The Oscar was beyond anything I could have dreamt of

Hollywood actress Alicia Vikander on winning an Academy Award, meeting her actor husband and working with Jude Law in her new film

-  JENNY DAVIS

With that rare mix of stunning looks, immense talent and raw vulnerability, Alicia Vikander was destined to be a star. But the actress, 35, admits it wasn’t easy, enduring years of tough ballet training and even law school before committing to Hollywood.

And the hard graft paid off. Alicia, who has two children with actor Michael Fassbender, 47, is a Bafta nominee and Oscar winner, receiving the trophy for her role in 2015’s The Danish Girl. Her other credits include playing Lara Croft (after Angelina Jolie) in Tomb Raider, starring opposite Matt Damon in Jason Bourne and the 2016 romantic drama The Light Between Oceans where she fell for husband Michael.

The couple had actually met months previously on a dance floor at the Toronto Film Festival, where they were promoting separate movies. They didn’t meet again until rehearsals started, where Swedish-born Alicia joked, “We had a feel of one another.”

Now, she is taking on the role of Katherine Parr, Henry VIII’s sixth wife, in Firebrand which is out next month and stars Jude Law as the Tudor monarch.

Here, Alicia discusses working with Jude, life after winning an Oscar and going “toe to toe” with her hubby…

Hi, Alicia. What was it like working with your future husband, Michael?

It was great! We had actually met on two dance floors before. But never spoken. So in that sense we had a feel of one another. Then we both showed up at rehearsals in New Zealand. Obviously he’s my husband/best friend now, but I also consider him one of the best actors of his generation. And so going in there, I just wanted to get up there and try my very best to go toe to toe.

And now you’re going toe to toe with Jude Law. You worked together 12 years ago on Anna Karenina. Was that helpful going into this project?