Quotes from Joel Kinnaman

It's so scary to go on stage. I used to throw up before I went on stage, every time.

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.

I think I'm a boxer, but then when I get hurt, I'll start scrapping.

I love 'Breaking Bad.' I'd watch Bryan Cranston read the phone book, for days.

I'm a bit like a chameleon with my accent.

I'm never very good with marks. They're always like, 'You're not on your mark'. I was like, 'Oh, it's that thing you put on the ground? Yeah, I don't pay attention to it.'

I'm happy that people have watched and appreciated my work. That's why I'm doing it.

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!

I always look for good stories and good characters, and if they're placed in a whodunit, then I'm interested.

In most scripts, one or two characters have a lot of colors.

The way I live my life or conduct myself when I have a problem is very different from many of the characters I play.

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.

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.

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.

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.

My sister was an actress when I was a kid - she still is a successful stage actress in Sweden.

We have nobility in Sweden, and it comes from the old British aristocracy.

I miss Swedish meatballs, but you can get them pretty much anywhere.

I speak English with my dad and Swedish with my mom; it's quite schizophrenic.

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.

I was on a Swedish soap opera when I was 10.

I was a Swedish guy who listened to Too Short.

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.

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.