Johan Rheborg


Carl Johan Rheborg is a Swedish comedian, actor, director, and screenwriter. He played one of the main characters, Percy Nilegård, as a member of the Swedish comedy group Killinggänget, who appeared on Swedish TV in the 1990s and 2000s, and as the space hero Kenny Starfighter in the TV series of the same name in 1997. He also became known playing the "talking stain" in Tide's TV commercial for the 2008 Super Bowl. In 2025 he played police officer Tomas Ness in the Netflix crime drama series The Glass Dome. He has also performed on stage, and has written scripts for several films and TV series.

Early life and education

Carl Johan Rheborg was born on 5 June 1963 in Täby, Sweden, to a middle-class family.
He became interested in film as a child and made his own short films, and as a teenager worked in a photography shop and for a video company. He tried twice to get into drama school but was unsuccessful. In 1990 he studied for a law degree, but found that it did not suit him, so entered the advertising industry via training at RMI Bergh's advertising school.

Career

After Rheborg met Henrik Schyffert through Rally TV, and then on a writing course, the three of them, along with Schyffert's friend, formed the comedy group Killinggänget, which included Gunnar Rehlin - en liten film om att göra någon illa, Ben & Gunnar - en liten film om manlig vänskap, På sista versen - en liten film om döden, and Torsk på Tallinn - en liten film om ensamhet. Screwed in Tallinn was a parody of 's TV documentaries. Rheborg played one of the group's regular characters, Percy Nilegård, in a satire of contemporary management philosophy.
In 1997 he played space hero Kenny Starfighter in the cult TV series of the same name. In 1999 he starred in , a film version of the 1984 British stage farce Two Into One by English playwright Ray Cooney.
He became known in the United States when he played the talking stain in Tide's TV commercial for the 2008 Super Bowl.
In 2025 he had a lead role as police officer Tomas Ness in the Netflix crime drama series The Glass Dome.

Stage

In 1995–1996 Rheborg performed on stage in China in The Little Shop of Horrors. In 2003 he appeared in Gifta vänner at Stockholm City Theatre's Backstage.
In January 2015, Rheborg played the leading role as Ove in a stage adaptation of Swedish writer Fredrik Backman's 2012 novel En man som heter Ove, which premiered in Stockholm. In June 2016 he was one of three people responsible for another dramatisation of the novel for Oslo Nye Teater, in a stage production performed in collaboration with the Norwegian Touring Theatre and Thorsson Productions and directed by Bjarni Haukur Thorsson. Sven Nordin played Ove.

Awards and nominations

Rheborg has been nominated for the Guldbagge Award at least three times: twice for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and once for Best Screenplay.

Selected filmography

As actor

As screenwriter

Rheborg wrote the scripts for the following films:
  • 1999: På sista versen : en liten film om döden
  • 1999: Ben & Gunnar : en liten film om manlig vänskap
  • 1999: Gunnar Rehlin - en liten film om att göra någon illa
  • 1999: Screwed in Tallinn
  • 2004: Four Shades of Brown
  • 2016: ''Morran och Tobias - Som en skänk från ovan''

Creator

  • 2014: ''Morran och Tobias''