Mads Mikkelsen reflects on his own ‘Billy Elliot story’

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The One Show guest Mads Mikkelsen reflected on his very own “Billy Elliot story” during the latest episode.

Joined by Strictly Come Dancing head judge Shirley Ballas, Harry Potter duo James and Oliver Phelps, and his Mufasa: The Lion King co-star Aaron Pierre on Friday, 13 December’s couch, the Danish actor was forced to rewatch an old clip of himself busting some moves onstage.

It turns out that Mikkelsen was a professional dancer before studying drama at the Århus Theatre School.

What, how and why?

“We found a clip of you Mads, back in the ’80s in Copenhagen,” said co-presenter Alex Jones as the grainy footage aired.

The young Mikkelsen was seen doing the splits after a graceful leap into the air.

“That’s remarkable!” smiled Ballas, who has the live Strictly final to judge this weekend.

“Yeah that was the ’80s… everybody could do that,” the Hannibal star joked. “I was a professional dancer for about eight years, it’s kind of a Billy Elliot story.

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“I was a gymnast and ended up being an acrobat, but then I learned the craft and I couldn’t tell my friends what I was doing because it was a working-class area,” continued Mikkelsen.

“But I did tell them two years later. Everybody wanted to be a dancer after that!”

Billy Elliot is of course a coming-of-age film released in 2000 and featuring Jamie Bell as a working-class school boy with a controversial penchant for ballet. It was later adapted into a novel by author Melvin Burgess and even transferred over to the West End and Broadway.

What else did Mikkelsen discuss on The One Show?

Meanwhile, Mikkelsen also teased his latest villainous Hollywood role in Mufasa: The Lion King, which comes to UK cinemas on Friday, 20 December.

“He’s a misfit in the sense that Mufasa is a misfit,” he said of Kiros, an albino big cat. “He’s an outcast thrown out by his family; the entire society because of his skin colour. He managed to survive and he grows up to be a formidable lion and he wants a slice of the cake. His heart has turned a little dark for good reason.”

On the singing involved, the star recalled director Barry Jenkins coming to him a little late in the day with news that he’d need to a perform a song for the musical.

“I went to Abbey Road studio and that made you even more nervous, but I loved it. It was so much fun.”

The One Show airs weekdays on BBC One.