Karl Urban

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Karl Urban

Karl Urban at the premiere of Peter Jackson's King Kong in Wellington, New Zealand
Birth name Karl-Heinz Urban
Born June 07, 1972 (1972-06-07) (age 35)
Wellington, New Zealand
Occupation actor

Karl-Heinz Urban (born June 7, 1972) is a New Zealand actor. He may be best known for playing Éomer in the second and third installment of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Kirill (Jason Bourne's opposite number) in The Bourne Supremacy, the lead role in the movie adaptation of video game Doom, and Vaako from The Chronicles of Riddick.

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Urban was born in Wellington, New Zealand, the son of a leather goods manufacturer.[1] He attended St Mark's Church School where he showed an early love for public performance. His first acting role was when he was eight he had a line on a television show. However, he did not act again until after high school. He then went on to Wellington College. Upon leaving High School Karl was offered a role in the hit New Zealand TV-series Shortland Street playing homosexual paramedic Jamie Forrest. After appearing on the show for the 1993-1994 season he attended Victoria University in Wellington for one year, then left to pursue his acting career. Over the next few years, he landed several theater roles in the Wellington area. Eventually, he moved to Auckland where he was offered many guest roles in local shows. One of his first roles was that of a heroin addict in the drama Shark In the Park.

Some of his earlier work included roles on New Zealand soap Shortland Street, which apparently interrupted his planned attendance of Victoria University of Wellington, and a guest role on the second season of police drama Shark in the Park. As well as appearing in films and television shows, Urban also had various roles in theatre productions and television advertisements in his native New Zealand and abroad. In February/March 1998, he was in a play called The Herbal Bed at the Maidment Theatre in Auckland, New Zealand (as the character Jett Lane). In August 1998, he played Mark Antony in Auckland Theatre Company's production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in Auckland, New Zealand. In 1999, he appeared in the Auckland Theatre Company's production of Foreskin's Lament.

Urban was seen on the internationally syndicated American television shows Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys in which he played both Cupid and Julius Caesar from 1996 to 2001. These shows were filmed in New Zealand. He won the New Zealand Film and TV Awards for his role in the 2000 film The Price of Milk. Urban's Hollywood break did not come until his role in the 2002 horror film Ghost Ship. Since then, Karl has worked on many blockbusters including The The Lord of the Rings trilogy (in which he played Éomer of Rohan), The Bourne Supremacy and The Chronicles of Riddick with Vin Diesel and Judi Dench.

The Hollywood Reporter speculated that Urban was one of several actors being considered for the part of British secret service agent 007 in Casino Royale, directed by fellow New Zealander Martin Campbell. Website filmforce.com had mixed feelings over whether he would make the best Bond. "While darkly handsome, he's a bit elfish-looking for Bond. He's the right age, is recognisable, but not yet a big name and had proven himself adept at genre fare. But does Urban have the gravitas and flair needed for Bond?" The actor selected for the part was Daniel Craig. Urban played John "Reaper" Grimm, one of the lead characters in Universal Pictures' Doom which was released on October 21, 2005. Following his role in Doom, he played the lead in the Viking film Pathfinder, which received a United States release on 13 April 2007.

Urban will play a young Leonard McCoy[2] in the upcoming Star Trek film to be directed by J.J. Abrams.

  1. ^ http://www.filmreference.com/film/66/Karl-Urban.html
  2. ^ "Karl Urban Confirmed as the new Leonard "Bones" McCoy", TrekWeb.com, 2007-10-17. 

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