Alexander Skarsgard: 9 Things You Need To Know

Everything you need to know about the dishy Swedish actor

Now, you've probably heard of the True Blood star Alexander Skarsgard (he plays vampire Eric Northman in the lust-filled HBO series), but what else is there to know about the Swedish hunk?

Here's your Alexander Skarsgard cheat sheet:

1. He is the epitome of Scandi-cool, having grown up in Stockholm in the now-popular SoFo (south of Folkungagatan) neighbourhood. Family vacations at the Skarsgard pad sound pretty fun too. Talking about his childhood, Skarsgard has said: 'The doors were always open. On any given night, there would be 10 to 15 people around the dinner table. It was very loud, very crazy, there was a lot of food, a lot of alcohol, but it was also very loving.'

2. Acting runs in his blood. While his mum, My, is a doctor, his dad is Stellan Skarsgard, an actor who's done a tonne of Swedish theatre, art-house movies and… Mamma Mia!. Alexander and his dad even starred alongside each other in 2011's Melancholia with writer/director Lars von Trier casting Stellan as the 'douchebag' best man of Alexander's character. And Skargard jnr loved it. 'We're more like brothers than father and son,' he said of his old man. 'We hang out. I'll take him out with my buddies in LA or in Stockholm, and it's never awkward or anything. He's 60, but he likes to party.'

3. Not just a pro at TV and movie work, he smooched the face off Lady Gaga when he played her love interest in her 2009 music video for Paparazzi. Watch the steamy scene below....

4. The actor's big break came in the form of HBO's Generation Kill in 2008. It followed young marines as they led the offensive in Baghdad during the first few weeks of the Iraq war. You'd be forgiven for wondering if his time, as a teenager, doing Swedish military service helped with his prep for the role? About that, he's said: 'For me it was just a personal challenge. I'm very happy that I did it. It was tough. I hated it at times; the unit I was in dealt with anti-sabotage, anti-terrorism in the archipelago, so some of the people who applied were total warheads. There were a lot of really cool guys, but the mentality sometimes got a little too testosterone-fuelled for my tastes.'

5. Did you know he was in Zoolander, too? Watch this LOL-some clip below:

6. So infatuated are his fans that they've coined the term 'skarsbrow' about him. It's basically a reference to the unbelievably sexy way he raises his left eyebrow. People go wild for it. People... and us.

7. He supports Leeds United football club. His love of the Yorkshire team stems from the six months he spent studying English at Leeds Metropolitan University. He's described his time in the northern city as a 'blast.'

8. In what promises to be perfect casting, Alexander will play Tarzan in the 2016 version of the movie. Ready, set, loincloth…