All the times Alicia Vikander proved she is the Greta Garbo of our time

It is fair to say that Alicia Vikander is one of the biggest box office draws to come from the Nordics. Born in Gothenburg, the now 33-year-old actress immersed herself in performing since she was a little girl, first through ballet, then by acting. Vikander has charmed her way into the hearts of many worldwide, with a plethora of similarities to the life and the impact another beautiful brunette Scandi star once had.

Amongst the most illustrious Nordic silver screen and style icons, Swedish actress Greta Garbo remains intriguing as ever, with her influence still palpable in the film industry and beyond. Taking Hollywood by storm in the Roaring 20s, Garbo oozed similar enchanting energy that Vikander also has, extending far beyond the big screen. Below, you’ll find a closer look into the remarkable resemblances the actresses share.

Until she passed away in 1990, Garbo firmly maintained the air of mystery and elusiveness she was famous for, on and off the screen. Keeping her private life tightly tucked away, Garbo reportedly yearned to lead two separate lives – one for herself and one for her films. During her rise into Hollywood stardom in the mid-1920s, Garbo was reluctant to engage with the press, refusing to give the reporters even a glimpse of her personal life. "I was born. I had a mother and father. I went to school. What does it matter?" the star famously said in her first interview in America.

Related: The top 10 Greta Garbo films of all time

Similarly, Vikander possesses an aura of mystique that won't quite let one fully understand her character. While the actress speaks openly about her career and the roles she has portrayed, in the few interviews she grants, not much is known of her personal life, other than that she currently resides in Portugal with her husband Michael Fassbender and their child. Having no social media presence either, it seems that Vikander prefers to let her enthralling performances speak for themselves and be the factor that will keep her in the limelight, much like they did for Garbo.

Related: A definitive ranking of Alicia Vikander’s best films

Like Vikander, Garbo was introduced to the performing arts from a young age, as she earned a scholarship at Sweden's renowned Royal Dramatic Theatre. Vikander, on the other hand, moved out of her childhood home in Gothenburg at the age of 15 and relocated to Stockholm, where she attended the Royal Swedish Ballet School. However, the school ended abruptly for both budding performers, as Garbo met Sweden’s top silent film director Mauritz Stiller and Vikander suffered a chronic back injury.

Before neither had wholly entered the entertainment industry, both worked in retail – Garbo at the famous Swedish department store PUB (Paul Urbanus Bergström) and Vikander at Levi’s. In fact, Vikander was in the middle of a shift at the iconic denim store when she got a call from Swedish auteur Lisa Langseth, whose film Pure (2009) the aspiring actress would be cast as the lead.

Although Garbo and Vikander enjoyed success reasonably quickly in the Nordics, breaking into the world of English-speaking films provided struggles for both. Where American film and television production company MGM was not impressed at all by Garbo at first, Vikander was utterly ignored by various stateside TV pilots after sending 15 self-tapes. “I didn’t even get a ‘No,’” the actress told Vanity Fair.

Some actors just have it. You know, the ability to perform (or pretend) so well that the audience gets sucked into the world of the characters, living every moment with them and sharing their struggles and joys. And it just so happens that both Garbo and Vikander possess this rare talent.

In a recently published biography by Robert Gottlieb titled Garbo, the author delves deep into the life of the illustrious actress and contemplates the factors that made Garbo world-famous. In Gottlieb's words, Garbo attained extraordinary skills that enabled her to "invade the subconscious of the audience" (note: the majority of Garbo's best films were silent). Performing in silent films, Garbo's face and demeanour became her most valuable assets, and the viewers of the movies she appeared in would get mesmerised by her.

Elsewhere, Vikander showed her ability to act so impressively that she made film director Tom Hooper cry before she even scored the lead role in his film (portraying Gerda in The Danish Girl, a part that would award Vikander an Oscar, unsurprisingly). "The audition moved me to tears to an almost embarrassing extent," Hooper admitted to Vanity Fair.

Vikander is also perhaps best known for her exceptional skills to adopt any role assigned to her, whether it be an alluring android in Ex Machina (2014) or a young debutante in Imperial Russia in the 2012 adaptation of Anna Karenina, a film whose 1935 version starred none other than Garbo.

Despite Garbo's three nominations for an Oscar, she never won the accolade until 1954, when the actress received the Academy Honorary Award for her "unforgettable screen performances."

Related: All the Scandi films that have ever won an Oscar

While neither Garbo nor Vikander has revealed intricate details of their love life, we know that both have engaged in a fierce on-screen romance that flourished beyond the cameras. While Garbo was enjoying the peak of her Hollywood Golden Era success, she often co-starred with John Gilbert (also known as the king of the silent movies). Garbo and Gilbert quickly became romantically involved outside the set, and their tempestuous love affair is said to have boosted Garbo’s fame even further.

When Vikander was cast for the lead in the 2016 gripping romance drama The Light Between Oceans, she was probably unaware of just how convincing her performance as esteemed co-star Michael Fassbender’s wife would be. The couple’s authentic chemistry was quickly noticed, and the stars couldn’t hide their burgeoning romance. Vikander and Fassbender married in 2017 and welcomed their first child four years later.

The stars may have sported distinctive styles in terms of Vikander favouring a more feminine approach, while Garbo famously laid the groundwork for the androgynous look by often opting for menswear. Still, both women are known for their timeless and elegant styles that have caught the interest of the fashion community and beyond.

Becoming the muse of Louis Vuitton’s creative director Nicolas Ghesquière in 2015 and still nurturing the cherished partnership, Vikander is a striking ambassador for the Maison, consistently turning heads on and off the red carpet. Garbo, too, favoured the French luxury house, as her suitcases were always from Louis Vuitton (LV only crafted accessories at the time). Having cemented her status as the fashion icon of the 1930s, Garbo's sartorial legacy still thrives and lives on. In 2012, Julien's Auctions organised an exclusive sale of the actress' coveted properties such as an exquisite Emilio Pucci dress and a Louis Vuitton monogrammed trunk.

Related: The 10 best Scandinavian style icons of all time