Nikolaj Lie Kaas is a Danish actor who has appeared on television and American and Danish films. His first acting role came as a teenager in the 1991 Nazi resistance drama "Drengene fra Sankt Petri." He won an award for Best Supporting Actor at the Robert Festival in Denmark, which is the equivalent to the American Oscars. His breakthrough role in the film jumpstarted his career and Kaas became a leading man in several productions in the 1990s. He acted in the absurd Dogme 95 film by Lars von Trier "The Idiots" and received an award for Best Supporting Actor at the Bodil Awards. He also found a starring role in the crime thriller "David's Book" and acted in his first horror film "Besat." Kaas was the lead in another Dogme 95 film, "Truly Human," as an invisible man who tries conforming to modern society. He also found roles on television series but continued acting in critically acclaimed films such as 2003's romantic drama "Reconstruction." Due to his thespian background, Kaas was able to play diverse characters and starred in various crime thrillers and even comedies by the late 2000's. His first break into American cinema was in the Ron Howard directed conspiracy thriller "Angels & Demons" as a deadly assassin.