Who Plays Rob on ‘The Idol’? Meet Internationally Renowned Hottie Karl Glusman

The Idol Episode 4 “Stars Belong to the World” complicated the sinister game of power play between Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) and Tedros Tedros, né Mauricio Costello Jackson (Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye), like never before on the HBO show. When Jocelyn learns that her former backup dancer Dyanne (Jennie Ruby Jane) was romantically involved with Tedros and brought her to his club as a set up, she responds by making her new lover jealous in the most obvious way possible. She invites her movie star ex Rob (Karl Glusman) over.

Karl Glusman is a perfect foil for The Weeknd’s shockingly lame cult leader. He’s an actor known for his unabashed sex appeal, most (in)famously in Gaspar Noé’s tragic and erotic romance Love. As Rob, he exudes the laid-back confidence of a true alpha male. After all, that’s what he is. We soon learn that he’s a movie star about to embark on a press tour for his first big superhero flick, which he seems sheepishly underwhelmed by. Instead of exerting his power through modes of abuse, Rob is conscientious. He’s honestly as worried about Tedros’s health as he is weirded out by his behavior. When Jocelyn attempts to seduce him, he zeroes in on her mental state and the fact that she never told him about her mother abusing her.

Of course, Rob’s no innocent himself. We learn that he cheated on Jocelyn with a co-star. However, he is one of the few seemingly normal people we’ve met so far on The Idol…but we’ll see how long that lasts. The final scene of the episode shows Xander (Troye Sivan) setting Rob up in an overly sexy pic with one of Tedros’s followers (much to Rob’s horror).

But who exactly is Rob in The Idol? And where have you seen the American actor Karl Glusman before?

Who is Rob on HBO’s The Idol?

Rob — no last name given — is Jocelyn’s ex-boyfriend on The Idol. We had previously heard about him in the context of learning that Joss had gone through a big, messy, public breakup. Rob cheated on Jocelyn, thereby humiliating her in front of the world. However, she has her reasons for being quick to forgive him in last night’s episode…

Jocelyn gets two bits of devastating news in The Idol Episode 4 “Stars Belong to the World.” First, that Dyanne was in a romantic relationship with Tedros and that Dyanne purposely brought her to the club to set her up with the shady nightclub owner. (According to Suzanna Son’s Chloe, Dyanne was upset to learn that Tedros would go on to sleep with Jocelyn.)

Second, Dyanne has been scooped up by Joss’s record label and given her next big single, “World Class Sinner,” as her debut smash hit. Joss plays it cool and polite in her conversation with Dyanne, but her rage is simmering under the surface. She clearly feels played by Tedros and his gang of followers. So she texts Rob and asks him to come over to humiliate Tedros.

But who plays Rob in The Idol? Who is cool enough to make The Weeknd look like a fucking fool? Meet Karl Glusman…

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Who Plays Rob on The Idol? Meet Karl Glusman

Jocelyn’s hot ex Rob on The Idol is played by American actor Karl Glusman. The 35-year-old actor was born in the Bronx and raised in Oregon, but he’s best known for his electrifying work overseas. In 2015, he starred in Gaspar Noé’s controversial film Love, infamous for its incredibly graphic, unsimulated sex scenes. After that, he appeared in Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals and Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Neon Demon. More recently, he’s appeared in The Watcher and Devs.

If you haven’t seen Glusman on the big screen, but his name still sounds familiar, that could be because he was once married to Zoë Kravitz.

Glusman has a number of new films in the pipeline, including Alex Garland’s Civil War, Jeff Nichols’s The Bikeriders, and Grant Singer’s Reptile.

You can follow him on Instagram @karlglusman.