Stefan Karl Stefansson

Stefán Karl Stefánsson (/ˈstɛfən ˈstɛfənsən/;  Icelandic:  [ˈstɛːfaun ˈkʰartl̥ ˈstɛːfaunsɔn];) is an Icelandic actor and singer, best known for playing antagonist Robbie Rotten on 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 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 recalls that his principal at his high school said that "acting is not about making faces and changing your face", which he disagreed with.

Later, Stefán Karl was invited by Magnús Scheving, an Icelandic gymnast, to portray one of the characters in the second LazyTown play. Scheving created the plays due to his concerns about Iceland's younger generation lacking sufficient physical exercise. Stefán Karl explained that "[Scheving] 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 soon became fluent.

Personal Life
Stefán Karl lived in Los Angeles with wife Steinunn Ólína Þorsteinsdóttir, three daughters, and one son. In June 2018, he was awarded the Order of the Falcon.

Illness
Stefán Karl announced in October 2016 that he had been diagnosed with bile duct cancer; a GoFundMe campaign was subsequently created by LazyTown head writer Mark Valenti to pay 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. In August 2017, Stefán Karl stated he was in remission. 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.

In March 2018, Stefán Karl announced that he was cured and no longer had the disease. In late August 2018, a 1 hour LazyTown episode was live streamed to YouTube congratulating Stefán for beating cancer. In April 2019, he made a twitter post stating that he would be leaving the public eye and would be living in his home country as a gardener

Cameos in TV and Movies
Despite leaving the public eye in 2019, Stefán has made several cameo appearances in TV and movies including Avengers: Endgame and Rocketman.