Dutch actor Roel Dirven was born in the small southern town of Hoeven in February, 1988, though he now resides in Amsterdam, where all the magic happens in The Netherlands. If you were a Dutch teen in the late aughts, you may have grown up with Roel as Raphael on the hit Nickelodeon series House of Anubis, where he made his screen debut in 2009 and stayed with the series through 2012. At the time, Roel was still attending the Fontys School of Arts, from which he graduated in 2011, which is right around the time his acting career kicked into high gear. Roel is comfortable working in a number of genres and is equally at home in broad comedy as he is in serious drama, flexing a range that is intimidating to say the least. Virtually all of his credits have come in his home country, however, so Stateside audiences are likely not terribly familiar with all this Dutch master has to offer. All of that changed with his role in the hit series The Mopes, which made its way onto HBO Max in the fall of 2021! Roel plays the lead role of Mat, a musician who is beginning to see major success in his life when his depression—embodied by the character of Monika (Nora Tschirner)—weasels its way back into his life. Although Roel doesn't get nude on the series, he does spend a substantial amount of his screen time sans shirt and even goes bottomless at the doctor, though his good bits are obscured by medical equipment. Here's hoping we see a LOT more of Roel in the very near future!
