In this FRONTPAGE interview, we speak to Swedish actor and singer Omar Rudberg on his status as a heartthrob for the next generation.
When Omar Rudberg first met his Young Royals co-star, Edvin Ryding, it wasn’t a meet-cute. It was a meet-stressed, mixed with a bit of meet-sweaty. For Rudberg, landing a second audition for the Swedish Netflix series had put him on the verge of a big break; a first step towards launching an acting career after years spent entrenched in the music scene as part of an award-winning boy band. As he burst into the chemistry read for the series five minutes late, there was no time to introduce himself to the person who would become his co-star. “I was so scared,” he recalls of the audition that would change his life. “I sat next to him and we just started. We met for the first time in character, basically, and it was just there. It was natural. It was perfect.”
As they settled into their scene, Rudberg still recalls the awe he felt in the presence of Ryding, whose acting career had begun at six-years-old. “I remember thinking, ‘Damn, this guy is so good.’ I was shocked. He was so natural. I just went with him in his flow. I was like, ‘I have to get this part.’ I did the whole thing. I started touching his hair and all of that. He laid on my lap. It was a moment, for sure.” For those who have watched even a single episode of Young Royals, their instant chemistry is no surprise.
Set almost entirely at Hillerska, a fictional boarding school for the teens of Sweden’s wealthiest families, the series’ emotional epicenter rests on the budding romance between working-class student Simon Eriksson (Rudberg) and Prince Wilhelm (Ryding), the youngest son of the country’s Queen. Across two seasons — and with a third and final season due later this year — the spark between the two actors has been electrifying; providing the high-voltage energy that has catapulted the small Swedish show and its young stars to worldwide…
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