Stefán Karl's career started in 1994. At the age of 19, 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 not satisfied with how Iceland views their drama standards. He remembered that his principal at his high school said that "acting is not about making faces and changing your face". He did not agree with his high school principal.[4]
Later, Stefán Karl had been invited by Magnús Scheving, an Icelandic gymnast, to portray one of the characters in the second LazyTown play.[5] Scheving created the plays because he was concerned that Iceland's younger generation is not doing enough 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.[4]
Stefán Karl announced in October 2016 that he had been diagnosed with bile duct cancer.[11][12][13][14] On the same month, 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. This eventually made the songs "We Are Number One" and "The Mine Song" from LazyTown become Internet memes.[15] In August 2017, Stefán Karl stated he was in remission.[16][17] 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.[18]
In March 2018, Stefán Karl was diagnosed with inoperable bile duct cancer, and said that he was undergoing chemotherapy to increase the length of his life.[19] In April 2018, he announced that he personally chose to stop his chemotherapy,[20] and then began to shut down all his social media accounts.[21]
He died on 21 August 2018 at the age of 43.[22][23] His wife stated that Stefansson didn't want to a funeral when he died. Instead, she had said that his body will be secretly scattered into a distant ocean. [24][25]
Legacy
It was announced by his manager, Cheryl Edison, that the Stefán Karl Academy & Center for the Performing Arts will be opened in Switzerland in the year 2019 as a memorial to his career.[26]
Filmography
Stefán Karl has been credited in various works including plays, television series, films, and games.[27]
↑"Fálkaorðan". Forseti Íslands (in Icelandic). Skrifstofa forseta Íslands. 17 June 2018. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
