Rolf was born at Fort Belvoir in Alexandria, Virginia. After his father served in the Armed Forces, the family moved to California, eventually settling in the San Francisco Bay Area. After graduating from American Conservatory Theatre’s Young Conservatory, he was a founding member of both the California Shakespeare Theatre (aka “Cal Shakes”), as well as the Berkeley Mime Troupe. He was also a regular performer in the Renaissance and Dickens Fairs where he also learned to walk a tight rope, juggle and blow fire.

For classical training he auditioned and was accepted into the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. While there, he joined the Omphalos Street Theatre Company as an actor and director, performing throughout the UK including the City of London Festival and the Edinburgh Festival, where they were nominated for a Fringe First Award. Upon graduating, Rolf was awarded the Gold Medal, Guildhall’s highest honor for graduating students.

After graduation, Rolf decided to stay in the UK and went straight to work in television, film and theatre. His TV credits include starring roles in three UK television series (Pulaski, Capital City, Love Hurts), as well as guest starring roles in numerous sitcoms, dramas (including Poirot) and TV movies (including MGM’s Dirty Dozen: Next Mission, and HBO’s The Affair).

His stage credits include two seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company and starring roles in the West End, including Chicago, The Seven Year Itch, The Graduate, the British/European premieres of Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers and Laughter on the 23rd Floor, and Donald Margulies’ Dinner With Friends. He also had leading roles with numerous UK repertory companies and on several tours, including title roles in Frankie and Johnnie in the Claire de Lune and Jerry Springer – The Opera. Some of his more recent theatre work includes a UK tour of Chichester’s production of Mack and Mable directed by Jonathan Church, and the world premieres of Eureka Day by Jonathan Spector (Aurora Theatre Company in Berkeley, Ca.) and Remains to Be Seen by Kate Hawley (Jewel Theatre in Santa Cruz, Ca.).

In the late 90’s his voice landed him the Narrator job for the widely known show Teletubbies. His voice can also be heard in the award-winning video game series Broken Sword as George Stobbart.

Rolf has appeared in over 20 major films, his start being Little Lord Fauntleroy and Paramount’s The Lords of Discipline alongside Bill Paxton, Michael Biehn and David Keith. Subsequent films include the first Mission Impossible (as C.I.A. Analyst William Donloe) and Woman in Gold with Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, Katie Holmes and Daniel Bruhl. In 2024, Rolf will return to the MI franchise in Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part Two reprising his character William Donloe