Bill Skarsgård movies and TV shows span more than two decades, from Swedish child roles to Hollywood horror icon. He is best known for playing Pennywise in It (2017) and It Chapter Two (2019), and for embodying Count Orlok in Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu (2024). His career reflects a deliberate path from supporting parts to leading man and producer.
Early Career in Swedish Productions
Bill Istvan Günther Skarsgård was born on August 9, 1990, in Stockholm, Sweden. He began acting at age nine in White Water Fury (2000) and appeared in the Swedish miniseries Laura Trenter (2002). His father is actor Stellan Skarsgård, and his brothers Alexander, Gustaf, and Valter also work in the industry.
His first major Swedish lead came in Simple Simon (2010), which earned him a Guldbagge Award nomination for Best Actor. In 2012, he won the European Film Academy’s Shooting Stars Award at the Berlin International Film Festival. These early achievements established him as a serious talent in Scandinavian cinema.
Breakthrough with Hemlock Grove and It
From 2013 to 2015, Skarsgård played Roman Godfrey in Netflix’s Hemlock Grove, his first major American role. This exposure led to supporting parts in The Divergent Series: Allegiant (2016) and Atomic Blonde (2017) alongside Charlize Theron.
His career transformed when Andy Muschietti cast him as Pennywise in It (2017). Muschietti explained the choice by saying Skarsgård could act “all cute” one moment and then reveal “something ancestral and dark”. Skarsgård has described the makeup process as a period of discovery. “Before I had the makeup on, everything was just hypothetical,” he told Den of Geek. “I had the full makeup on maybe four or five times before we shot my first day”.
The film became the highest-grossing horror movie of all time at its release, surpassing $600 million. Skarsgård earned Saturn Award, MTV Movie Award, and Teen Choice Award nominations for Best Villain.
Expanding Television and Film Roles
Skarsgård continued building his profile with the Hulu series Castle Rock (2018–2019), set in Stephen King’s fictional universe. He played Henry Deaver and a mysterious prisoner known as The Kid. That same year, he appeared as Zeitgeist in Deadpool 2, a minor but memorable role.
In 2022, he led the Netflix miniseries Clark as Clark Olofsson, the notorious Swedish criminal linked to the origin of the term “Stockholm syndrome”. He also starred in Barbarian as Keith Toshko, serving as executive producer for the first time. The following year brought his highest-profile villain role since Pennywise: Marquis Vincent de Gramont in John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023).
Horror Transformations and Leading Man Status
Skarsgård’s physical transformations became a defining feature of his craft. For Nosferatu (2024), he worked with an opera coach to lower his vocal register, adopted a Transylvanian accent, and wore 60 prosthetics to become Count Orlok. He described the experience as “conjuring pure evil” and said it “took a while for me to shake off the demon that had been conjured inside of me”.
In 2024, he also took the lead in The Crow as Eric Draven, a role previously played by Brandon Lee in 1994. The film struggled commercially, earning less than $11 million worldwide** on a **$50 million budget in its debut weekend, but it demonstrated Skarsgård’s willingness to take on iconic characters.
Current and Upcoming Projects
Skarsgård returned to his most famous role in It: Welcome to Derry, the HBO prequel series that premiered in 2025. He plays Pennywise and serves as an executive producer on the show. The series is set in the 1960s and explores the town’s cursed history.
His recent work includes Locked (2025) as Eddie Barrish and Dead Man’s Wire (2026) as Tony Kiritsis. The Evening Standard praised his performance in the latter as “deeply unsettling,” noting that he is “somehow even more unsettling” without prosthetics than he was as Pennywise or Orlok. He will play Little John in The Death of Robin Hood (2026) alongside Hugh Jackman. In Lords of War (2027), he stars opposite Nicolas Cage as Anton Orlov, the illegitimate son of an arms dealer.
Awards and Recognition
Skarsgård’s accolades include the 2012 Shooting Stars Award and a Satellite Award for Best Cast for Nosferatu. He has received Saturn Award nominations for both It (2018) and It: Welcome to Derry (2026). His Fright Meter Award win for Best Supporting Actor in It recognized the impact of his Pennywise performance.
Why His Filmography Stands Out
What distinguishes Skarsgård’s career is his commitment to physical and vocal transformation. He has played a shapeshifting clown, a vampire, a graphic novel revenant, and a real-life kidnapper, each with a distinct physical language. His move into executive producing on projects like Barbarian, Boy Kills World, and It: Welcome to Derry signals growing creative control.
From Swedish child actor to international horror icon and producer, Bill Skarsgård has built a filmography defined by risk and reinvention. His ability to disappear into roles, whether under 60 prosthetics or with just a cold stare, has made him one of the most distinctive actors of his generation.Bill Skarsgård is a Swedish actor best known for playing Pennywise in It (2017) and It Chapter Two (2019), as well as Count Orlok in Nosferatu (2024) .
What was Bill Skarsgård’s first English-language role? His first English-language film role was Captain Makhotin in Joe Wright’s Anna Karenina (2012), starring Keira Knightley and Jude Law .
Why was he reluctant to return as Pennywise in It: Welcome to Derry? During an interview with Screen Rant, Skarsgård admitted he was initially hesitant to reprise the role for the HBO prequel series, though he ultimately agreed to star and executive produce .
How did he prepare for Count Orlok in Nosferatu? Skarsgård spent three to six hours daily in makeup and prosthetics, worked with an opera singer to lower his voice by an octave, and isolated himself from co-stars during production . He stated: “I never want to play something this evil again. I never want to put on prosthetics again” .
Which awards has Bill Skarsgård won or been nominated for? He won the 2012 Shooting Stars Award at the Berlin International Film Festival, a Fright Meter Award for Best Supporting Actor in It (2017), and a Satellite Award for Best Cast for Nosferatu (2024). He was also nominated for a Saturn Award for It (2018) and for It: Welcome to Derry (2026) .
