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Karl Urban

Karl Urban

Birthday: 1972-06-07 | Place of Birth: Wellington, New Zealand

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. His father, a German immigrant, owned a leather goods retail store, and his mother once worked for Film Facilities in Wellington, through which the young Urban was exposed to 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', but he did not act professionally again until after high school. He attended Wellington College in 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.

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Known For

Acting

Year
Title

Role

2022
The Sea Beast

as    Jacob Holland (voice)

2020
Butcher

as    Billy Butcher

2019
The Boys

as    Billy Butcher

2019
DC Showcase: Sgt. Rock

as    Sgt. Rock (voice)

2018
Bent

as    Danny Gallagher

2017
Hangman

as    Detective Ruiney

2017
Thor: Ragnarok

as    Skurge

2017
Acts of Vengeance

as    Strode

2016
Star Trek Beyond

as    Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy

2016
Pete's Dragon

as    Gavin

2015
The Loft

as    Vincent Stevens

2013
Star Trek Into Darkness

as    Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy

2013
Almost Human

as    John Kennex

2013
Riddick

as    Lord Vaako

2013
Walking with Dinosaurs

as    Uncle Zack (voice)

2013
Riddick: Blindsided

as    Vaako

2012
Dredd

as    Judge Dredd

2011
Priest

as    Black Hat

2010
And Soon the Darkness

as    Michael

2010
RED

as    William Cooper

2009
Star Trek

as    Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy

2009
Reclaiming the Blade

as    Himself

2008
Comanche Moon

as    Woodrow F. Call

2007
Pathfinder

as    Ghost

2005
Doom

as    John "Reaper" Grimm

2004
The Bourne Supremacy

as    Kirill

2004
The Chronicles of Riddick

as    Vaako

1
Black Water Transit

as    Earl Pike