Alexander Skarsgård Feels Stuck on 'Sexy Hunk List' and Not Taken Seriously

Alexander Skarsgård has certainly turned heads since his breakout role on HBO's "True Blood" of Eric Northman, a 1,000-year-old�Nordic�vampire. Since then he's been named, according to a Newsweek profile, the "Sexiest Man in Sweden" five times.

He has gone on to play Tarzan – about the biggest beefcake role in moviedom – along with more serious roles in "Melancholia," "Diary of a Teenage Girl," and the acclaimed HBO miniseries "Big Little Lies," where he played Nicole Kidman's abusive husband and won an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series.

"I don't really know if that was the reason I wasn't getting roles," Skarsgård said, according to the Times (story is behind a paywall). "Starting out in Sweden, there was stuff about being tall and blond. But most people here are tall and blond. Still, after my first job, I was on a stupid 'sexy hunky hot list' and then people didn't take me seriously."

Skarsgård added, "If you want characters with depth, but have been labeled 'a dude who takes his shirt off,' you're not going to get those offers."

Whatever his qualms, his fans are likely happy he will be shirtless again in Robert Eggers' 10th century epic "The Northman," which arrives in theaters on April 22. And Eggers suggested that Skarsgård has never been more buff. "The amount of discipline that Alex put into this role is crazy. He transformed his body more wildly than he did in 'Tarzan,'" said Eggers in a Variety interview in February.

In the film Skarsgård stars as Viking prince Amleth, who was a child when his father, King Horvendill (Ethan Hawke), was murdered. Years later, Amleth vows to avenge his father's death and save his mother, Queen Gudrun (Nicole Kidman), from the clutches of his father's killer, Fjölnir (Claes Bang). The supporting cast also includes Anya Taylor-Joy, Bjork, Ralph Ineson�and Willem Dafoe.

He also confessed to the Times that he "nearly ran over" Greta Thunberg while riding his bike through a recent protest in Stockholm, Sweden.

"I nearly ran over Greta Thunberg," Skarsgård declared. "She's how we sell our country now," he added of his fellow Swedish patriot, who has been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize. "And I almost hit her with my bike."

Adding in a reference to his latest film, he said: "Greta is like a modern-day Viking – and, like Greta, the Vikings refused to fly."