- Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is a Danish actor, known for playing Jaime Lannister in ‘Game of Thrones.’
- He’s been married to actress Nukâka since 1998, and they have two daughters.
- Nukâka is a former Miss Greenland and also an actress and singer.
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is an international star. After beginning his career in Denmark and rising to fame in his home country, the actor, 52, began starring in movies and TV shows based in the United States, with his first American movie role being in the action drama Black Hawk Down. His international breakthrough came when he starred as Jaime Lannister in the hit series Game of Thrones. The actor has continued to star in a variety of shows and movies since GoT ended in 2019, and he’s also the star of the upcoming TV series The Last Thing He Told Me.
Throughout much of his career, Nikolaj has been married to Greenlandic star Nukâka, 52. While he and his wife clearly support each other, the actor did admit that his wife wasn’t really into Game of Thrones during a May 2017 appearance on The Tonight Show. “I dragged her to the premiere of the first, and since then, no, but she keeps promising that she’ll sit down with a friend and watch it,” he quipped. “It’s fine! You can’t say, ‘You’ve gotta watch me.'” Find out everything you need to know about Nikolaj and Nukâka’s marriage here!
How did Nikolaj meet Nukâka?
With both Nikolaj and Nukâka being entertainers, it’s no surprise that the pair actually met when they were working together! The couple first connected when they both were appearing in a 1997 radio play where their characters fell in love. The pair got married the following year Nikolaj admitted that he was immediately smitten by the woman he eventually married, but she may have taken a little while to warm up to him. “It was really love at first sight — for me,” he told The New York Post in 2015. “Not for her. It took a while for her.”
In March 2022, Nukâka reflected on knowing her husband for 25 years in an emotional Instagram post. “25 years since we were in the same room for the first time, forced to sit side by side since there wasn’t any other seats left,” she wrote. “We have done alright my love, still side by side.”
She’s an actress
Like Nikolaj, Nukâka is also an entertainer. Besides the radio play with Nikolaj, she has appeared in a number of different TV shows and movies, mostly in Greenland and Denmark. Most recently, she’s appeared in eight episodes of the series Thin Ice and one episode of the show Sygeplejeskolen, per IMDb.
She’s also done some work off-screen. She served as the executive producer for the 2018 film Anori, which she also starred in. She also composed music for the 2018 short When The Dogs Are Gone and contributed songs to the 2022 mini-series Historien om Grønland og Danmark.
She was Miss Greenland
Before becoming an actress, Nukâka participated in beauty pageants. In 1990, she became Miss Greenland and she competed in the Miss Universe pageant, finishing in 19th place.
They starred in a movie together
Aside from the radio play, Nikolaj and his wife have worked together a few more times in more recent years. Nukâka had a small role in the 2008 Danish film Himmerland, which Nikolaj starred in. She also appeared in one episode of Nikolaj’s 2019 docuseries Through Greenland.
The couple have two daughters
Nikolaj and Nukâka are also loving parents to two wonderful daughters: Safina, 19, and Fillippa, 22. Both daughters have followed in their parents’ footsteps and begun careers in acting. Fillippa appeared in the 2014 short The Girl and Her Dog as well as an episode of the 2022 series Aftenshowet, per IMDb. Safina has already starred in a few different TV shows, including Theo & Den Magiske Talisman (2018), Det Forsvundne Ravkammer (2022), and Salsa (2022), per IMDb.
Nikolaj has wished both of his daughters happy birthdays on his Instagram in the past. When Safina turned 16, he wrote a sweet message for her. “So happy and proud of the youngest member of our little family. Fun, sweet, smart, quirky and independent,” he wrote. He similarly penned a tribute for Fillippa for her 19th birthday. “19 years ago today @filippa_costerwaldau arrived and life as we knew it changed completely. For the better,” he wrote.