Alexander Rybak is a Belarusian-Norwegian singer, songwriter, composer, violinist, pianist, and actor who rose to prominence after winning the Eurovision contest in 2009 with his own song titled Fairytale. He followed up his success by releasing albums such as Fairytales (2009), No Boundaries (2010), Visa vid vindens ängar (2011), Christmas Tales (2012), Trolle og den magiske (2015), etc.
Born Name
Alexander Igorevich Rybak
Nick Name
Titten Tei, Sasha
Alexander Rybak as seen in 2015 (Fredrik Arff / Wikimedia / CC BY 3.0)
Sun Sign
Taurus
Born Place
Minsk, Byelorussian SSR, USSR
Residence
Oslo, Norway
Nationality
Belarusian, Norwegian
Education
Starting from the age of 10 years, Alexander began attending the Barratt Due Institute of Music located in Oslo. He took a break from his studies after winning the Eurovision contest in 2009 and resumed his studies in 2011. He graduated from the institute with a Bachelor of Music degree in violin performance in June 2012.
Furthermore, Rybak took admission to Columbia College Chicago in the fall of 2020 and graduated with an MFA degree in film music composition in July 2022.
Alexander Rybak as seen performing in the interval act of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2016 (Albin Olsson / Wikimedia / CC BY-SA 4.0)
Race / Ethnicity
White
He is of Belarusian (and possibly other) descent.
Hair Color
Dark Brown
Eye Color
Hazel
Sexual Orientation
Straight
Distinctive Features
Sharp jawline
Hint of a chin dimple
Wide smile
Alexander Rybak seen performing the song That’s How You Write A Song at the final of Melodi Grand Prix in 2018 (Martin Fjellanger, EuroVisionary / Wikimedia / CC BY-SA 4.0)
Alexander Rybak Facts
He can fluently speak Norwegian, Russian, and English languages. In addition to singing in these 3 languages, he can also sing in Belarusian and Swedish.
His song Into a Fantasy was featured on the soundtrack of the 2014 animated film, How to Train Your Dragon 2. Moreover, Rybak also dubbed the voice of the lead character Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III in Norwegian in the film series, How To Train Your Dragon (2010), How To Train Your Dragon 2 (2014), and How to Train Your Dragon 3 (2019).
In 2009, he represented Norway in the 54th Eurovision Song Contest held in Moscow, Russia. Alexander performed the song Fairytale, which he wrote and composed himself, and was declared the winner of the competition. His winning score of 387 points was the highest tally scored by any country in the history of the competition under the former voting system. Moreover, he set other records such as being the first Belarusian-born winner and also the youngest solo male winner, having won at the age of 23 years.
He was engaged in a heavily-publicized altercation with a sound technician in 2010. On two separate occasions, Rybak was seen breaking his fingers and, at a later instance, breaking his violin on stage. He explained his behavior by attributing his angry outbursts to his hectic work schedule.
Featured Image by Fredrik Arff / Wikimedia / CC BY 3.0