The second season of Emily In Paris landed on Netflix just before Christmas. And once again, viewers streamed the hit romantic comedy in their millions. But many may have been left scratching their heads as they tried to work out why the new recurring character of Erik DeGroot looked so familiar. Answer: he’s Søren Bregendal — one third of Lighthouse X, Denmark’s Eurovision 2016 representatives.
Lighthouse X’s Søren Bregendal plays photographer Erik DeGroot on Emily In Paris
Bregendal plays the Erik DeGroot, a Dutch photographer based in Paris. We first meet him in episode six “Boiling Point”, when the titular Emily hires him to take some publicity shots for a client cruise she organises on the Seine. Without giving too much away, he pops up again in episodes eight and ten as he becomes romantically involved with one of the regular cast.
According to IMDB, Søren has been acting on and off since 2005. His longest running role was that of Simon Henriksen in the Danish series 2900 Happiness. He appeared in 132 of the show’s 142 episodes.
If like me you’re watching Emily in Paris and wondering where you know the photographer from, here’s your answer
— Padraig Muldoon ? (@JustPadraig) January 1, 2022
He sang for Denmark at Eurovision 2016 pic.twitter.com/mhP48AQzD3
Søren Bregendal and Lighthouse X at Eurovision 2016
Lighthouse X — that’s Søren along with Johannes Nymark and Martin Skriver — formed in Denmark in 2012. They had the unique goal of donating a percentage of the group’s earnings to different non-profit organisations.
The boyband counted winning Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2016 amongst their achievements. Up against favourites Simone and Anja Nissen in the super-final, the boyband surprised viewers by taking 42% of the vote and winning the ticket to Eurovision in Stockholm with their song “Soldiers of Love”.
Sadly for the group, their home country appeal did not translate to a wider audience. “Soldier of Love” placed 17th in the second semi-final and scored especially poorly with juries. It kept Denmark out of the final for a second year running. Lighthouse X called it quits a mere three months after their Eurovision expeience ended. They briefly reuninted in June 2017 for Skriver’s wedding.
Did you recognise Søren? What did you think of his performance? Let us know below.
I’m glad for him, it’s been a while since I last heard of Lighthouse X.
However, I feel like Emily in Paris lacks that touch of reality: having Abdoul and Abibatou stabbing and assaulting passersby
Ibelieve Nymark is also an actor. I must say Soldiers of Love is still one of my favs Eurovision guilty pleasures
I coulda meant that Søren was a singer-actor. I loved him so much and I didn’t believed he recognized me. His acting credits since 2005 according to his IMDb page was amazing! That was his first post-Lighthouse X/Eurovision first-ever representative’s acting project since 2012. BTW, his character Erik DeGroot was looking good enough to fitted Søren but fortunately, I totally loved his character Erik so much like Søren did.
Most Americans wouldn’t know the difference between Dutch and Danish, so it’s only fitting that they have a Danish guy playing a Dutchman. Probably he has a totally non-Dutch accent as well, which is usually the case.
New I recognised him from somewhere but just couldn’t place it. Thanks so much
DeGroot is what Americans think is a Dutch name, but in reality isn’t. Erik de Groot would be his name. The D in “de” is only capitalised when the first name isn’t mentioned. So Ilse de Lange thought her name had to be changed to DeLange for an international audience.
It is a dutch name but americanized/frenchized. In Belgium they also write their dutch surnames like that because of french domination in the past. If they wanted to portray the character as having directly immigrated from the netherlands it would’ve been better if they went with de Groot indeed.
good that he’s having success in something other than music, since acting seems more like his calling
Hey, not the first example of a poorly-placing Eurovision contestant landing feet first afterwards. Same club as folks like Glennis Grace.
what does “landing feet first afterwards” mean?
It means when you take a fall (literally or metaphorically) but land on your feet as opposed to on your head (aka keep going as opposed to stopping)
I recognized him right away. It’s funny to see Eurovision stars pop up in unexpected places.