Karl Urban

Karl Urban
Urban at the San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2010.
Born	Karl-Heinz Urban 7 June 1972 (1972-06-07) Wellington, New Zealand
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1990–present

Karl-Heinz Urban (born 7 June, 1972) is a New Zealand actor.

He is known for playing Éomer in the second and third installments of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in the 2009 film Star Trek and Julius Caesar on Xena: Warrior Princess. He played Vaako in The Chronicles of Riddick, the Russian assassin Kirill in The Bourne Supremacy, and Ghost in Pathfinder and won acclaim for his performances in New Zealand films The Price of Milk and Out of the Blue.

Early life

Urban was born in Wellington, New Zealand. His father, a German immigrant, owned a leather goods store, and his mother once worked for Film Facilities in Wellington, through which the young Urban was exposed to classic New Zealand cinema and developed an interest in the film industry. Urban attended St Mark's Church School, where he showed an early love for public performance. His first acting role came at age eight, when he had a single line in one episode of the New Zealand television series 'Pioneer Woman'. Though continuing to take part in school stage productions, he did not act professionally again until after high school.

He attended Wellington College from 1986–1990, then Victoria University of Wellington in the Bachelor of Arts programme for one year, but left to pursue his acting career. Over the next few years, he landed several theatre roles in the Wellington area, and eventually he moved to Auckland, where he was offered many guest roles in local shows (one of which was playing a heroin addict in the police drama Shark in the Park). The role which launched him to local fame was that of gay paramedic Jamie Forrest in the hit New Zealand TV series Shortland Street. He appeared on the show for the 1993–1994 season.

Urban then moved to Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia in 1995, returning to New Zealand the following year.

Career

New Zealand roles

As well as appearing in films and television shows, Urban had various roles in theatre productions and TV advertisements. In February/March 1998, he was in a play called The Herbal Bed at the Maidment Theatre in Auckland. In August 1998, he played Mark Antony in Auckland Theatre Company's production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. The following year he starred in the Auckland Theatre Company's production of the New Zealand classic Foreskin's Lament.

Urban was seen on the internationally syndicated American TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and on its spin-off Xena: Warrior Princess, in which he played the recurring roles of both Cupid and Julius Caesar from 1996 to 2001. Both shows were filmed in New Zealand. In 2001 he appeared in the offbeat rural romance The Price of Milk, for which he received his first nomination at the New Zealand Qantas Film and Television Awards. Urban later won acclaim for his portrayal of policeman Nick Harvey in Out of the Blue, a dramatisation of New Zealand's Aramoana massacre, for which he won the Qantas Film and Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2008.

International roles

Urban's first Hollywood role was in the 2002 horror film Ghost Ship. Since then, he has worked on many high-profile movies, including the second and third installments of the Lord of the Rings trilogy (The Two Towers and The Return of the King), The Bourne Supremacy, The Chronicles of Riddick and Star Trek.

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. The role eventually went to Daniel Craig.

Urban at the premiere of Peter Jackson's King Kong in Wellington, New Zealand

Urban played John "Reaper" Grimm in Universal Pictures' Doom (based on the classic first-person shooter video game Doom), which was released on 21 October 2005. In 2007 he starred in the Viking adventure Pathfinder. A longtime fan of Westerns, Urban appeared as Woodrow Call in Comanche Moon, the CBS miniseries prequel to Lonesome Dove, in January 2008.

In 2009, he played Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, a role famously originated by DeForest Kelley, in the eleventh Star Trek film. A fan of the Star Trek franchise since childhood, Urban actively pursued a role in the film. His performance was widely embraced by the Star Trek fan community for its faithfulness to the spirit of Kelley's McCoy.

In 2009, Urban appeared as himself in the documentary film Reclaiming the Blade, discussing his sword-wielding experience in films such as The Lord of the Rings.

Urban next appeared as CIA agent William Cooper in RED, adapted from the DC Comics graphic novel of the same name and co-starring Bruce Willis and Helen Mirren. He portrayed Black Hat, a villainous priest-turned-vampire, in the film adaption of the Korean manhwa Priest, released in 3-D in 2011.

In July 2010, Urban was cast as law-enforcing comic book hero Judge Dredd for the upcoming film entitled Dredd. In an interview with Shave Magazine, Urban described it as a "high-octane, action-fueled film... about the day in the life of Dredd." The film is directed by Pete Travis, with a script by Alex Garland.

Urban is currently filming the ensemble thriller Loft, a remake of the Belgian film of the same name. Filmed in New Orleans and Belgium, it is helmed by the director of the 2008 original, Erik Van Looy.

Personal life

Urban married Natalie Wihongi (who was his makeup artist on The Privateers) in September 2004. Together they have two sons: Hunter, born November 2000, and Indiana ('Indy'), born January 2005 and named for the eponymous hero of the Indiana Jones franchise, which Urban has cited as among his favorite films. They live in the Auckland, New Zealand suburb of Herne Bay.

Urban serves as a celebrity ambassador for KidsCan, a charity which currently supports over 16,000 disadvantaged children all over New Zealand by providing them with essentials such as food, coats and shoes.

He is an avid fan of rugby union; in particular, the New Zealand All Blacks national team.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Chunuk Bair	Wellington Soldier
1998	Heaven	Sweeper
1998	Via Satellite	Paul
2000	The Irrefutable Truth about Demons	Harry Ballard	Nominated – New Zealand Film and Television Award for Best Performance by an Actor in Film
2000	The Price of Milk	Rob	Nominated – New Zealand Film and Television Award for Best Performance by an Actor in Film
2002	Ghost Ship	Munder
2002	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers	Éomer
2003	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	Éomer	Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast National Board of Review Award for Best Cast Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated – Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
2004	The Chronicles of Riddick	Vaako
2004	The Bourne Supremacy	Kirill
2005	Doom	Sgt. John 'Reaper' Grimm
2006	Out of the Blue	Nick Harvey	Qantas Film and Television Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Film
2007	Pathfinder	Ghost
2009	Star Trek	Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy	Constellation Award for Best Male Performance in a 2009 Science Fiction Film, TV Movie or Miniseries Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Ensemble Cast Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast Nominated – Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble
2009	Black Water Transit	Earl Pike	not yet released
2010	And Soon the Darkness	Michael
2010	RED	William Cooper
2011	Priest	Black Hat
2012	Overdrive		filming
2012	Dredd	Judge Dredd	post-production
2012	The Loft	Vincent Stevens
2013	Untitled Star Trek sequel	Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy	announced
TBA	The Chronicles of Riddick: Dead Man Stalking	Vaako	In development

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Shark in the Park	Rohann Murdoch	Episode: "Suffer Little Children" Episode: "Thicker Than Water" Episode: "Et Tu, Brute" Episode: "Give A Dog A Bad Name" Episode: "A Sensitive Family Matter" Episode: "Nothing But The Truth"
1992	Homeward Bound	Tim Johnstone
1993	White Fang	David	Episode: "Tough Kid"
1993–1994	Shortland Street	Paramedic Jamie Forrest
1995	Riding High	James Westwood
1996, 1998	Hercules: The Legendary Journeys	Cupid Julius Caesar	Episode: "The Green-Eyed Monster" Episode: "Render Unto Caesar"
1996–2001	Xena: Warrior Princess	Mael Julius Caesar Cupid	Episode: "Altared States" Episode: "Destiny" Episode: "For Him the Bell Tolls" Episode: "A Comedy of Eros" Episode: "The Deliverer" Episode: "The Bitter Suite" Episode: "When in Rome..." Episode: "A Good Day" Episode: "Endgame" Episode: "The Ides of March" Episode: "Lifeblood" Episode: "When Fates Collide"
1997	Amazon High	Kor	Unsold TV-Pilot
2000	The Privateers	Capt. Aran Dravyk	TV-Movie/Unsold TV-Pilot
2008	Comanche Moon	Woodrow F. Call	CBS miniseries

External links

• Karl Urban at the Internet Movie Database
• Karl Urban at AllRovi
• Karl Urban at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Karl Urban Interview at www.sci-fi-online.com