Anders Matthesen

Anders Matthesen was born in 1975^[1][2] in Østerbro, Copenhagen, Denmark, to parents who are both visual artists. After a few years, the family moved to Frederiksberg, and when Matthesen was six, his parents divorced. When he was in second grade, he and his older brother moved to Albertslund.^[3]

Matthesen made his stand-up comedy debut at the Danish Championship in Stand-up Comedy in 1993, where he finished in second place, losing only to Mads M. Nielsen.^[4] He continued to perform in stand-up shows and also began appearing in television segments.^{[citation needed]} In 1999, he featured in ten episodes of DR2's sketch comedy show Casper & Mandrilaftalen.

In 2000, Matthesen had several songwriting credits on the comedy/music compilation album Hva' snakker du om? – Den ka' byttes Vol. 1, under the name Anden ("the duck").^[5]

In 2001, Matthesen released the comedy album Arne fortæller... Terkel i knibe, which was adapted into the adult animated musical comedy film Terkel in Trouble in 2004.^[6][7]

In 2003, he created the satirical TV Christmas calendar Jul på Vesterbro.^[8][9]

In 2004, Matthesen performed at Østre Gasværk Teater in Copenhagen, in the production Simon, portraying the titular Simon Spies. The daily Berlingske praised his performance, calling him "phenomenal".^[10] In 2006, he toured Denmark with his comedy show Anden paa coke?^[11] That year, he released his debut rap album, titled Soevnloes.^[12]

In 2008, Matthesen worked as a scriptwriter on the TV series Comedy kuren,^[13] and the same year, he received the Livsglædens Pris, worth 200,000 DKK, awarded by the Simon Spies Foundation.^[14] The same year, he toured with his stand-up show Anders Matthesen...vender tilbage, and a recording made at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen was released on DVD in 2009.^[15]

In 2009, Matthesen made his directorial debut with the comedy film Sorte kugler, which he also wrote and starred in.^[16] In 2022, the film was remade by Indian director Indra Kumar in Hindi and titled Thank God.^[17]

In 2010, he released his second rap album, titled Villa Peakstate.^[18] It received poor reviews from GAFFA magazine^[19] but was nominated for Danish Hip Hop Album of the Year at the GAFFA-Prisen awards the same year.^[20]

In November 2011, Matthesen announced that his new stand-up show, titled Anders, was in production. It premiered on 5 September 2012 and received the best reviews of any of his shows to date.^[21]

In 2013, he played a minor role as a weapons dealer in the film Det grå guld. A Berlingske review stated that Matthesen "delivers the film's best laughs".^[22]

In 2015, Matthesen appeared on the track "Tæl Til 10" from Danish rapper Pato Siebenhaar's EP Skarp.^[23][24]

In 2016, Matthesen announced his solo show Shhh, which premiered at the Falkoner Center on 2 September.^[25] In October, he published the children's novel Ternet Ninja, which was praised by Politiken for resonating with its audience.^[26] The book received the Orla Prize for Best Story in 2017.^[27]

On 27 April 2017, the documentary The Other Side premiered.^[28] Directed by Pernille Rose Grønkjær, it follows Matthesen between his two solo shows Anders and Shhh, from 2013 to 2016.^[29] The film received positive reviews overall. B.T.^[30] and Soundvenue gave it four out of six stars,^[31] while Filmmagasinet Ekko awarded it five out of six.^[32] The production also received five out of six stars from DR, whose reviewer noted that the openness of the film was not only "an exciting portrait of Matthesen, but also [...] a fascinating image of a creative process".^[29] The critic for Politiken, Kristoffer Hegnsvad, gave the film three out of six hearts and expressed mild disappointment as a fan of the director.^[33] He felt the meeting between "one of Denmark's best documentarists and one of Denmark's greatest comedians" did not provide enough depth, noting that the film "[lacks] a thought that rises above the navel or one that seriously probes".^[33] However, he praised it for being "the most well-produced Danish documentary I have seen in years", especially for Jacob Thuesen and Kasper Leick's editing and Torsten Høgh Rasmussen's design.^[33]

On 12 April 2019, an animated film adaptation of Ternet Ninja, titled Checkered Ninja, was released, which Matthesen wrote, directed, and voiced. It became a hit, selling over 220,000 tickets in the first four days, setting a record.^[34] By May, it had sold 940,000 tickets,^[35] making it the sixth most-watched Danish film of all time.^[36]

Also in 2019, Matthesen starred in Frederikke Aspöck's dark comedy film Out of Tune.^[37][38]

In 2021, Checkered Ninja 2 was released. Like its predecessor, it was both critically acclaimed and popular with audiences.^[39][40] The film set a new record, with 246,684 tickets sold in its opening weekend, the largest for a Danish film ever.^[41] At the 2022 Robert Awards, it won for Best Children's and Family Film, and Matthesen won for Best Adapted Screenplay.^[42] He also won Best Actor at the 2022 Bodil Awards.^[43]

In 2022, Matthesen starred in the film Toscana, directed by Medi Avaz. It received lukewarm reviews^[44] but became the most-watched non-English-language film on Netflix in Denmark during its release week.^[45]

In 2022/2023, Matthesen toured Denmark with his solo show JOKES – from a White, Straight Man.^{[citation needed]}

In 2023, it was announced that a third installment of the Checkered Ninja film series was in the works and that it would come out in August 2025.^[46][47]

In 2025, Matthesen portrayed Danish musician Tommy Seebach in the film Under stjernerne på himlen.^[48]

In 2013, Matthesen married his partner of over three years, Cemille Rosenberg, who is his manager and has two children from a previous relationship.^[49] They have a son, born in 2011.^[50]