Claes Bang (“Claes” rhymes with “face,” in case you were wondering) became an actor only by chance, after being persuaded to join a production of the high school play “Hair” in Denmark. He was afraid to apply to drama school. “I was sure they were going to say, ‘Thank you so much for coming,’ but no thanks,” he says. But he was accepted and the rest – as they say in Denmark – Date var.
After appearing in several Danish and German TV shows and films that we don’t even pretend to have seen (Lærkevej – Til Døden os Skiller; Rettet Raffi!; Überleben an der Scheidungsfront), as well as appearances in Borgen and The Bridge, Bang jumped into the mainstream after playing Starring in Ruben Östlund’s satirical black comedy The Square, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes 2017. Festival. This led to the 2019 American drama The Last Vermeer with Guy Pearce, the 2020 Dutch thriller The Bay of Silence with Brian Cox, the 2021 romantic comedy heist film Locked Down with Anne Hathaway, and Robert Eggers’ 2022 Vikings epic The Northman with Nicole Kidman. . Willem Dafoe and Alexander Skarsgard.
On television, Pang played Count Dracula in Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat’s three-part BBC series in 2020. He also appeared in Sharon Horgan’s black comedy series Bad Sisters. On stage, he was presenting Danish and English versions of various plays that we wouldn’t pretend we’d seen either. His music project This Is Not America – for which he writes, performs and sings – has released one album and 10 EPs since 2011.
Pang now stars in William Tell, a film about the Swiss marksman, with Rafe Spall, Jonathan Pryce and Ben Kingsley. Please post your questions about Bang-ing in the comments below by 6pm on Tuesday 7 January.