Pål Sverre Hagen
Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen (born 6 November 1980) is a Norwegian stage and screen actor. He is perhaps best known internationally for playing Thor Heyerdahl in the Oscar and Golden Globe nominated film Kon-Tiki.[1]
Pål Sverre Hagen
Stage career[edit]
His stage debut was in 2003 in Frode Grytten's Bikubesong (Beehive Song) at Det Norske Teatret in Oslo.[5]
Hagen went on to play the title roles in Anthon Chekhov's Ivanov and Raskolnikov, based on Fjodor Dostojevski's Crime and punishment, both at Hålogaland Theater.
In 2006 he became an official member of the repertory company at Det Norske Teatret, and performed there in Verdas mest forelska par (World's Most-in-Love Couple), Få meg på, for faen! (Touch Me, For God's Sake!), and Gabriel García Márquez's Ingen skriv til obersten (Nobody Write to the Colonel).[6] These two roles won him the Hedda Award in 2007.
Hagen played Prince Hal in a 3-hour and 40-minute version of William Shakespeare's Henry IV Parts 1 and Part 2 staged in 2008 at Det Norske Teatret.[7]
Regarding his appearance in Henry IV, he said, “This is my first encounter with Shakespeare, and all I can do is admit that I have an overwhelming and massive piece of material ahead of me. Because really understanding the characters and the setting demands a lot more than a script."[6]
He said that the actor whose work meant the most to him was Bjørn Sundquist. “I've learned a lot from him. We're both interested in a kind of energy. An energy that's undefinable, but that's totally essential for expression. It is an important kernel of the kind of acting I want to do. And it's good to meet others who are looking for the same thing.”[3]
In the autumn of 2010 Valheim Hagen played Edmund Tyrone in the Riksteatret's production of Eugene O'Neill's Lang dags ferd mot natt (Long Day's Journey into Night). Liv Ullmann played his mother, Mary Tyrone, and Sundquist played his father, James Tyrone.[8] In an article about this production, a writer for Dagbladet noted that Sundquist had played Falstaff to Valheim Hagen's Prince Hal in 2008, and that they had played father and son the year after in the film Jernanger, “in roles that were too small for their talents.”
In 2014, he played Stavrogin in Demoner 2014, based on Fyodor Dostojevskij's The Devils. The play premiered on February 8 at the National Theatre in Oslo.[9]