10) Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Yes, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s actually Danish, but come on, in Game of Thrones – could you really tell? For all Roger Moore’s talk of Idris Elba not being “English-English” enough to play Bond (any ideas what he’s getting at there?), only two out of the six Bonds have actually been English-English: Moore himself, and Craig. Otherwise, Bond has been played by a Scot, an Australian, a Welshman, and a man who spent his formative years in Ireland. If all it takes to play Bond is to pull off a convincing English accent, then old Nikolaj fits the bill.
Not just because he’s handsome, sophisticated, and a smooth-talker like Bond is in the traditional sense. In fact, no, it is all those things – but there’s also the fact that Coster-Waldau can actually act whilst looking the part. He’s a talented performer in his home country, who’s just happened to have mostly ended up in dreck Stateside (GoT excepted). Norwegian thriller Headhunters is proof he could easily do Bond, though.