Stefán Karl Stefánsson

Stefán Karl Stefánsson
Stefán Karl Stefánsson
	Stefán Karl in 2009
Born	10 July 1975; Hafnarfjörður, Iceland
Died	21 August 2018 (aged 43); Iceland
Education	Iceland Academy of the Arts
Occupations	Actor; singer;
Years active	1994–2018
Spouse	Steinunn Ólína Þorsteinsdóttir (m. 2002)
Children	4

Stefán Karl Stefánsson (/ˈstɛfən ˈstɛfənsən/ STEF-ən STEF-ən-sən, Icelandic: [ˈstɛːfaun ˈkʰartl̥ ˈstɛːfaunsɔn];^[2] 10 July 1975 – 21 August 2018) was an Icelandic actor and singer. He was best known for portraying Robbie Rotten, the antagonist of the children's television series LazyTown.

Career

Stefán Karl's career started in 1994 at the age of 19, when he worked as a puppeteer for television.^[3] During his years as a puppeteer, he had also been studying at the Drama Academy of Iceland. However, he was unsatisfied with the perspectives of Icelandic drama standards. He recalled that his principal at his high school said that "acting is not about making faces and changing your face", which he disagreed with.^[4]

Later, Stefán Karl was invited by Magnús Scheving, an Icelandic gymnast, to portray one of the characters in the second LazyTown play.^{[citation needed]} Magnús created the plays due to his concerns about Iceland's younger generation lacking sufficient physical exercise. Stefán Karl explained that "[Magnús] wanted the kids to get healthier, so he created this musical called LazyTown. He played Sportacus, the fitness fanatic, and I was Robbie Rotten, the guy who liked to stay indoors and sleep". After initial success with the musical, Nickelodeon eventually made a deal with the creators of LazyTown to air the first 40 episodes of LazyTown along with a special studio built in Iceland. During the first few years of LazyTown in the early 2000s, Stefán Karl initially knew no English, but he soon became fluent.^[4]

Personal life

Stefán Karl lived in Los Angeles with wife Steinunn Ólína Þorsteinsdóttir, three daughters, and one son.^[5] In June 2018, he was awarded the Order of the Falcon.^[6] Stefán Karl was the nephew of actor and comedian Magnús Ólafsson and cousin of former footballer Hörður Magnússon.^[7]^[8]

Illness and death

Stefán Karl announced in October 2016 that he had been diagnosed with bile duct cancer.^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12] A GoFundMe campaign was subsequently created by LazyTown head writer Mark Valenti to cover his living costs when he became too ill to work. The campaign was popularized by various YouTube users uploading parodies of Stefán Karl's work, and linking to the GoFundMe page, which led to the songs "We Are Number One" and "The Mine Song" from LazyTown becoming Internet memes.^[13] In August 2017, Stefán Karl stated he was in remission.^[14]^[15] He clarified on his GoFundMe campaign that while his metastases had been removed after successful liver surgery in June 2017, he still had the disease and had refused further adjuvant therapy.^[16]

In March 2018, Stefán Karl's cancer was diagnosed as inoperable. He said that he was undergoing chemotherapy to prolong his life.^[17] In April 2018, he announced that he had chosen to discontinue chemotherapy,^[18] and proceeded to shut down all his social media accounts.^[19]

Stefán Karl died on 21 August 2018 at the age of 43.^[20]^[21] His wife stated that "Per Stefan's wishes, there will be no funeral. His earthly remains will be scattered in secrecy in a distant ocean."^[22]^[23]

Legacy

His manager, Cheryl Edison, announced that the Stefán Karl Academy & Center for the Performing Arts would be launched in Switzerland in 2019 as a memorial to his career.^[24] Several internet petitions have been started calling for a statue of Stefán Karl to be erected in his home town of Hafnarfjörður.^[25] As of June 2022, it has received over 528,000 signatures.

Filmography

Stefán Karl has been credited in various works including plays, television series, films, and games.

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997–1999	The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
1998–1999	Palace of Crows by Einar Örn Gunnarsson
1998–1999	Ivanov by Anton Chekhov
1999–2000	1000 Island Dressing by Hallgrímur Helgason
	Little Shop of Horrors	Orin Scrivello, D.D.S.
	A Midsummer Night's Dream
	Glanni Glæpur í Latabæ by Magnús Scheving and Sigurdur Sigurjónsson	Glanni Glæpur (Robbie Rotten)	Primary antagonist
2000–2001	Stones in His Pockets by Marie Jones
2000–2001	Singin' in the Rain by Comden, Green, Freed and Brown	Cosmo Brown
2000–2002	The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov
2001–2002	Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
2002–2003	Noises Off by Michael Frayn
2002–2003	Life x 3 by Yasmina Reza
2008–2015	Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical	The Grinch	Baltimore and Boston (2008) Los Angeles (2009) North American tour (2010–14) Worcester, Massachusetts and Appleton, Wisconsin (2015)^[26]

Films

According to IMDb:^[27]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Áramótaskaup	New Reporter, many others	Debut film TV film
1995	Privacy	Student	First feature film
1999	Skaupið: 1999	Robbie Williams, many others	TV film
2001	Regina	Manni – Police Officer
2001	Áramótaskaup		TV film
2002	Stella for Office	Ingimundur
2002	Litla lirfan ljóta	The Worm
2002	Áramótaskaup	Many roles	TV film
2006	Night at the Museum		Miscellaneous crew
2007	Anna and the Moods		Voiceover
2009	Jóhannes	Diddi
2011	Thor		Miscellaneous crew
2011	Polite People	Lárus Skjaldarson	Lead actor
2014	Harry Og Heimir	Símon

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Baking Trouble		Channel 1 program
1999	God Exists... And Love		Channel 1 Drama Academy of Iceland
2000	Angel No. 5503288		Channel 1 program
2000	Car Mechanic Sketches for Eurovision		Channel 1 program
2000	Cars Can Fly		Channel 1 program
2004–2007, 2013–2014	LazyTown	Robbie Rotten	Main villain
2015	Titch and Ted Do Maths