Biography

During an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2015), Kinnaman revealed that he went to the same high school with Alexander Skarsgård and Noomi Rapace in Stockholm.

Joel holds both Swedish and American citizenship. His father is American-born and his mother is Swedish-born.

Kinnaman has a condition called "Pectus excavatum," a congenital deformity of the anterior thoracic wall in which the sternum and rib cage grow abnormally, producing a sunken appearance of the chest. For this condition, Joel underwent corrective surgery that involved the insertion of 2 curved metal bars behind his ribs that extended across the width of his chest. When rotated, the curvature of the bars moved outward against the rear of his sternum forcing a greater gap between his heart and chest, filling out the characteristic sunken chest cavity associated with the condition. Once the desired chest contour was determined, the bars were attached to his ribs. For his role in Altered Carbon (2018) Joel was still fitted with these metal braces.

In 2015, he married model/tattoo artist Cleo Wattenström, they separated in 2018.

Friends with fellow Swedish actor Gustaf Skarsgård for a long time.

I've worked with really great female directors in Sweden, too. It's funny, because "The Killing" has really been a strongly female-driven show. The producers, the show runner, the lead: they're all women. I have a Jewish mother and five sisters and all my representation but one are women, so my life is run by strong women.

In Sweden, I went to an English school, where there was a mishmash of people from all over the world. Some were diplomatic kids with a lot of money, some were ghetto kids who came up from the suburbs, and I grew up in between. There's a community of second generation immigrants, and I became part of that because I had an American father.

I miss the Swedish women on the first day of spring cause they all just blossom in the most incredible way.

I always look for good stories and good characters, and if they're placed in a whodunit, then I'm interested.

I really want to live in New York. That's the city of my dreams.