Kim Bodnia in a poster for The Bridge. The actor said one reason he quit the show was because he did not feel safe working in Sweden as a Jew. Photo: Screenshot.

A Jewish actor who starred in a Scandinavian television drama said one of the reasons he quit the show was because he did not feel safe working in Sweden, the UK’s Daily Mail reported on Tuesday.

During  an interview with Israeli Channel 10, Danish actor Kim Bodnia, 50, at first cited issues with the script as the main reason he left the popular crime series The Bridge. He then said his decision was also fueled by the rise in antisemitism in Sweden, where much of the show is taped.

“[Antisemitism] is growing, especially in Malmo where we shot The Bridge in Sweden. It’s not very nice, and not very comfortable to be there as a Jewish person,” he said.

“It’s easy for me to say no to work in Sweden,” he added. “It’s very easy, when they didn’t have the script right, I could say, ‘Well, I don’t feel safe there.'”

Bodnia also connected the rise in antisemitism in Sweden and Denmark to the growing number of migrants and refugees arriving in the region. He told Channel 10, “[Among] the young people living there now, who come from outside into Denmark, this is growing too much.”

Bodnia played detective Martin Rohde in two seasons of The Bridge, which is filmed in both Sweden and Denmark. He originally signed up for a third season, but later announced his decision to quit the show in 2014, according to the Daily Mail. The actor, who was born in Copenhagen to a Jewish family of Polish and Russian descent, recently finished filming a television show in Israel called Hostages.

Watch Bodnia’s interview with Channel 10 in the video below: