Alexander Skarsgard has joked he likes to spend time driving to Ikea while listening to Abba with fellow Swedish actors.
The 38-year-old actor is one of several Swedish stars taking Hollywood by storm, among them Joel Kinnaman and Noomi Rapace. He likes that there are so many people from his home country making it in tinsel town, although he could do without some of the stereotypes.
"There are a lot of Swedes in Hollywood in general. We have a tendency to know each other and help each other out," he told British newspaper The Guardian, before jokingly being asked if they like to go to Swedish DIY store Ikea for meatballs together.
“Of course! We drive there in our Volvos listening to Abba.”
Alexander's tall stature and blonde good looks have made him a hit with female fans, something he's still getting used to. That's in part because it's a very different experience to the one he had when he was first getting interested in girls at school.
"The first [part of my youth] was when I was a young teenager and didn’t go out much, just hung out at home and played video games. The girls in our class, we weren’t cool enough for them and they found some older dudes with Vespas and moustaches," he explained. "My late teens were wilder. I discovered partying.”
Although he still enjoys a good time, Alexander takes his work seriously too. He's probably best known for his portrayal of vampire Eric Northman in TV show True Blood, but he's made a success of his film career too.
Next year he'll star in the new version of Tarzan alongside Samuel L. Jackson and Margot Robbie and he's about to be seen in The Diary of a Teenage Girl too.
He's done blockbusters too, such as 2012's Battleship. There was a big furore around the release as Rihanna starred in it, and although it didn't do as well as expected, Alexander stands by it and its director.
“I’m only in Battleship for 30 minutes. I get blown up pretty early on. I’m a fan of Pete Berg. I still think he’s a fantastic director and I actually had a lot of fun. I know it was a disappointment at the box office but it didn’t turn me off big movies," he explained.
