Tall and handsome actor Pål Sverre Hagen is one of Norway's most popular and versatile actors. He is perhaps best known for his interpretation of famous Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl, in the Oscar and Golden Globe-nominated film Kon-Tiki. The role won Hagen an Amanda Award for Best Actor.

Hagen graduated from the National Academy of the Arts in 2003, and made his breakthrough on screen in the film Troubled Water in 2008, where he baffled film critics and audiences alike with his strong performance as a young con man. The film won Hagen the Kanon Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. He later won the Kanon Award for best Supporting Role in Storm in My Heart (2009).

In the 2014 film In Order of Disappearance, Hagen plays a despicable drug baron called The Count. He is the main antagonist of the film and plays alongside Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård among others.

In 2017 Pål plays the lead opposite Lily Collins and Holiday Grainger in Anthony Lucero's "Halo of Stars". Pål also stars in the Norwegian television series "Valkyrien" as the doomsday prepper Leif. Also in 2017 Pål appears in Tommy Wirkola's "What Happened to Monday" opposite Noomi Rapace, Willem Dafoe, and Glenn Close. Pål played a significant role in Hans Petter Moland's anticipated "A Conspiracy of Faith", the third instalment of the book adaption about Department Q. In Nils Gaup's medieval "The Last King", Hagen plays Gisle, who wants to take over the Norwegian throne, and in the Dutch drama "Beyond Sleep" by Boudewijn Koole, Pål plays Arne, a Norwegian geologist.