My height can be a problem. A lot of directors and photographers are sometimes not happy because I'm pretty tall and especially if I work with short actors the difference can be pretty massive.

Sweden is a small country and, well, our family's pretty prominent in that world, I guess. And I really didn't like the sound of just being 'the fourth acting Skarsgard.

I have three older brothers, and each one of them has chosen one of my parents' education. Two of them are actors, and the third is a doctor as my mother is.

Acting was always there, it's true. But for a long time, in my teenage years, I wasn't sure about it - not because I didn't like it, but I didn't want people to think I hadn't earned it.

I've lived in California for six years and I've never surfed.

I started acting when I was 9. I did smaller parts here and there as a kid, and then as I grew older I started resisting it, because I didn't like the idea of being, at the time, number four of the Skarsgård actors. So in high school I majored in science and was like, "Maybe I'll do something rebellious and become a doctor."

I'm always looking for something that's real and that's got meat on it. I think it's artistic suicide if you're too vain, or if you're afraid to play ugly. I would never fall for that.