Alien Tech Inc. wrote:Stefán Karl Stefánsson who played Robbie Rotten on the children's programme Lazy Town.
Pretty darn sad. And, he was so young!
I didn't know anything about that show until "teh internetz" caught up with it. I had seen glimpses of it when channel surfing, but I thought it was "just another puppet show."
Unlike the majority of the internet that saw that show, I wasn't stoned when I actually took the time to watch it. It was a pretty darn good kids show. It had all the classic kid themes in it, told in an interesting way, with good production value and acting. And, the guy who played Robbie Rotten (Stefan) was friggin' awesome! As far as acting goes, he was throwing major-league performance at that camera every darn time.
But, the best thing about that show was that it was produced in Iceland and was a darn big hit... in the US. The US has a bad habit of rejecting "foreign stuff" when it comes down to entertainment, culture, etc.. I don't mean rejecting "people," I mean rejecting the products of other cultures that we think we're "The Best" at producing. Foreign movies rarely get the acclaim they deserve in the US and the only "foreign television" that gets any attention comes from our fellow English Speakers across the Big Pond. (There are some exceptions, of course, but they're relatively rare.)
And, here's a kid's show from Iceland that's friggin' at the top of the charts in everything that's meaningful for a kid's show. Outstanding!
Stefan's ability to communicate emotion with his face and body is better than Jim Carrey's. (Well, at the very least, equal in skill.) Granted, he was a role that requires more exaggeration and over-the-top antics, but if one pays attention to such thing, one should be able to see the similarities there and Stefan's skill was certainly showcased on that show.
Anyway, godspeed Stefan and thanks for making children's lives a little bit better.