List of Famous people born in Denmark, Kingdom of Denmark
Deepika Padukone
Deepika Padukone is an Indian actress and producer who works in Hindi films. One of the highest-paid actresses in India, her accolades include three Filmfare Awards. She features in listings of the nation's most popular personalities, and Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2018.
Giancarlo Esposito
Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito is a Danish-born American actor. He is best known for portraying Gus Fring in the AMC crime drama series Breaking Bad (2009–2011) and the prequel series Better Call Saul (2017–present), for which he won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series and earned three nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
Lili Elbe
Lili Ilse Elvenes, better known as Lili Elbe, was a Danish painter and transgender woman, and among the early recipients of sex reassignment surgery. She was a successful painter under her birth name Einar Magnus Andreas Wegener. After transitioning in 1930, she changed her legal name to Lili Ilse Elvenes and stopped painting; she later adopted the surname Elbe. She died from complications following a uterus transplant. The US and UK English versions of her semi-autobiographical narrative were published posthumously in 1933 under the title Man into Woman: An Authentic Record of a Change of Sex.
Mads Mikkelsen
Mads Dittmann Mikkelsen, is a Danish actor. Originally a gymnast and dancer, he rose to fame in Denmark as an actor for his roles such as Tonny in the first two films of the Pusher film trilogy, Detective Sergeant Allan Fischer in the television series Rejseholdet (2000–2004), Niels in Open Hearts (2002), Svend in The Green Butchers (2003), Ivan in Adam's Apples (2005) and Jacob Petersen in After the Wedding (2006).
Kevin Ray Mendoza Hansen
Kevin Ray Mendoza Hansen is a professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Malaysia Super League club Kuala Lumpur City and the Philippines national team.
Christian Eriksen
Christian Dannemann Eriksen is a Danish professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Serie A club Inter Milan and the Denmark national team. Eriksen is also capable of playing as a central midfielder or mezzala in a 4–3–3 system.
Peter Schmeichel
Peter Bolesław Schmeichel, MBE is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is best remembered for his most successful years at English club Manchester United, whom he captained to victory in the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final to complete the Treble, and for winning UEFA Euro 1992 with Denmark.
Connie Nielsen
Connie Inge-Lise Nielsen is a Danish actress whose first major role in an English language film was a supporting role in The Devil's Advocate (1997). Her films include Soldier with Kurt Russell (1998), Gladiator (2000), Mission to Mars (2000), One Hour Photo (2002), Basic (2003), The Hunted (2003), The Ice Harvest (2005), and Nymphomaniac (2014). She starred as Meredith Kane on the Starz TV series Boss (2011–2012) and was a lead character in the second season of The Following. She starred in 3 Days to Kill with Kevin Costner (2014). She has joined the DC Extended Universe, appearing as Hippolyta in its films Wonder Woman (2017), Justice League (2017) and Wonder Woman 1984 (2020).
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is a Danish actor and producer. He graduated from the Danish National School of Performing Arts in Copenhagen in 1993. He became widely known for his role as Jaime Lannister in the HBO fantasy drama series Game of Thrones, for which he received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. Coster-Waldau's breakthrough role in Denmark was in the film Nightwatch (1994).
Ludvig Lorenz
Ludvig Valentin Lorenz was a Danish physicist and mathematician. He developed mathematical formulae to describe phenomena such as the relation between the refraction of light and the density of a pure transparent substance, and the relation between a metal's electrical and thermal conductivity and temperature.
Kasper Schmeichel
Kasper Peter Schmeichel is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Premier League club Leicester City and the Denmark national team. He is the son of former Manchester United and Danish international goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel.
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki (R) is a Danish former professional tennis player. A former world No. 1 in singles, she achieved the top ranking for the first time on 11 October 2010, becoming the 20th player in the Open Era, and the first woman from a Scandinavian country to hold the top ranking position. She was the year-end No. 1 in both 2010 and 2011, held the top ranking for a combined total of 71 weeks, and won more than $35 million in prize money.
Martin Braithwaite
Martin Braithwaite is a Danish professional footballer who plays for Spanish club Barcelona and the Denmark national team. Mainly a striker, he can also play as a winger.
George I of Greece
George I was King of Greece from 30 March 1863 until his assassination in 1913.
Brigitte Nielsen
Brigitte Nielsen is a Danish actress, model, singer and reality television personality. She began her career modeling for Greg Gorman and Helmut Newton. She subsequently acted in the 1985 films Red Sonja and Rocky IV, later returning to the Rocky series in Creed II (2018). She is also known for her marriage to Sylvester Stallone, with whom she starred in the 1986 film Cobra. She played a villain in Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) and starred as the Black Witch in the 1990s Italian film series Fantaghirò. She later built a career starring in B-movies, hosting TV shows, and appearing on reality shows.
Peter Madsen
Peter Langkjær Madsen is a Danish convicted murderer, former engineer and entrepreneur. In April 2018 he was convicted of the 2017 murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall on board his submarine, UC3 Nautilus, and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Alexandra of Denmark
Alexandra of Denmark was Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Empress of India from 1901 to 1910 as the wife of King-Emperor Edward VII.
Niels Bohr
Niels Henrik David Bohr was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. Bohr was also a philosopher and a promoter of scientific research.
Sidse Babett Knudsen
Sidse Babett Knudsen is a Danish actress who works in theatre, television, and film. Knudsen made her screen debut in the 1997 improvisational comedy Let's Get Lost, for which she received both the Robert and Bodil awards for Best Actress.
Chris Anker Sørensen
Chris Anker Sørensen is a Danish former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2005 and 2018 for the Team Designa Køkken, Tinkoff–Saxo, Fortuneo–Vital Concept and Riwal CeramicSpeed teams. Sørensen now works as a directeur sportif for his final professional team, racing at UCI Professional Continental level as, Riwal Cycling Team.