Dag Joakim Tedson Nätterqvist (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈjûːakɪm ˈnɛ̂tːɛrˌkvɪst]; born 24 October 1974) is a Swedish actor, theatre director, musical artist, singer, and acting coach.
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Background
Nätterqvist was born in Gamla Uppsala. He is the son of competitive equestrians Ted and Pia Levin Nätterqvist and grew up on Flammabyggets equestrian farm outside Laholm. Nätterqvis learned to ride aged four and competed in show jumping as a child and teenager. He is the grandson of Swedish show jumping rider and trainer Dag Nätterqvist. He also played ice hockey and football. After attending several smaller drama institutes, he graduated from the Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts in Stockholm in 2001. He landed a three-year stint with Stockholm City Theatre, where he appeared in, among others, Hamlet and A View from the Bridge. He also appeared in Lars Norén's play Terminal at The National Theatre Company.
He landed his first leading TV role in the 2002 mini-series Stackars Tom.
Arn: Knight Templar
Nätterqvist has since then moved on to television and film. He had his big breakthrough in 2007 when he starred in the movie Arn – The Knight Templar, its sequel and the six-part television series. Nätterqvist played the leading role of crusading knight Arn Magnusson. Once the stunt team realized how well Nätterqvist could ride, he ended up performing his own horse stunts. He also benefitted from previous classes in olympic fencing for several past theatre productions, and his general interest in fencing (he was a special guest and speaker at the 2012 Swedish Competitive Fencing Convention).
Nätterqvist was trained in medieval weapons and longbow archery by Steve Ralphs, costume armourer and archery coach for Game of Thrones, Wrath of the Titans and Ridley Scott's Robin Hood.
This was the most expensive movie project in the history of Swedish film and was shot in English and Swedish, on location in Sweden, Scotland and Morocco with an international cast. The production was headed by Svensk Filmindustri in conjunction with Film i Väst, TV4 (Sweden), Telepool (Germany), Danmarks Radio (Denmark), YLE (Finland) and TV 2 (Norway).
The Arn project has been shown on television in many areas of the world. When it was shown in France on France 4, it went up against Showtime's historical drama The Tudors, on NRJ12 in the same time slot, and rated with a higher numbers of viewers.
Recent projects
Nätterqvist has continued work with television, theatre and film. In 2011, he co-starred in the Swedish film With Every Heartbeat/Kiss Me and award-winning music video director Adam Berg's film In.
Americans saw him in the 2011 season finale of USA Network's series Covert Affairs.
Since the fall of 2011 Nätterqvist has been playing fashion designer and love interest Hugo Cronstedt in TV3's popular romantic comedy-drama Elsas Värld. The show came back for a second series in 2013 and consisted of 20 episodes, lasting into the spring of 2014.
In December 2016 the Russian medieval epic Viking premiered. Nätterqvist spent most of the previous summer shooting on location in Russia. Nätterqvist has a large supporting role as a Viking chieftain and mercenary. The film has taken around $25 million at the box office in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, becoming the top-grossing Russian film to be released in 2016. It was released in western Europe on Amazon Prime and Sky Digital
In July 2017 Nätterqvist again participated in the Norwegian outdoor musical Eplene i messehagen, this time in a different role than what he played in 2014.
In 2016 Nätterqvist joined the 5th season of the police procedural Maria Wern as Torwalds, a Stockholm police detective, and reprised this role in season 6 (2018).
During the fall of 2018, Nätterqvist was shooting the TV-pilot for Skärvor, an outlaw motorcycle club drama-thriller, from producers Susanne Hörnquist & Magnus G Bergström. He played the part of Stefan Andreason, president of Rubicon MC
In 2019 Nätterqvist joined the 4th season of popular crime drama Gåsmamman portraying the foster dad Patrik Thorin. This season had its premier on streaming service C More in November 2019, and on Kanal 7 the following year.
Nätterqvist played Little John in Robin Hood-the Musical, which premiered in October 2019 in Stockholm, followed by a Swedish tour running into 2020, visiting over 20 different cities.
Other projects
Nätterqvist was voted sexiest man in Sweden 2007 by Plaza Magazine. He has been active raising money for UNICEF. Nätterqvist is one of the founders of Actors Studio Stockholm, a two-year drama academy.
Music
He has a Britpop/Indie pop band named Narcissistic Street. They released the CD Soldier in Me in 2008.
The album was recorded before he made his big breakthrough as the medieval knight and had to postpone the album release due to massive Arn project. In December 2011 the band performed at the European premiere of David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Nätterqvist sings on two songs on post-punk revivalists The Ohios album Every Sorrow Claims Happiness. One of the tracks, "Let My Legs Walk" is featured in the soundtrack to horror-comedy American Burger.
On 21 December 2017, Nätterqvist released the Christmas-themed single "Jule ljus" on iTunes and Spotify. A second song "En sequined sen" dropped in late April 2018.
In late 2024 he will release new music his new project Tedson.
Reality television
Nätterqvist has also worked with unscripted television. In 2010 he almost won the Swedish version of Let's Dance for Comic Relief with his interpretation of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance.
In spring 2011, he co-hosted the TV cooking show Klockan åtta hos stjärnorna. He has also participated in other shows such as Herr och Fru, Doobidoo and Fenomen med Uri Geller.
In late April 2020, Nätterqvist and musical artist and model/TV personality Tilde Fröling were celebrity guest stars on season finale of the Swedish edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire to raise money for the Swedish Cancer Foundation.
Personal life
Nätterqvist lives in Gamla stan, the medieval section of Stockholm. He has a son with actress Cecilia Häll, who recently provided the voice for one of the animated characters in the Swedish release of The Good Dinosaur and also acted alongside his father in the Robin Hood musical. He has a second child with Vendela Drammeh born in late 2019.
Nätterqvist is bilingual in Swedish and English.
He is the co-founder of Actors Studio Stockholm, a two-year academic program, that incorporates and the Meisner and Chekhov techniques with Swedish stage traditions. Nätterqvist has also taught drama at several other schools in Sweden, after-school drama coaching for teens, weekend workshops, and with unemployed actors via the Public Employment Service.
Nätterqvist is a frequent guest at Renaissance and Medieval festivals, and Viking markets throughout Sweden, including Vätteryd Historical Market, Wenngarn Medieval Festival, Venngarn Castle Medieval Festival and Sala Silver Mine Festival etc. He will sign autographs, sometimes participate in a jousting tournament and dubbing children as Knights. etc. In June late 2022, he arranged his own Medieval and Viking Market at Flammabygget Equestrian Estate.
Filmography
Selected stage appearances
A Doll's House, Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts
Inatt tänder vi månen, Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts
Amadeus, Stockholm City Theatre
The Cherry Orchard, Stockholm City Theatre
Järn (musical) Stockholm City Theatre
Din Stund på Jorden, Stockholm City Theatre
Hamlet, Stockholm City Theatre
Dostoyevsky's The Idiot, Stockholm City Theatre
Mio, My Son,, Stockholm City Theatre
The Full Monty (musical), Stockholm City Theatre
As You Like It, Stockholm City Theatre
A View from the Bridge, Stockholm City Theatre
Piaf, Stockholm City Theatre
Amy's View, Stockholm City Theatre
Som Glöd under Snö (musical) Gottsunda Teater
Terminal National Swedish Touring Theatre
North of The Border (musical) Teater De Vill
The Taming of the Shrew, Sheakespear at Gräsgården Manor
Ken Ludwig's Leading Ladies, Mariebergsskogen Karlstad
Selected podcast appearances
Richards and Mckie Present Randompedia