Alexander Skarsgard Says Being On The 'Sexy Hunky Hot List' Hurt His Hollywood Career

For Alexander Skarsgård , being blessed with chiseled good looks hasn’t always worked out in his favor when it comes to proving himself as a serious thespian.

In recent years, the Emmy-winning actor has endeared himself to a generation of fans and wowed critics with his performances in “True Blood” and, most recently, “Succession.” Reflecting on the early days of his career in a new interview , however, he said that getting the movie and television industry to look beyond his physical attributes and see him as more than just a pretty face was a challenge.

“I don’t really know if that was the reason I wasn’t getting roles,” Skarsgård told The Sunday Times . “Starting out in Sweden, there was stuff about being tall and blond. But most people here are tall and blond. Still, after my first job, I was on a stupid ‘sexy hunky hot list’ and then people didn’t take me seriously.”

“If you want characters with depth, but have been labeled ‘a dude who takes his shirt off,’ you’re not going to get those offers,” he added.

Now 45, Skarsgård made his screen acting debut in the 1984 Swedish drama “Åke and His World,” and had a minor role in 2001’s “Zoolander,” starring Ben Stiller. The actor’s breakthrough came in 2008 when he starred on HBO’s “True Blood ” as the 1,000-year-old (and frequently shirtless) vampire Eric Northman, a role he played for seven seasons.

Still, he has benefited from playing against type, most notably on “Big Little Lies ,” in which he played Perry Wright, the abusive husband of Nicole Kidman’s Celeste Wright.

Interestingly, Skarsgård isn’t the only A-list actor to imply that being good-looking can be, um, a disadvantage in an industry known to emphasize the superficial.

“There’s this unbelievable bias and prejudice against quote-unquote good-looking people,” actor Rob Lowe lamented to The New York Times in 2014, “that they can’t be in pain or they can’t have rough lives or be deep or interesting.”

Chris Hemsworth felt similarly, telling The Telegraph last year that while his passion for bodybuilding is appreciated by casting agents, “if I put on a bunch of unhealthy weight, or got unhealthily skinny for a role, I’d probably be called a serious actor.”

Skarsgård will be seen alongside Kidman once again in “The Northman ,” which hits theaters this month. And from the sounds of it, the 10th-century epic which also stars Ethan Hawke and Anya Taylor-Joy  will once again emphasize the actor’s sinewy features.

“The amount of discipline that Alex put into this role is crazy,” director Robert Eggers told Variety in February. “He transformed his body more wildly than he did in ‘Tarzan.’”