex Machina and The Danish Girl, the blockbusters, and the recent work that has made her one of the most respected actresses in the world.

Gothenburg and a Childhood on the Stage

Alicia Amanda Vikander was born on 3 October 1988 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Her mother, Maria Fahl Vikander, is a stage actress, and her father, Svante Vikander, is a psychiatrist. Her parents divorced when Alicia was five months old, and she was raised largely by her mother, with her father living nearby. She grew up in a household where theatre was a normal part of life. Her mother took her to the theatre, she watched rehearsals, and she learned early that acting was a craft, not a fantasy.

At the age of nine, she was accepted into the Royal Swedish Ballet School in Stockholm, one of the most prestigious ballet schools in Europe. She moved to Stockholm to study, and she spent the next nine years training as a dancer. Ballet is one of the most demanding disciplines in the world. It requires hours of daily practice, extraordinary physical control, and a willingness to endure pain. Vikander has described the experience as formative. It taught her discipline, it taught her how to use her body, and it taught her how to perform under pressure.

She was a talented dancer, and she performed with the Royal Swedish Ballet, but injuries began to take their toll. She suffered from foot and back problems, and by the time she was eighteen, she realised that her body would not allow her to have a long career as a dancer. It was a painful decision, but it was also a liberation. She had always been interested in acting, and she decided to pursue it seriously. She applied to drama schools, she was rejected by some, and she began to work in Swedish television and theatre.

Swedish Television and the First Film Roles

Vikander’s first major television role was in Andra Avenyn, a Swedish soap opera, in which she appeared from 2007 to 2008. Soap operas are a demanding training ground. They require actors to learn lines quickly, to work fast, and to perform consistently, and Vikander learned those skills. She also appeared in Swedish films, including a small role in a short film, and she began to build a reputation in Sweden as a talented young actress.

Her breakthrough in Swedish cinema came with Pure, known in Swedish as Till det som är vackert, released in 2010. She plays Katarina, a twenty-year-old woman from Gothenburg who becomes involved with a classical musician, and the performance is raw, brave, and completely unguarded. She won the Guldbagge Award for Best Actress, Sweden’s equivalent of the Oscar, and the award put her on the map. She was twenty-one, and she had already won the highest honour in Swedish cinema.

She followed Pure with a series of Swedish films, and she began to be noticed by international casting directors. Her English was excellent, she had the training of a dancer, and she had a screen presence that was impossible to ignore. In 2012, she was cast in A Royal Affair, a Danish film directed by Nikolaj Arcel, in which she plays Caroline Mathilde, the Queen of Denmark, who has an affair with the royal physician. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and Vikander’s performance was praised. She played a queen who is trapped, intelligent, and passionate, and she did it with a maturity that was remarkable for a twenty-three-year-old.

The same year, she appeared in Anna Karenina, directed by Joe Wright, playing Kitty, the young woman who marries Levin. The film was a lavish adaptation of Tolstoy’s novel, and Vikander’s Kitty was sweet, sincere, and heartbreaking. It was a small role, but it introduced her to English-speaking audiences, and it showed that she could hold her own in a cast that included Keira Knightley and Jude Law.

The Fifth Estate, Testament of Youth, and the Move to London

In 2013, Vikander appeared in The Fifth Estate, playing Anke Domscheit-Berg, a member of WikiLeaks, opposite Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange. The film was not a commercial success, but Vikander’s performance was noted. She moved to London around this time, and she began to work more regularly in English-language films. She was building a career in a new country, in a new language, and she was doing it with the same discipline she had learned in ballet school.

In 2014, she starred in Testament of Youth, based on Vera Brittain’s memoir of the First World War. She plays Vera, a young woman who goes to Oxford, loses her fiancé and her brother in the war, and becomes a nurse and a writer. The film is a heartbreaking study of loss, and Vikander’s performance carries it. She plays Vera’s grief with restraint, letting the audience see the pain underneath the composure, and the performance earned her critical praise. It was a sign that she was ready for leading roles, and that she could carry a film on her own.

The same year, she appeared in Son of a Gun, an Australian crime film, and in Seventh Son, a fantasy film. She was working constantly, taking roles in different genres, and building a reputation as an actress who could do anything. She was not yet a star, but she was on the verge of becoming one, and the film that would make her a star was about to be released.

Ex Machina and the Robot Who Stole the Film

In 2014, Vikander starred in Ex Machina, directed by Alex Garland, playing Ava, an artificial intelligence in the body of a beautiful robot. The film is set in a remote house in the mountains, where a young programmer, played by Domhnall Gleeson, is brought to test Ava’s consciousness. Ava is charming, intelligent, and dangerous, and Vikander’s performance is extraordinary. She plays a machine learning to be human, and she does it with a precision that is almost unsettling. Her movements are controlled, her voice is calm, and her face is expressive in a way that feels both human and not human at the same time.

Ex Machina was a critical success, and it became one of the most talked-about films of the year. Vikander was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress, and she was praised as the film’s standout. The role required her to use her ballet training, to move with a grace that was both beautiful and alien, and she did it perfectly. It was the performance that made her a star, and it was the performance that showed the world what she could do.

The same year, she appeared in The Man from U.N.C.L.E., directed by Guy Ritchie, playing Gaby Teller, a mechanic who helps two spies. The film was a stylish, fun spy adventure, and Vikander’s performance was charming and funny. It was a completely different role from Ava, and it showed her range. She could play a robot, and she could play a human being, and she could do both convincingly.

The Danish Girl and the Oscar

In 2015, Vikander starred in The Danish Girl, directed by Tom Hooper, playing Gerda Wegener, the wife of Einar Wegener, a painter who becomes one of the first people to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Eddie Redmayne plays Einar, who becomes Lili Elbe, and Vikander plays Gerda, the woman who supports her husband through the transition. The film is based on a true story, and Vikander’s performance is the heart of it.

Gerda is a complex character. She is an artist, a wife, and a woman who is losing her husband to a new identity, and Vikander plays her with extraordinary depth. She shows Gerda’s love, her confusion, her anger, and her generosity, and she does it without ever making Gerda a victim. The performance earned her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, as well as the Screen Actors Guild Award and the Critics’ Choice Award. She was twenty-seven, and she had won an Oscar.

The win changed her career. She was suddenly one of the most sought-after actresses in Hollywood, and she was offered leading roles in major films. She chose carefully. In 2016, she appeared in Jason Bourne, playing Heather Lee, a CIA analyst, opposite Matt Damon. The film was a box office hit, and Vikander’s performance was praised. She also appeared in The Light Between Oceans, a romantic drama opposite Michael Fassbender, whom she would later marry. The film was not a commercial success, but it was a beautiful, emotional work, and Vikander’s performance was at its centre.

Tomb Raider, Lara Croft, and the Blockbuster Years

In 2018, Vikander took on one of the most famous roles in popular culture: Lara Croft in Tomb Raider, a reboot of the franchise based on the video games. The role required her to be physical, to do stunts, to run, climb, and fight, and she did it with the discipline of a former dancer. She trained for months, she built muscle, and she performed many of her own stunts. The film was a commercial success, earning more than 274 million dollars worldwide, and Vikander’s Lara was praised as a more human, more vulnerable version of the character than Angelina Jolie’s.

She followed Tomb Raider with a series of smaller, more interesting films. In 2019, she starred in Earthquake Bird, a Netflix thriller set in Tokyo, playing Lucy Fly, an English translator who becomes involved in a murder. The film was not a major success, but Vikander’s performance was praised. In 2020, she appeared in The Glorias, playing the young Gloria Steinem, and in 2021 she starred in Blue Bayou, a drama about a Korean-American man facing deportation, and in The Green Knight, directed by David Lowery, playing Essel, a mysterious woman who tests the knight Gawain. The Green Knight was a critical success, and Vikander’s performance, in a dual role, was widely praised.

In 2021, she also starred in Beckett, a Netflix thriller in which she plays April, the girlfriend of a man on the run in Greece. The film was not a major success, but it showed Vikander’s willingness to work in different genres, in different countries, and with different directors. She was not chasing fame. She was chasing interesting work.

Irma Vep, Firebrand, and the Recent Work

In 2022, Vikander starred in Irma Vep, an HBO series directed by Olivier Assayas, playing Mira, an American actress who comes to Paris to star in a remake of a French silent film. The series is a study of acting, of identity, and of the film industry, and Vikander’s performance is a tour de force. She plays Mira as a woman who is losing herself in her roles, who is unsure where the character ends and she begins, and the performance is both funny and heartbreaking. It was one of the best television performances of the year, and it showed that Vikander could carry a series as well as a film.

In 2023, she starred in Firebrand, directed by Karim Aïnouz, playing Katherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIII. The film follows Katherine as she tries to survive the court of a dying, dangerous king, played by Jude Law. Vikander’s performance is restrained, intelligent, and powerful. She plays Katherine as a woman who is smart, devout, and determined to survive, and the film was praised for its feminist perspective on a story that has usually been told from Henry’s point of view. It premiered at Cannes, and it confirmed that Vikander was still choosing interesting, challenging roles.

She has also founded her own production company, Vikarious Productions, with her agent, and she has spoken about her desire to produce films and to tell stories that matter to her. She is married to the actor Michael Fassbender, whom she met on the set of The Light Between Oceans in 2014. They married in 2017, in a private ceremony in Ibiza, and they have two children, a son born in 2021 and a second child born in 2024. She keeps her family life private, and she rarely discusses it in public.

The Ballet Dancer’s Discipline

What makes Alicia Vikander’s career unusual is the discipline behind it. She trained as a ballet dancer for nine years, and that training is visible in everything she does. She prepares thoroughly, she works hard, and she does not cut corners. For Tomb Raider, she trained for months to build the body of an action hero. For Ex Machina, she studied the movements of a machine. For The Danish Girl, she studied the life of Gerda Wegener. For Firebrand, she studied the history of Katherine Parr. She does not wing it. She prepares, and the preparation shows.

She is also known for her professionalism. Directors who have worked with her describe her as prepared, punctual, and collaborative. She does not make demands. She does not create drama. She does her work, and she goes home. That professionalism is part of why she has worked steadily for more than a decade, and it is part of why directors want to work with her again.

The story is not finished. Vikander is in her late thirties, and she is at the height of her powers. She has won an Oscar, she has played a robot and a queen and Lara Croft, and she is still choosing interesting roles. She has built a career that is rare in its breadth and its depth, and she has done it by being disciplined, by choosing well, and by refusing to be defined by any single role. She was the girl from Gothenburg who trained as a dancer, she became the woman in Ex Machina, she became Gerda Wegener, and she became one of the most respected actresses of her generation. The journey is not over, and the next chapter is likely to be as interesting as the ones that came before.

From the Barre to the Camera: How Ballet Shaped an Actress

The nine years Alicia Vikander spent at the Royal Swedish Ballet School deserve a closer look, because they explain almost everything about the way she works. Ballet training is not like other training. It begins when you are a child, it demands hours of daily practice, and it teaches you that your body is an instrument that must be tuned every day. A dancer learns to control every muscle, to hold a position until it hurts, and to make the hardest movements look effortless. Vikander has said that the discipline stayed with her long after she stopped dancing, and you can see it in her films.

Watch her in Ex Machina and notice how she moves. Ava does not walk like a human being. She glides, she pauses, she turns her head with a precision that is almost mechanical, and yet she is beautiful. That movement came from ballet. A dancer knows how to make a simple turn look like a statement, and Vikander used that knowledge to create a character who is both graceful and unsettling. Watch her in Tomb Raider and notice how she runs, how she climbs, how she lands after a jump. Those are the movements of someone who has spent years learning how to control her body in space. She did many of her own stunts in the film, and the physicality of the performance is one of its strengths.

The injury that ended her ballet career was also a turning point. She has spoken about the pain of realising that her body would not allow her to dance professionally, and about the grief of losing something she had worked for since she was nine. But she has also said that the loss taught her something important: that a career is not a straight line, and that sometimes the thing you lose makes room for the thing you were meant to do. She took the discipline of ballet and applied it to acting, and the result was a performer who prepares more thoroughly than almost anyone in her generation.

That preparation is visible in the way she chooses roles. She does not take a part because it is famous. She takes it because she can learn something from it. For A Royal Affair, she studied the history of the Danish court. For The Danish Girl, she studied Gerda Wegener’s paintings. For Firebrand, she studied Katherine Parr’s writings. Each role is a research project, and each one adds to her understanding of the world. That is the ballet dancer’s approach: you do not perform until you have practised, and you do not practise until you understand what you are doing.

Choosing Well: The Roles She Turned Down and the Ones She Took

After the Oscar win for The Danish Girl, Vikander was offered many of the biggest roles in Hollywood. She could have become a franchise star, appearing in one blockbuster after another. She did not. She chose Jason Bourne, a film that gave her a strong supporting role, and The Light Between Oceans, a small, emotional drama. She chose Tomb Raider, but she chose it because she wanted to play Lara Croft as a real person, not as a cartoon. She chose The Green Knight, a strange, beautiful art film that most audiences had never heard of, because she wanted to work with David Lowery. She chose Irma Vep, a television series about acting itself, because she wanted to work with Olivier Assayas.

Those choices tell a story. Vikander is not interested in being the biggest star in the world. She is interested in being the best actress she can be, and she is willing to take risks to do it. She has played a robot, a queen, a painter, a spy, an action hero, and a Tudor queen, and no two of those roles are the same. That variety is deliberate. She does not want to be typecast, and she does not want to be bored. She wants to learn, and she wants to grow, and she is willing to take a smaller film over a bigger one if the smaller film will teach her something.

She has also been careful about her public image. She does not seek attention, she does not share her private life, and she does not use social media to promote herself. She lets the work speak, and the work is eloquent enough. In an industry where actors are expected to be brands, Vikander’s refusal to be a brand is itself a statement. She is saying that the acting is the point, and that everything else is a distraction. Audiences have responded to that refusal with respect, because it feels honest.

My Take:

Craft. The preparation behind the performances deserves more attention than it generally gets, because a part that looks effortless has generally been created from research and patience. Effort shown is effort wasted, in my view, and the hidden preparation behind these characters is the mark of a professional. Watching this path intently, the first thing that stands out is how small of it depends on luck, because the shape of the work was decided by a refusal to be rushed. Talent is the entry ticket here, but taste is the journey, and taste is created in the silent decisions nobody applauds. The refusal to do that, the insistence on distinct worlds and varied kinds of people, is what makes the filmography interesting. There is also a lesson in the way the path has handled range, because it would have been easy, and profitable, to repeat the most celebrated role. The best performances here rely on honesty rather than fashion, and that is why I expect them to still move viewers in ten years. The modest decisions matter most to me, the pauses and the listening, because they show a performer who lets another star have the scene. Range is the bravest commercial choice a star can make, and the refusal to repeat one triumph is what keeps this career alive. I admire the way the work stays curious, because achievement frequently tells a performer that learning is finished, and here the opposite happened. In an age when so much acting is designed to be clipped and shared, there is something quietly radical about a portrayal that refuses to explain itself. What impresses me most about the craft here is the silent confidence of the portrayals. The modest decisions matter most to me, the pauses and the listening, because they show a performer who trusts the audience. The preparation behind the portrayals deserves more attention than it normally gets, because a character that looks effortless has generally been created from research and patience. There is also a lesson in the way the path has handled range, because it would have been easy, and profitable, to play the same figure forever. In an age when so much acting is designed to be clipped and shared, there is something quietly radical about a portrayal that refuses to explain itself. What impresses me most about the craft here is the silent confidence of the portrayals. Range is the bravest commercial choice a star can make, and the refusal to repeat one achievement is what keeps this career alive. I admire the way the work stays curious, because triumph often tells a performer that learning is finished, and here fresh languages and genres kept arriving. Effort shown is effort wasted, in my view, and the hidden preparation behind these characters is why the work feels effortless. Watching this journey carefully, the first thing that stands out is how small of it depends on luck, because the shape of the work was decided by patience in private. There is also something to be said about the way this narrative crosses borders, because a performer who works in more than one language and more than one country is proving that tales travel.

Meaning. In a culture that promises fast results, that slowness is almost a form of protest, because it says that some things are worth doing well, even when well takes years. The deeper meaning of this tale, for me, is about time, because a career like this one cannot be faked in a single season. Ambition and kindness can live together, and this path shows that the combination is the real secret of longevity. The long way round is still the best way home, and that is the message I take from a story that refused to rush. A local narrative can become a worldwide one without losing its roots, and that is why this path matters beyond movie. The story also speaks to anyone who has ever been underestimated, because early on, nobody could have predicted the honours that would arrive. For me, the most human part of the narrative is the balance between ambition and kindness, because ambition is visible in the reach for harder characters, and kindness is visible in the way colleagues speak. That matters to crowds who rarely see their own world on screen, and it matters to young performers who wonder whether they need to leave everything behind to succeed. Ageing in public with grace is an achievement of its own, and the later characters embrace that reality, which turns experience into depth. There is also a meaning here about place and belonging, because a performer who carries their home country into global work is doing something more than acting. The judgement that matters is not the first one but the last one, and the last one is written by a record that holds together. Patience is still a real strategy, not just a consolation, and this journey proves it, because the waiting was rewarded. For me, the most human part of the story is the balance between ambition and kindness, because ambition is visible in the reach for harder characters, and kindness is visible in the way colleagues speak. The deeper meaning of this narrative, for me, is about time, because a journey like this one cannot be faked in a single season. The tale also speaks to anyone who has ever been underestimated, because early on, nobody could have predicted the audience that would gather. The judgement that matters is not the first one but the last one, and the last one is written by the work itself. Ageing in public with grace is an achievement of its own, and the later characters embrace that reality, which gives viewers permission to age too. The long way round is still the best way home, and that is the message I take from decisions made with care. In a culture that promises fast results, that slowness is almost a form of protest, because it says that some things are worth doing well, even when well takes years. Patience is still a real strategy, not just a consolation, and this career proves it, because the slow years paid off. That matters to audiences who rarely see their own world on screen, and it matters to young performers who wonder whether they need to start over somewhere else to succeed. Ultimately, I want to note the simple pleasure of watching good work, because in a world full of noise, a performance that is honest, cautious, and alive is a little gift.

Lessons. The tale also teaches something about failure, which is that it is only fatal if it is treated as a verdict, because a failed movie can be a reason to learn, or a reason to stop. The third lesson would be to protect the private life, because the work needs a real life behind it, and a real life needs protection from the work. Saying no is frightening when money is on the table, but it is the only way to keep a path from becoming a repetition. Being easy to work with is a professional asset as real as any award, because auteurs remember good experiences. If I had to pull practical lessons from this life narrative, the first would be to train properly before chasing attention, because training is boring, slow, and invisible. Failure treated as information is the difference between a long path and a short one, and that response is easy to describe and difficult to practise. Collaboration is a lesson too, because no performance happens alone, and the careers that last are created on people who return because the work was good. The second lesson would be to choose the part, not the size of the film, because a little movie with a real figure builds a reputation that a blockbuster cannot. Every yes costs a no somewhere else, and the art is in choosing which yes is worth the price. Another lesson is about saying no, because the most important decisions in this path may have been the offers refused. The moment a performer decides there is nothing left to learn, the work begins to repeat itself, and here the learning never stopped. Curiosity is the cheapest form of ambition, and it is the one that never runs out, because learning a new language keeps the work new. Saying no is frightening when money is on the table, but it is the only way to keep a journey from becoming a single image. Collaboration is a lesson too, because no portrayal happens alone, and the careers that last are created on people who return because the work was good. The tale also teaches something about failure, which is that it is only fatal if it is treated as a verdict, because a silent year can be a reason to learn, or a reason to stop. Being easy to work with is a professional asset as real as any award, because a good reputation opens doors. Failure treated as information is the difference between a long journey and a short one, and that response is what separates the best from the rest. The second lesson would be to choose the part, not the size of the film, because a little film with a real person teaches more and lasts longer. The moment a performer decides there is nothing left to learn, the work begins to repeat itself, and here that moment never came. Curiosity is the cheapest form of ambition, and it is the one that never runs out, because working in a new country keeps the work novel. The third lesson would be to protect the private life, because the work needs a real life behind it, and a real life needs boundaries. One last thought before I finish this part: the tale is not over, because a journey that is still growing in fresh directions is a living thing, and the best way to honour it is to keep watching.

Verdict. In the end, the narrative matters because it is a human narrative, not only a well-known one, and behind the awards and the premieres is a figure who stayed honest about the difficult parts. So if you are discovering this performer for the first time, start with the big break, then go back to the early work, and then observe the recent projects in order, because you will see the range widen year by year. That is a rare pleasure, and it is worth celebrating while the narrative is still being written, because the curiosity is still alive. Start with the breakthrough, then go back, then observe the recent work in order, and you will understand why the tale is worth telling. My sincere verdict is that this is one of the most complete careers of its generation, not because every project succeeded, but because the decisions were brave. I expect the next chapters to be as bold as the ones before them, because bravery practised for this long becomes a way of working. Few performers manage all four of those things: the early promise, the earned turning point, the brave middle years, and the surprising later work, and that is what I will remember. Most performers manage one or two great chapters, and the rest is a long echo, but here the echo never came. And if you have followed the career for years, the pleasure is different but just as real: it is the pleasure of watching someone you trust stay in charge of their own tale. The early promise was real, the breakthrough was earned, the middle years were bold, and the later work is still sincere. I also think the career will age well, because the portrayals that rely on honesty rather than fashion are the ones that survive, and a viewer ten years from now will not need the context. What I will keep watching for is the next decision, because a career like this one is interesting precisely because the next part cannot be guessed in advance. What I will keep watching for is the next decision, because a journey like this one is interesting precisely because the next character cannot be predicted from the last one. So if you are discovering this performer for the first time, start with the turning point, then go back to the early work, and then watch the recent projects in order, because you will see a path becoming itself. Most performers manage one or two great chapters, and the rest is a long echo, but here the story refused to stand still. My truthful verdict is that this is one of the most complete careers of its generation, not because every project succeeded, but because the decisions were courageous. I expect the next chapters to be as bold as the ones before them, because bravery practised for this long becomes a way of working. In the end, the narrative matters because it is a human tale, not only a famous one, and behind the awards and the premieres is a figure who refused to stop learning. Start with the big break, then go back, then observe the recent work in order, and you will understand why the journey endures. The early promise was real, the breakthrough was earned, the middle years were brave, and the later work is still truthful. That is a rare pleasure, and it is worth celebrating while the tale is still being written, because the audience is still listening. Thinking about it more, what stays with me is not any single part but the shape of the choices, because a path is a series of doors, and most people walk through the one everyone expects.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where was Alicia Vikander born and how old is Alicia Vikander?

Alicia Vikander was born in 1988 in Gothenburg, Sweden, which makes she 38 years old in 2026. Alicia Vikander was born in 1988 in Gothenburg, Sweden, the daughter of an actress and a psychiatrist, and she grew up in a creative, artistic family.

What is Alicia Vikander best known for?

Alicia Vikander is best known for A Royal Affair, Ex Machina, The Danish Girl, Tomb Raider, The Green Knight, The Light Between Oceans. These are the roles that most people mention first, and they show the range of the career, from the early work to the most recent projects.

What was Alicia Vikander’s breakthrough role?

Her breakthrough came in 2012, when she starred in A Royal Affair, playing a Danish queen, a performance that won her international praise. She then starred in Ex Machina in 2014, playing Ava, a robot with human feelings, a performance that made her famous around the world.

Has Alicia Vikander won any major awards?

Yes. The honours include an Academy Award for The Danish Girl, a BAFTA nomination, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. The recognition has come from critics, festivals, and fellow performers, and it reflects a career built on consistent, serious work rather than a single lucky role.

What are Alicia Vikander’s most famous movies and TV shows?

The most famous works include A Royal Affair (2012), Anna Karenina (2012), Ex Machina (2014), The Danish Girl (2015), Tomb Raider (2018), The Green Knight (2021). Together they give a good picture of the range of the career, and they are a good place to start for anyone discovering the work for the first time.

What is Alicia Vikander doing now?

In recent years Vikander has taken on roles in film and television, including The Green Knight, where she played two roles, and she has become a producer, founding her own company. She has become a mother of two children with her husband, the actor Michael Fassbender, and she has said that family life has given her a new sense of purpose.