Joel Kinnaman (born Charles Joel Nordström; 25 November 1979) is a Swedish-American actor from Stockholm. He is best known for playing the lead role in the Swedish film Easy Money and for his role as Frank Wagner in the Johan Falk film series - a role that earned him a Guldbagge Award nomination in the "Best Supporting Actor" category. As of 2011, he is starring in AMC's The Killing.
Kinnaman was born in Stockholm, Sweden. His mother, Bitte, is Swedish, and his father, Steve Kinnaman (originally David Kinnaman), is American, and had left the United States at the time of the Vietnam War. He has both Swedish and American citizenship due to his father's United States birth. Kinnaman is Jewish on his mother's side. He has five sisters, one of whom is actress Melinda Kinnaman (his half-sister). He is in a relationship with American actress Olivia Munn.
Kinnaman started his acting career in 2002. He made his breakthrough in the 2009 film I skuggan av värmen and his success continued with a role in six films of the Johan Falk film series. He was then cast in the film Easy Money (released January 2010), which brought him attention in Sweden and the rest of the world. Looking to expand his acting career, Kinnaman hired an agent in the United States, the same agent that represents Johnny Depp. It was announced in the spring of 2010 that he would be making his international film debut in the thriller The Darkest Hour, which began filming in Moscow in June 2010 and was released in December 2011. Beginning in April 2011, Kinnaman has a starring role as Detective Stephen Holder in the AMC television series The Killing.
Kinnaman was one of the contenders for the lead roles in Thor and Mad Max 4 (2013). He told the newspaper Östran that "it was really close that I got the lead role in Mad Max 4. It stood between me and two others, and the one who got the role was Tom Hardy who plays the lead role in the film Bronson. [...] [The director] was very pleased [with my performance] - but they needed someone who gave an older impression." Regarding Thor, he has stated that "they wanted someone with a Scandinavian touch. At last we were only five candidates left. Unfortunately I could not fly over [to the United States] and do test shoots with Natalie Portman; it interfered with the filming of Snabba Cash". Although Kinnaman admits that he is eager to work and become recognized in America, he says that "I absolutely don't feel that I have to take any role that I can get just because it is the United States. I'm looking for something interesting, I'm still young in my artistry, and I must dare to do things even when there's a risk for failure".
On 3 March 2012, it was confirmed that Kinnaman will be playing the lead role of Alex James Murphy/Robocop in the upcoming 2014 remake of 1987's RoboCop.
