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Rolf was born at Fort Belvoir in Alexandria, Virginia. Following his father's military service, the family relocated to California, eventually settling in the San Francisco Bay Area. After completing the American Conservatory Theatre's Young Conservatory, he became a founding member of both the California Shakespeare Theatre ("Cal Shakes") and the Berkeley Mime Troupe. He also regularly performed at Renaissance and Dickens Fairs, where he learned tightrope walking, juggling, and fire blowing.
For formal classical training, he auditioned for 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 across the UK, including at the City of London Festival and the Edinburgh Festival, where the company received a Fringe First Award nomination. Upon graduation, Rolf was honored with the Gold Medal, Guildhall's highest accolade for graduating students.
Choosing to remain in the UK after graduating, Rolf quickly established himself in television, film, and theatre. His TV work includes lead roles in three UK series—Pulaski, Capital City, and Love Hurts—as well as guest appearances in numerous sitcoms, dramas such as Poirot, and TV movies including MGM's Dirty Dozen: Next Mission and HBO's The Affair.
His theatre credits feature two seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company and leading roles in West End productions such as Chicago, The Seven Year Itch, The Graduate, and the British/European premieres of Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers and Laughter on the 23rd Floor, alongside Donald Margulies’ Dinner With Friends. He has also held principal roles with various UK repertory companies and toured extensively, starring in productions like Frankie and Johnnie in the Claire de Lune and Jerry Springer - The Opera. More recent stage work includes a UK tour of Chichester’s Mack and Mable, directed by Jonathan Church, and world premieres of Eureka Day by Jonathan Spector (Aurora Theatre Company, Berkeley, CA) and Remains To Be Seen by Kate Hawley (Jewel Theatre, Santa Cruz, CA).
In the late 1990s, Rolf became the narrator for the popular show Teletubbies. His voice is also featured in the award-winning Broken Sword video game series as the character George Stobbart.
Rolf has appeared in over 20 major films, beginning with Little Lord Fauntleroy and Paramount’s The Lords of Discipline alongside Bill Paxton, Michael Biehn, and David Keith. His filmography includes the original Mission Impossible (as CIA Analyst William Donloe) and Woman in Gold with Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, Katie Holmes, and Daniel Brühl. In 2024, he is set to reprise his role as William Donloe in Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part Two.
