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Joel Kinnaman [1979-0] Swedish
Rank: 103
Actor


Charles Joel Nordström Kinnaman is a Swedish-American actor, best known for playing the lead role in the Swedish film Easy Money, a role that earned him a Guldbagge Award in the "Best Actor" category, and also for his roles as Frank Wagner in the Johan Falk film series and Governor Will Conway in the U.S. version of House of Cards. 

Dreams, Equality, Family, Intelligence, Sad, Smile, Space, Women



QuoteTagsRank
In Sweden, there's a lot of talk of gender equality. That discussion isn't as prevalent in the U.S. I feel that successful American women are tougher than Swedish women - they create their space. Equality, Space, Women
101
I've hurt people unnecessarily when it was about my own insecurities. But you have to make those mistakes to become a better person.
102
We're all a big hippie family so I got five sisters and a bunch of different mothers. Not really, but my sisters' mothers are all good friends with my mother. We're a big family, 25 people. Family
103
We all can relate to people's weaknesses. We might put up a facade that everything is perfect but none of us are. When we see that weakness in somebody else, we understand or give ourselves a little bit of leeway.
104
If I play a villain, I try to find his lightness and his good side. And if I play a hero or a good guy, I'll try to find his darkness or his flaws. Because I don't believe in good and evil. I believe in grays.
105
I really want to live in New York. That's the city of my dreams. Dreams
106
We don't know why we are here and the context of our role in the universe, and the thought of an infinite universe. It's something the human mind can't really grasp. It's statistically impossible that there's not life on other planets.
107
H&M makes it easy for a guy to look great every single day and create a personal style. Their men's collection always gives me a choice of how I want to dress, whether it be sharp in a suit and polo-neck, or more relaxed in jeans and a tweed jacket.
108
We are all a unique person with everyone we meet.
109
For somebody in my neighborhood to aspire or revere a person from the upper class, that is the most ugly and pathetic behavior you could exhibit.
110
I miss Swedish meatballs, but you can get them pretty much anywhere.
111
In philosophy, they talk a lot about humans being actual organic machines, and the idea of free will is something that we've made up. We actually don't have free will. We're acting according to our programming as organic mechanisms.
112
It's hard to act with just your jaw.
113
In Sweden, I went to an English school, where there was a mishmash of people from all over the world. Some were diplomatic kids with a lot of money, some were ghetto kids who came up from the suburbs, and I grew up in between. There's a community of second generation immigrants, and I became part of that because I had an American father.
114
My father is American and deserted the Vietnam War.
115
Swedes are a really humble and shy people in many ways, but I think it's pretty much the same as in the U.S. Little girls want to take photographs with me at lunch.
116
I miss the Swedish women on the first day of spring cause they all just blossom in the most incredible way.
117
There's a lot of neuroscience now raising the question, 'Is all the intelligence in the human body in the brain?', and they're finding out that, no, it's not like that. The body has intelligence itself, and we're much more of an organic creature in that way. Intelligence
118
I think for a lot of people that had seen me do 'Snabba Cash', after watching 'The Killing,' I think they got a sense that I could do different kinds of characters.
119
I always look for good stories and good characters, and if they're placed in a whodunit, then I'm interested.
120
'The Killing' has a really great combination of qualities: Even though it's very sad and deals with mourning and grief, it's still exciting. It's about real people and it doesn't shy from the painful points of life. Sad
121
Danish is a different language, even though Danish people understand Swedes, and very few Swedes understand Danish.
122
I'm a physical actor in that I start with a physical sketch of the character. I find it easier to find inspiration from the outside in. If I find the character's tensions and the way he carries himself or looks, that's going to affect how I talk. So that's how I start to create that person.
123
It's very nice to be in a show where your vanity is completely out of the picture.
124
I think that in Sweden and a lot of European countries, there's this whole mythology of the wounded artist: that you can't really do any great art unless you're suffering.
125
I'm not a method actor per se, but if I'm playing a character that, at its core of its persona, has experiences I don't have, I try to search out and get firsthand experiences of similar sorts so I have something to fantasize about.
126
Have you seen these Japanese hospital droids, or humanoids, or whatever they call it? They've perfected the skin, and the skin looks so real. They have these motors between the eyes for when they smile. It's just mind-blowing. Smile
201
I went to high school in Texas for one year, my senior year. My parents wanted me to get out of Stockholm because I was running with the wrong crew. They wanted me to get back to my roots.
202
I usually have pretty good intuition on projects that I work on.
203
I hate pork rinds. I couldn't imagine how anybody would ever get the idea of taking skin from a pig and frying it and then trying to sell it to people. And then people actually buy it to eat it. That is the true sign of the decline of the human race.
204
I don't think there have been many alien movies where the actors have actually seen the aliens.
205
Being an actor in movies is a lot about the power of your imagination and making the circumstance real to you so the audience will feel that it's real.
206
It's technically demanding to shoot in 3-D. It's an extra element. Also, just the size of the cameras. They look like these 'Transformers' monsters; they are incredibly big, many of them.
207
I think I've seen the first 'RoboCop' like 15 or 20 times. I'm like a kid that way.
208
I have a lot of funny friends, and we joke a lot, but I've never really played comedic parts.
209
The original 'RoboCop' was X-rated, and then they had to cut it down so it became R-rated, and Verhoeven claimed that actually made the movie more violent, because it's what you don't see that actually scares you.
210
I love 'Starship Troopers.' I've seen it ten times.
211
As actors, we're like these vagabond artists: we have to be invited to perform, so if you don't have a choice of options, it's very hard to define yourself.
212
I grew up in a working class neighborhood in Sweden, which, during my teens, gentrified and is now completely middle class and even upper middle class.
213
The north of Sweden is very socialist and poor. They feel left out and despise Stockholm in many ways because Stockholm has become new liberals and much more Americanized.
214
In the first test screening of 'RoboCop,' it tested very high. Then they asked the people why they liked it, and the first answer was, 'I liked it because it was political.' And the second answer was because, 'It feels like it deals with current affairs.' And the third answer was, 'Because it feels emotional.'
215
What we did wrong on 'RoboCop,' we just did something new and didn't really take into account what the fans really loved about the original.
216
I would like to be able to do as many of my own stunts where I can.
217
My sister was an actress when I was a kid - she still is a successful stage actress in Sweden.
218
I don't reflect on sort of the age of the roles that I get. It's usually just what plays into what's believable - 'Am I believable at this age?'
219
I look at characters to see if they have some contrasts to play with; I think that's always what I'm looking for in characters: ones that have a wide range of expression.
220
I feel like I've got the best job in the world. I just feel so fortunate to get paid to be a kid and play with my friends. So if it's rough or a little bit hot, you just have to deal with that.
221
Jose Padilha is a wonderful director.
222
I don't think being a star has ever been part of the plan. But I always want to do really good work, even when I made career moves with projects that made more sense in sort of a career way than in an artistic way... like I did with 'The Darkest Hour.'
223
When I first heard 'Robocop' was going to be remade. I said, 'Yeah, that's interesting. I'll probably watch that at some point, but I'm not interested at all to be in it.'
224
I read a couple of books about neuroscience and the relationship between the mind and the body.
225
I was on a Swedish soap opera when I was 10.
226
I like L.A., but it's just too many people in the same business everywhere you go. You lose perspective.
301
I love watching Samuel L. Jackson do anything, but for me, Gary Oldman is the grandmaster of the game.
302
I've followed Gary Oldman his whole career... I've watched the movies he's directed, like 'Nil by Mouth' - I've seen that five times!
303
My impression was, 'This Hollywood thing doesn't seem too hard.'
304
A lot of the friends I had went on to become criminals.
305
In terms of whether my mom was influential, I think she instilled a certain way of thinking in me quite early: having a reflective mindset regarding my actions and trying to find the underlying reasons to behavior. I think that's quite helpful when you're trying to understand a character.
306
My parents got married when I was 12.
307
The way I live my life or conduct myself when I have a problem is very different from many of the characters I play.
308
I'm a pretty good chess player.
309
I speak English with my dad and Swedish with my mom; it's quite schizophrenic.
310
I always identified myself as non-Swedish. I was never discriminated against, because I looked Swedish and speak without an accent. But I had an outsider's perspective.
311
I was a Swedish guy who listened to Too Short.
312
When I first came to the States, I thought I had a perfect American accent, and then I was abruptly becoming aware that it wasn't. So I did have to work on it a little bit, but I was hesitant working on it because I thought it was good.
313
I've learned to steer away from the wrong kind of woman for me.
314
Moving in is almost a bigger step than getting married.
315
Nobody wants to be depressed - everybody's trying to feel better; when they strive and fail, it's all the more poignant.
316
We retell our favorite stories. That's what we've done since we were sitting around campfires. It's a part of the human spirit. It doesn't have to be negative to creativity. It can be completely opposite. That's how you can break new ground: by rethinking something that's already been done.
317
I loved 'The Artist.' I thought it was fantastic.
318
In most scripts, one or two characters have a lot of colors.
319
I think I'm a boxer, but then when I get hurt, I'll start scrapping.
320
We remake 'Hamlet' all the time. That's sort of what we do, humans.
321
I'm a crybaby.
322
I think 'The Wire' is my all-time favorite TV show. It's so brilliant, the way it critiques society, and how it handles that everybody who gets power loses their moral code and stops going to the root of the problem and just tries to maintain their own power.
323
I love 'Breaking Bad.' I'd watch Bryan Cranston read the phone book, for days.
324
I'm battling with keeping my narcissism at bay as it is, so Twitter was not a good thing for that.
325
Mid-range to low-budget movies have to have a name in the lead to get financing for it.
326
Sometimes if you start a relationship when you're young, you're not as fully developed as a person. You need a relationship that lets you develop in different ways. You need to bounce off different people.
401
I'm a pretty light and light-spirited person; I'm not a depressed guy.
402
When it's a moral grey zone, the audience has to think about what they feel and what they think is right or wrong. You want to affect your audience and make them think.
403
What I enjoy most with acting is when it's a good scene with one or two other actors, and you feel a strong connection, and you don't know how you're going to respond, and everybody is listening to each other and getting affected by each other, and even though you've rehearsed it many times, it feels like it's happening right now.
404
It's so scary to go on stage. I used to throw up before I went on stage, every time.
405
A big moment for me was when I did a play that was a new adaptation of Dostojevskij's 'Crime and Punishment,' and I played Raskolnikov. It was actually the first thing I did when I got out of acting school.
406
We have nobility in Sweden, and it comes from the old British aristocracy.
407
All of our colleges are free in Sweden, but this acting program is the second most expensive education for the government. It's difficult to get in. There are around 1,500 applicants, and 10-12 applicants are accepted each year. I was accepted, and I studied there for five years.
408
An amateur can be great in front of the camera, but you need an education to get on stage where you have full control as an actor.
409
I'm a bit like a chameleon with my accent.
410
I'm happy that people have watched and appreciated my work. That's why I'm doing it.
411

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