by Ben Crop

Tobias (Toby) Rönnquist, '16

Tobias Rönnquist – or Toby, as we know him at SBCC Theatre – graduated from SBCC in 2016 and returned to Sweden to begin his career. Armed with a resume that included diverse course work from SBCC, as well as an Associate’s degree in theatre, Rönnquist applied for any job he felt could capitalize on his passions and skills. Before long, Rönnquist found himself interviewing at Google. Rönnquist thought it best to impress Google with his math and business experience, but as it turns out, Google was more interested in his acting experience. Rönnquist said, “The main thing they wanted to talk about was my acting degree. In their eyes, that meant I’m a creative person with excellent people skills, which is just what they need.”

 Now an established presence at Google, Rönnquist has been able to showcase his acting skills even more specifically. According to Rönnquist, Google has given him the opportunity to “make training videos internally all over the world,” Rönnquist said. His acting career has also extended well beyond the walls of Google. After returning to Sweden, Rönnquist has auditioned all over. He said, “The SBCC time was only the beginning of my acting career. Prior to my studies, I always felt insecure at auditions but with the knowledge I have from my time at this school and the knowledge they provided I’ve never felt more secure and ready.” Fortunately, Google is completely supportive of his acting career and has allowed him the flexibility to audition and take time off to pursue film and television projects.

Rönnquist’s self-confidence has paid off, he said, “My acting career has been very active since SBCC. It allowed me to move to Norway to play in their biggest day-time soap opera, travel to places like Malta and London to shoot commercials, be cast in major featured films and just two weeks ago I signed a contract for a role in a new comedy show that’s being broadcasted on one of the major networks this fall!”

 If you live in northern Europe, there is no way that you have escaped Scandinavia’s longest running soap opera, Hotel Cæsar. And if you watch season 31, you will see Rönnquist himself playing Håkan Lindquist, the Bar manager at Incivtus. One of the roles that really helped launch Rönnquist’s acting career.

It is always inspiring to watch alumni succeed. When asked what advice Rönnquist had for current SBCC acting students, he said “Don’t limit yourself!” People often put limits on their future careers and prospects when earning a theatre degree. He continued, “A theatre degree is so much more; a theatre degree is a great investment no matter what career path you take afterwards! … I don’t know where I would be without [SBCC].”

To learn more about Toby, you can find him on LinkedIn, IMDB and the Hotel Cæsar fan site.