Unit One (2000 - 2004)(01 of08)
Open Image ModalAvid fans of Danish drama will know all about this one (as well as, bizarrely, Australian viewers where this police series got shown years ago). In 32 episodes of ‘Rejseholdet’, Mads played Allan Fischer, one of an elite squad of detectives, who travel around Denmark in a bus, solving the worst of the country's crimes. Co-star Charlotte Fich told HuffPostUK, "Mads had a great energy even then. We had to make it as good as he insisted.”
King Arthur (2004)(02 of08)
Open Image ModalThe role of Tristan in Jerry Buckheimer's big-budget production. A commercial hit despite average reviews, Mads' fondest memory is spending time with his 'Hannibal' co-star Hugh Dancy. "I knew we could work together," remembers Mads. “We’d got on very well, sitting together on a horse… not the same horse!”
Casino Royale (2006)(03 of08)
Open Image ModalIf you want to be a worldwide star, playing a Bond villain should do it, particularly in this triumphant reboot with brand new Bond, Daniel Craig. Le Chiffre's sadistic treatment of 007 via a chair with no seat has gone down in Bond history, as has the sight of him weeping blood during a tense game of poker, but Mads was still surprised to find his profile rocket. "They don't spot me, and then they see my scar, and their faces change," he revealed of his new fanbase.
After The Wedding (2006)(04 of08)
Open Image ModalLike many other Danish stars, Mads queued up to work with Oscar-winning director Susanne Bier. He played the manager of an Indian orphanage, lured back to Denmark by the promise of funding. It's a film both glamorous and moving, with co-stars Rolf Lassgård ('Wallander') and Sidse Babett Knudsen ('Borgen'), and was Oscar-nominated for Best Foreign Film.
Valhalla Rising (2009)(05 of08)
Open Image ModalIf Mads was prepared to swoon for Susanne Bier, he was ready to roar for Denmark's naughty child, director Nicolas Winding Refn. In 'Valhalla Rising', as a Norse warrior in the Crusades (the entire film shot in Scotland). Years later, following Mads' mainstream success and Nicolas's own triumph with 'Drive', the latter spoke of his former muse, "At some point I'll need to rescue Mads again."
A Royal Affair (2012)(06 of08)
Open Image ModalMads earned his romantic hero stripes in this lavish historical drama based on true events, as a physician who becomes the closest confidant of mentally ill Danish King Christian, AND falls in love with his wife Queen Caroline. The costumes and sets contributed to this becoming one of the most expensive Danish films – “you have no idea how much it costs to rent one of those dresses,” said Mads. The same year, 2012, the actor was awarded the Danish American Society's Person of the Year (yes, there is such a thing).
The Hunt (2012)(07 of08)
Open Image ModalAny preconceptions film fans may have had about this butch Bond villain were confounded by his mesmerising turn in 'The Hunt', about a schoolteacher wrongly accused of assault by a friend's small daughter. His character Lucas is broken, socially crippled and redemption, if it arrives, will come at a huge price. It brought Mads a Palme D'Or for Best Actor at Cannes, and even more respect for his versatile screen skills.
Hannibal (2013 - 2015)(08 of08)
Open Image ModalAnd here we are, with Mads the biggest star of a TV series he thought he would never make. “I was very frustrated when I first did TV,” he once admitted, “because I came from a world of radical film-making where we could do whatever we wanted, and the corners were sharp. And suddenly these corners were rounded off.“I just thought it was so wrong, that you're allowed to bleed but not too much, you can cry but not too much. I was supposed to be killing a man, you can't do that clean, it's meant to be brutal.""It took me a while to understand all that, and realise that not everything's the same. So then, I started enjoying myself, and accepting the new rules, and playing around within them.”As for Dr Hannibal himself, Mads has only praise. "I believe that he’s as close to Satan as can be – the fallen angel," he told Boston.com. "He sees the beauty in death. And every day is a new day, full of opportunities.”