Alexander Skarsgard: 'My sexiness derailed my acting career'

Alexander Skarsgard barely worked for three years as he was frustrated at only landing roles due to his looks.

The 43-year-old's TV work in his native Sweden made him a heartthrob around the turn of the millennium, and he has been named the country's sexiest man five times.

However, he has now claimed that his looks were a curse due to being typecast in boring roles - despite his father, Stellan, being an acclaimed film actor.

"Suddenly I was considered, like, sexy, and I was having a really hard time finding interesting characters," he told British newspaper The Times, explaining that he was only considered for roles like, "the jock, (the) high school football player. It was never anything substantial or conflicted or interesting."

This played a part in his decision to move to Hollywood in 2004, but he found himself in the same predicament for "nearly three years" before he landed a part in the TV miniseries Generation Kill.

"I felt like, well, no one knows who I am out here, no one cares," he remembered of his move to the U.S. "I could come and at least have an opportunity to audition for more interesting roles, which I did and got nothing."

Although he crossed the Atlantic to avoid being objectified on screen, Alexander insisted he much prefers Sweden's more open attitude to sexuality.

"I think sexuality in general is (less) stigmatised in general (in Sweden) than it is here," The Legend of Tarzan star explained. "There's a puritanical quality (in America), which I find quite silly. They're very uncomfortable talking about their bodies, to the point where they won't even say the word penis."