10 Things You Didn’t Know About Alicia Vikander

Right now, not enough people know who Alicia Vikander is, but that is about to change. She has eight films scheduled for release this year and one of them is already sparking some major Oscar buzz. Who knows – this year, Alicia might get her very first Academy Award nomination for her performance in The Danish Girl. Since this is definitely the Swedish Actress’ year, here are 10 things you didn’t know about Alicia Vikander:

10. Very Zen

She’s really into yoga, Pilates and meditation. “I love doing yoga and pilates. I used to meditate a lot, and I’m trying to get back into it. Sometimes if I’m really stressed or if I get anxious –my mind creates thoughts that are bigger than what they are, and meditation brings things back to zero,” she told Elle Canada.

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9. Family

Her father is a psychiatrist and her mother is a stage actress, Maria Fahl Vikander. Her parents separated when she was five months old. Her mother had primary custody and she spent every second week with her father, who had five other children.

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8. A Ballerina

She studied at the Royal Swedish Ballet School from the age of 9 until she was 18. “It was really tough,” she told Vogue. “I had to complete my proper school education and dance seven hours a day, six days a week. It was hard, physical work and now when I see dancers I think, ‘How can you do that?’ I didn’t want to live that life, it requires so many hours from you, and so much of you – you have to really love it.”

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7. Multilingual

Alicia – whose first language is Swedish – learned Danish in two months for her role in A Royal Affair. “It was tough. If I have two glasses of wine I do dare to speak Danish, but then you are a bit more relaxed. In fact the dialogue coach told me I should go out and drink every night as it would come more naturally,” she told The Telegraph.

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6. Romance

She is rumored to be in a relationship with actor Michael Fassbender. They reportedly met on the set of The Light Between Oceans. They played a married couple that tends a lighthouse on a remote island off the coast of Australia.

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5. Muse

She’s the new brand ambassador for Louis Vuitton.

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4. Snow White

She did a screen test for the part of Snow White in Snow White and the Huntsman, but she lost out to Kristen Stewart.

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3. Independent

She moved out of her mother’s at the age of 15 and moved to Stockholm to attend Royal Swedish Ballet School’s upper school. While there, she lived on her own. “I lived in a tiny flat. It was like half a room with a tiny kitchenette. I even had a minibar because it didn’t have a fridge. It was in an old house, beautiful, with wooden floors, but it was basically a big closet,” she told The Telegraph.

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2. Niggles

She traded in ballet for acting in her late teens when she was suffering from niggles in her feet and back.

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1. Law School

After she was rejected by the Royal Academy of Stockholm twice and then was unable to land any television parts, Alicia decided to apply to law school and try and get into the film industry as a producer. Two weeks before she was supposed to start her degree, she got a part in a feature film, so she put her law school plans on hold.