Max Carl Adolf von Sydow is an Academy Award nominated Swedish actor, known in particular for his collaboration with filmmaker Ingmar Bergman.

Von Sydow was born Carl Adolf von Sydow to a wealthy family in Lund, Skåne, Sweden. His father, Carl Wilhelm von Sydow, was an ethnologist and professor of Irish, Scandinavian, and comparative folklore at the University of Lund. His mother, Friherrinnan (Baroness) Greta (Rappe), was a school teacher. Little material is available on his childhood, except that he was apparently a shy, quiet child with no siblings.

He attended the Cathedral School of Lund, and learned German and English starting at the age of nine. At school, he and some friends founded an amateur theatre company, where his acting career began. He completed National Service before going on to study at The Royal Dramatic Theatre ("Dramaten") in Stockholm, where he trained between 1948 and 1951 with the likes of Lars Ekborg, Margaretha Krook and Ingrid Thulin. During his time at Dramaten, he made his screen debut in Alf Sjöberg's films Only a Mother (Bara en Mor, 1949), and Miss Julie (Fröken Julie, 1951), a screen version of Swedish playwright August Strindberg's well known play.

In 1955, Von Sydow moved to Malmö, where he met his mentor Ingmar Bergman. His first work with Bergman occurred on stage at the Malmö Municipal Theatre. Von Sydow later would work with Bergman on films such as The Seventh Seal (Det Sjunde inseglet, 1957), Wild Strawberries (Smultronstället, 1957) and The Virgin Spring (Jungfrukällan, 1960). In The Seventh Seal von Sydow is the knight who plays a chessgame with Death, in order to buy time for his family-- a scene and a film which were both breakthoughs for the director.

He was acclaimed for his role as an elderly lawyer in Scott Hicks' Snow Falling on Cedars. In 2002, von Sydow had one of his largest commercial successes, co-starring with Tom Cruise in Steven Spielberg's widely popular sci-fi thriller Minority Report. In 2003, he played mentor character Eyvind in the European TV adaptation of the "Ring of the Nibelungs" saga. The show set ratings records and was released in the USA as Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King.