Tobias Santelmann (born 8 August 1980) is a German-born Norwegian actor who works across Norwegian and international film, television, and theatre. Raised in Norway and trained at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, he first gained major attention with the Oscar-nominated adventure drama Kon-Tiki (2012), and later appeared in international productions such as Hercules (2014) and Point Break (2015).
In Norway, he has been a prominent presence in TV drama, including The Heavy Water War, Atlantic Crossing, and the widely popular financial satire Exit. International audiences also know him from The Last Kingdom, where he played Ragnar.
Most recently, Santelmann has taken the lead role of detective Harry Hole in Netflix’s 2026 series Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole (also titled Harry Hole in Scandinavia), a major new Nordic noir adaptation of Nesbø’s novels that premiered on 26 March 2026.
Alongside screen work, Santelmann has a strong theatre background in Norway, and he has continued to build a career defined by versatile performances across crime, drama, historical series, and large-scale action productions.
Jo Nesbo’s Detective Hole
Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole is very closely tied to Oslo, and the city appears to have been used as a real dramatic environment rather than just a generic Scandinavian backdrop.
The Heavy Water War
The Heavy Water War was filmed in Norway and the Czech Republic, with Vemork and Rjukan giving a connection to the real landscape of the heavy water sabotage.
Leave a Reply