Claim: Alicia Vikander was a ballet dancer.

Alicia Amanda Vikander -LRB- -LSB- aˈliːsɪa vɪˈkandɛr -RSB- ; born 3 October 1988 -RRB- is a Swedish actress and former dancer . Born and raised in Gothenburg , she began acting as a child in minor stage productions at The Göteborg Opera and trained as a ballet dancer at the Royal Swedish Ballet School in Stockholm and the School of American Ballet in New York . She began her professional acting career by appearing in Swedish short films and television series and first gained recognition in Northern Europe for her role as Josefin Björn-Tegebrandt in the TV drama Andra Avenyn -LRB- 2008 -- 10 -RRB- .   Vikander made her feature film debut in Pure -LRB- 2010 -RRB- , for which she won the Guldbagge Award for Best Actress . She attracted widespread recognition in 2012 for portraying Princess Ekaterina `` Kitty '' Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya in Joe Wright 's film adaptation of Anna Karenina and Queen Caroline Mathilde in the acclaimed Danish film A Royal Affair , receiving a BAFTA Rising Star Award nomination . She went on to star in the 2013 Swedish drama film Hotell and appeared in the Julian Assange-biopic The Fifth Estate that same year .   In 2014 and 2015 , Vikander achieved global recognition and acclaim for her roles as activist Vera Brittain in Testament of Youth , a humanoid robot in Ex Machina -LRB- for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe and BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress -RRB- and painter Gerda Wegener in The Danish Girl , for which she received the Academy Award and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actress , among other awards .