Bill Skarsgård comes from a talented line of movie stars. Like his father Stellan and his older brother Alexander, this Swede brings a unique intensity and charming allure into his roles. The youngest Skarsgård rose to prominence terrifying a new generation of horror fans with his portrayal of Pennywise the Clown in Andy Muschietti’s remakes of Stephen King’s It.
While most of Skarsgård’s acting credits are attached to scary features, he has worked on a wide variety of films – from action to historical drama. At just 30-years-old, there’s no doubt this Skarsgård, who has been on the scene since he was a child, will keep pushing the envelope with his roles.
Simon In Simon And The Oaks (2012) – 55%
A Swedish drama adapted from the book of the same name by Marianne Fredriksson, Simon and the Oaks is set in the city of Gothenburg during World War II. Skarsgård plays the title character, a young man with working-class roots who pursues a liberal arts education as the war rages on in the background.
Over the course of the film, Simon develops a friendship with a Jewish bookseller who fled Nazi Germany. While it didn’t get much attention outside Sweden, Simon and the Oaks was critically acclaimed there.
Pennywise In It Chapter Two (2019) – 63%
Despite having a lackluster theatrical run compared to its predecessor, Andy Muschietti’s It Chapter Two was still the highest-grossing horror film of 2019. Skarsgård reprises his role as Stephen King’s shapeshifting monster Pennywise in the sequel, which sees the beloved Losers Club return to Derry, Maine as adults.
The Losers Club bands together again to defeat Pennywise once and for all. Skarsgård’s terrifying and clownish tactics are by far the highlight of It Chapter Two.
Makhotin In Anna Karenina (2012) – 63%
A sweeping and epic adaptation of Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy’s 19th-century masterpiece, Anna Karenina stars Keira Knightley in the title role, a wealthy socialite living in Saint Petersburg. Directed by Joe Wright, this ensemble period drama co-stars everyone from Jude Law to Alicia Vikander to Aaron Johnson.
Skarsgård has a smaller role in Anna Karenina. He plays Makhotin, a military Captain who floats in and out of Anna’s social circle.
Willard Russell In The Devil All The Time (2020) – 64%
A recent Netflix release, The Devil All the Time is the latest feature from Antonio Campos, known for gritty dramas like 2016’s Christine. Based on the novel by Donald Ray Pollock, The Devil All the Time follows a loosely connected group of people surviving in violent, post-World War II rural Appalachia.
Skarsgård stars in the first half of the film as Willard Russell, a Marine who returns home to Coal Creek, West Virginia, after serving in the Solomon Islands. Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland, and Riley Keough co-star.
Mark In Assassination Nation (2018) – 74%
Sam Levinson, the creator of HBO’s Euphoria, directed this feature film about a city whose residents resort to violence and chaos after a computer hacker exposes everyone’s dirty laundry. Assassination Nation focuses its attention on a group of high school girls who join forces to protect themselves.
The film’s girl gang is played by Odessa Young, Suki Waterhouse, Hari Nef, and Abra. Skarsgård plays Mark, the boyfriend of Young’s character Lily.
Merkel In Atomic Blonde (2017) – 78%
One of many engaging, butt-kicking thrillers to star Charlize Theron, Atomic Blonde is adapted from the 2012 graphic novel The Coldest City. Set in Berlin during the Cold War, Theron plays an undercover British spy investigating the disappearances of multiple MI6 agents.
Thanks in large part to its stylish action sequences and eye-popping set designs, Atomic Blonde was well-received by critics. Skarsgård makes a cameo in the film as Merkel, an East German contact for Theron’s character Lorraine Broughton.
Zeitgeist In Deadpool 2 (2018) – 83%
Skarsgård plays Zeitgeist in David Leitch’s Deadpool 2. The actor is joined by Zazie Beetz, Terry Crews, Lewis Tan, Rob Delaney, and Brad Pitt to form X-Force, a group of mutant fighters brought together by Ryan Reynolds’s title character to defeat the time-traveling Cable.
Josh Brolin is Cable in Deadpool 2, a soldier hunting a young, telekinetic mutant named Firefist. Like its predecessor, the film was hailed for its combination of gag humor, carnage, and edgier take on the superhero trope.
Mickey In Villains (2019) – 85%
A dark comedy with horrific underpinnings, Villains co-stars Skarsgård and Maika Monroe as a pair of lovesick robbers who find themselves stranded in the woods after their getaway car runs out of gas. The criminal couple breaks into a nearby house for help, which they realize too late is a house of horrors.
Dan Berk and Robert Olsen direct Villains, which also stars Jeffrey Donovan and Kyra Sedgwick as the owners of the house. This independent flick debuted at the South by Southwest Festival, and it is now available for streaming on Hulu.
Pennywise In It (2017) – 85%
“We all float down here. Yes we do!” With his zany affectation, creepy smile, and towering presence, Pennywise the Clown is truly the stuff of nightmares. Skarsgård breathes new life into the character in It, a monster who feasts on fear.
The first installment of the franchise’s revival is considered the best, due in large part to its cast of child actors who give compelling performances as members of the Losers Club. Instead of letting Pennywise destroy them, they remain unified in their quest to defeat him.
The Kid In Castle Rock (2018 – ) – 88%
Skarsgård’s only television credit to make it on this list, Castle Rock is a surreal Hulu anthology series whose characters, settings, and plots are inspired by Stephen King’s expansive fictional universe. In the first season of Castle Rock, Skarsgård plays a mysterious character who is held captive by the warden at Shawshank Prison for 27 years.
When Skarsgård’s character is found in an abandoned cellblock after the Warden’s death, he requests the help of Henry Matthew Deaver, a criminal attorney played by André Holland who has not returned to Castle Rock, Maine – the show’s location – in decades. A series of confounding events unfold when Deaver comes back to town.