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Max Von Sydow (born April 10, 1929Max Von Sydow is a Swedish actor, known in particular for his collaboraton with Ingmar Bergman.

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Max von Sydow was born to a middle class family in Lund in southern Sweden. His father, Carl Wilhelm von Sydow, was a professor of comparative folklore at the University of Lund. His mother, Maria, was a school teacher. He is known to have had at least one brother who alledgedly died during the filming of "The Exorcist." Little material is available on his childhood, except that he seems to have been a shy, quiet child.

He attended the Cathedral School of Lund, and learned German and English from the age of nine. In school Max von Sydow and some friends founded an amateur theatre company where his acting career originated. He completed National Service before going on to study at The Royal Dramatic Theatre ("Dramaten") in Stockholm where he trained between 1948 and 1951 with the likes of Lars Ekborg, Margaretha Krook and Ingrid Thulin. During his time at Dramaten, he made his screen debut in Alf Sjöberg's films

Von Sydow moved to Malmö in 1955. It was there that he met his mentor Ingmar Bergman. His first work with Bergman was on stage at Malmö Municipal Theatre. Von Sydow later would work with Bergman on films such as , 1960).

It was in these films that von Sydow perfected his craft and began to display the great talent that has spanned the 53 years of his screen career. Von Sydow now dominated the screen as he had done on stage and in doing so became an idol of the international Arthouse. Recognition came as early as 1954 when he was awarded the prestigious Royal Foundation Culture Award.

Von Sydow worked profusely on stage and screen in Scandinavia and resisted increasing calls from the United States to come to Hollywood. After being seen in Bergman's Academy Award-winning films and having been first choice for the title role of , Von Sydow finally set foot in America after agreeing to star in the film which was to lead to much greater recognition, the role of Jesus in George Stevens' grandly titled, all-star epic in 1965. His talents were soon in demand in other American productions and so von Sydow and his family eventually moved to Los Angeles.

From 1965 von Sydow became a regular on the American screen while also maintaining a presence in his native Sweden. Though perhaps type-cast as a villain, he was rewarded in the United States with two Golden Globe nominations for in 1973.

In the mid 1970s, von Sydow moved to Rome and appeared in a number of Italian films, becoming friendly with another screen legend, Marcello Mastrioanni.

In the late '70s and early '80s, von Sydow appeared in both serious films, such as Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), and silly ones like the Mackenzie Brothers' (1983).

Since then Von Sydow has won The Australian Film Institute Best Actor Award for his title role in , 1988), based on a novel by Herman Bang, and the Best Actor Award at The Tokyo International Film Festival for , 1993).

He received international acclaim for his performance as the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Knut Hamsun in Jan Troell's biopic . He received his third Swedish Guldbagge and his second Danish Bodil for his depiction of a character often described as his King Lear. In 1996 Von Sydow starred in Liv Ullmann's . Pre-Oscar talk had him tipped to scoop the Best Supporting Actor Award, however, this never came to fruition. In 2002 von Sydow had one of his largest commercial successes, co-starring with Tom Cruise in Steven Spielberg's widely popular sci-fi thriller

In 1951, von Sydow married actress Kerstin Olin with whom he had two sons, Claes and Henrik. They were to star with their father in the film , playing his son at different ages. Von Sydow was divorced in 1996 and subsequently married French filmmaker Catherine Brelet in April 1997 in Provence, France. Von Sydow currently lives with his wife in Paris, where he enjoys reading, listening to music and gardening. He has personally stated he does not intend to retire, subject to the film roles he receives.

He received his first Oscar nomination as well as winning the Bodil Prize, The Felix European Film Award