Joel Kinnaman facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Joel Kinnaman
Kinnaman in 2016
Born	Charles Joel Nordström Kinnaman (1979-11-25) 25 November 1979 (age 45) Stockholm, Sweden
Citizenship	Sweden United States
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1990–present
Spouse(s)	Cleo Wattenström ​ ​ (m. 2015; div. 2018)​ Kelly Gale ​ (m. 2024)​
Relatives	Melinda Kinnaman (half-sister)

Joel Kinnaman (born on November 25, 1979) is a talented actor from Sweden. He became well-known for his roles in the Swedish movie Easy Money (2010) and the Johan Falk crime TV series.

Around the world, Joel Kinnaman is famous for his TV characters. He played Detective Stephen Holder in the show The Killing. He was also Takeshi Kovacs in the first season of Altered Carbon. You might also know him as Governor Will Conway in the American version of House of Cards.

In movies, he played Alex Murphy in the 2014 RoboCop film. He also starred as Rick Flag in the superhero movies Suicide Squad (2016) and The Suicide Squad (2021). Since 2019, he has been playing NASA astronaut Ed Baldwin in the science fiction show For All Mankind on Apple TV+.

Joel Kinnaman's Early Life and Background

Joel Kinnaman was born and grew up in Stockholm, Sweden. His mother, Bitte Nordström, is a therapist from Sweden. His father, Steve Kinnaman, was born in America but moved to Sweden. He left the military during the Vietnam War. Joel Kinnaman has citizenship in both Sweden and the United States.

His father's family came from the American Midwest and has Irish and Scottish roots. Joel's grandmother on his mother's side has Ukrainian Jewish heritage.

Joel has five sisters, and one of them, Melinda Kinnaman, is also an actress. Growing up, Joel learned two languages. He spoke English with his dad and Swedish with his mom. He spent a year in Del Valle, Texas, as a high school exchange student.

Before becoming an actor, Joel traveled the world. To pay for his trips, he worked different jobs. He worked in a beer factory and swept roofs in Norway. He also managed a bar in the French Alps. He traveled for several months at a time in Southeast Asia and South America.

Joel Kinnaman's Acting Journey

Kinnaman at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con to promote Suicide Squad

Joel Kinnaman started acting as a child in a Swedish TV show called Storstad in 1990. His older sister was dating one of the show's directors, who asked Joel to try out for a part. He played Felix Lundström in 22 episodes. After that, he stopped acting for a while.

He began acting again in 2002. While studying at drama school, Joel appeared in movies like Hannah med H and God Save the King. He also performed in plays at the Backa Theatre in Gothenburg. He finished his drama studies in 2007 and started working at the Gothenburg City Theatre.

In 2007, he got attention for playing Raskolnikov in a play based on Crime and Punishment. In 2009, he starred in the movie In Your Veins. He also played a police informant in six movies from the Johan Falk series. His role in the movie Easy Money (released in 2010) made him very popular in Sweden and around the world. He even won an award for Best Actor for this role.

To act in more international films, Joel hired an agent in the United States. In 2010, it was announced he would be in the thriller movie The Darkest Hour. This movie was filmed in Moscow and came out in 2011.

From 2011 to 2014, Joel Kinnaman had a main role as Detective Stephen Holder in the TV series The Killing. This show was based on a Danish TV series. Joel was also considered for big roles in movies like Thor (2011) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). Even though he wanted to work in the U.S., he said he would only take interesting roles. He felt it was important to take risks and not just any role.

In 2012, Joel worked again with the director of Easy Money, Daniel Espinosa, on the Hollywood movie Safe House. He also starred in the independent movie Lola Versus. On March 3, 2012, it was confirmed that Joel would play Alex James Murphy/RoboCop in the 2014 remake of the 1987 film RoboCop. In 2015, he was in the action movie Run All Night and the mystery drama Child 44.

In 2016, Joel Kinnaman played Rick Flag in the Suicide Squad movie. This film was based on the DC Comics anti-hero team. He played Rick Flag again in the sequel, The Suicide Squad, which came out in 2021. He also starred in the movie Edge of Winter. In this film, he played Elliot Baker, a father whose shooting trip with his children goes wrong.

Between 2016 and 2019, Joel worked on several shows for streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Apple TV+. He played Governor Will Conway in seasons 4 and 5 of House of Cards on Netflix. He was also the main character, Takeshi Kovacs, in Netflix's Altered Carbon. In 2019, Joel starred as Erik in the Amazon Prime Video series Hanna. Since 2019, he has been playing NASA astronaut Ed Baldwin in the Apple TV+ show For All Mankind.

In 2019, Joel Kinnaman played Pete Koslow in the action thriller movie The Informer. In 2020, he starred as Thomas Steinman in the thriller The Secrets We Keep. Joel also appeared in the crime drama Brothers by Blood, released in 2021. In January 2021, it was announced that Joel was cast in season 4 of the In Treatment reboot on HBO. He played Adam, the on-and-off boyfriend of the main character, Dr. Brooke Taylor. He also continued his role as Ed Baldwin in season 2 of For All Mankind, which aired in 2021.

From 2022 to 2023, Joel Kinnaman continued to play Ed Baldwin in seasons 3 and 4 of For All Mankind.

Joel Kinnaman's Personal Life

Joel Kinnaman grew up with a condition called pectus excavatum. This means his chest looked caved in. Before filming Altered Carbon, he had surgery to fix it. Doctors put two metal bars inside to push his chest bone outwards.

He has been a fan of his hometown football club, Hammarby IF, since he was young.

Because he travels a lot, Joel's accent is a mix of different sounds. He says it's an American accent, but the "melody" is not quite right. He has been working to make it perfect.

Joel Kinnaman was married to Swedish tattoo artist Cleo Wattenström from 2015 to 2018. He then started a relationship with Swedish-Australian model Kelly Gale in early 2019. They announced their engagement in January 2021.

Filmography

Film Roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Den osynlige	Kalle
2003	Hannah med H	Andreas
2005	Tjenare kungen	Dickan
	Storm	Bartender
2007	Arn – The Knight Templar	Sverker Karlsson
2008	Arn – The Kingdom at Road's End	Sverker Karlsson
2009	In Your Veins	Erik
	Johan Falk – Gruppen för särskilda insatser	Frank Wagner
	Johan Falk – Vapenbröder
	Johan Falk – National Target
	Johan Falk – Leo Gaut
	Johan Falk – Operation Näktergal
	Johan Falk – De fredlösa
	Simon & Malou	Stefan
2010	Easy Money	Johan "JW" Westlund
2011	The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo	Christer Malm
	The Darkest Hour	Skyler
2012	Safe House	Keller
	Lola Versus	Luke
	Easy Money II: Hard to Kill	Johan "JW" Westlund
	Johan Falk – Spelets regler	Frank Wagner
	Johan Falk – De 107 patrioterna
	Johan Falk – Alla råns moder
	Johan Falk – Organizatsija Karayan
	Johan Falk – Barninfiltratören
	Johan Falk – Kodnamn Lisa
2013	Easy Money III: Life Deluxe	Johan "JW" Westlund
2014	RoboCop	Alex Murphy / RoboCop
2015	Knight of Cups	Errol
	Run All Night	Mike Conlon
	Child 44	Wasilij Nikitin
2016	Suicide Squad	Rick Flag
	Edge of Winter	Elliot Baker
2019	The Informer	Pete Koslow
2020	Brothers by Blood	Michael Flood
	The Secrets We Keep	Thomas Steinman
2021	The Suicide Squad	Rick Flag
2023	Sympathy for the Devil	The Driver
	Silent Night	Brian Godlock	Also executive producer
2024	The Silent Hour	Detective Frank Shaw
TBA	The Beast	Agent Taft	Filming
	Ice Fall	TBA	Post-production

Television Roles

Awards and Nominations

See also

In Spanish: Joel Kinnaman para niños