"A true artist, in my mind, is willing to fail sometimes, because if you're not brave enough to say yes and follow your gut, it's never going to be good."
"I have three older brothers, and each one of them has chosen one of my parents' education. Two of them are actors, and the third is a doctor as my mother is."
"Acting was always there, it's true. But for a long time, in my teenage years, I wasn't sure about it - not because I didn't like it, but I didn't want people to think I hadn't earned it."
"Sweden is a small country and, well, our family's pretty prominent in that world, I guess. And I really didn't like the sound of just being 'the fourth acting Skarsgard.'"
"I needed to be myself and find my own identity."
"In movies we tend make things black and white: you're either this, or you're that."
"There's something I love about how stark the contrast is between January and June in Sweden."
"I can deal with it now, but 13 is a tough age to be recognized and famous. It's a tough age, period."
"I've lived in California for six years and I've never surfed."
"A character on screen that's the 'good guy' or the 'bad guy,' they're never interesting. There's got to be an internal struggle, the duality is important to find."
"I worked with Lady Gaga for a day on a video shoot. It was crazy; we had a lot of fun. I had a great time."
"My height can be a problem. A lot of directors and photographers are sometimes not happy because I'm pretty tall and especially if I work with short actors the difference can be pretty massive."
"To me, it's all about inspiration. What gets me creatively excited is a challenge."
"When I read a script and have my first interaction with this character, do I feel like there's something I'm gonna' learn here? If I feel like it's something I've done before, then what's the incentive for me to do it?"
"In terms of jobs, I'm an actor. There's gotta' be depth there. I'd never say yes to something just to play the hot guy. That's not what I'm interested in."
"I come from a family of pacifists, so it's not like I was going to join the war. Sweden is not like the States or England where you might get sent to Afghanistan next month."
"I see myself as most people see themselves, you have good days and bad days. I don't think I'm better looking now than I did three years ago."
"I'm always looking for something that's real and that's got meat on it. I think it's artistic suicide if you're too vain, or if you're afraid to play ugly. I would never fall for that."
"The horror fan base is fantastic. It really has devoted fans, and I like that aspect of the genre. The people who are making it are always really wonderfully nerdy, creative people, which I always love."
"I've never understood the appeal of feeling really scared. I know that people do find it really thrilling. For me, artistically, it needs to be worth the effort of me feeling uncomfortable watching it."
"I liken every character that I do to a relationship that you're in."
"If you ask anybody what they think of clowns, it's associated as much or more with something crazy and scary as it is something joyful."
"I'm a pretty private person, so I don't mind not being recognized."
"Normally, when you do a movie, you have those mundane days when it's like, 'Today is the scene where I get coffee.'"
"I wouldn't want to be associated with one character, because I want to be able to do different roles."
