Karl Urban's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) Xena: Warrior Princess Caesar Almost Human John Kennex Comanche Moon Woodrow F. …

Main Movie Roles 2011 - Priest 2010 - And Soon the Darkness 2009 - Star Trek 2007 - Pathfinder 2005 - Doom 2004 - The Chronicles of Riddick 2004 - The Bourne Supremacy 2003 - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 2002 - Ghost Ship 2002 - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 2000 - The Irrefutable Truth About Demons 2000 - The Price of Milk

BIOGRAPHY:

Originally from Wellington, New Zealand, Karl Urban now lives in Auckland. Born on June 7, 1972, he is the son of a leather goods manufacturer (who had hoped hoped that Karl would follow in his footsteps). His first acting role was when he was 8 -- he had a line on a television show. However, he did not act again until after high school. He was offered a role in the NZ drama "Shortland Street" (1992), as he was preparing to attend Victoria University. After appearing on the show for the 1993-1994 season he attended the university 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 a number of guest roles in NZ television followed. One of his first roles was that of a heroin addict in the drama "Shark in the Park" (1989). He was in a movie as well, entitled Once in Chunuck Bay (AKA Chunuk Bair (1992)). Other television roles followed, including a guest starring role in the series "White Fang" (1993). Karl's biggest role yet is Éomer in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.


TRIVIA:

• Has one son, Hunter (born in November 2000), with partner Natalie
• Is good friends with co-stars 'Viggo Mortensen' (qv) from "Lord of the Rings" and 'Renée O'Connor' (qv) from _"Xena: Warrior Princess" (1995)_ (qv).
• He is, and has almost always been, very active. He worked on his aunt and uncle's farm for many years doing odd jobs. For filming the "Lord of the Rings" movies, he realized that Eomer was a consummate horseman and he was nowhere near that level, so he invested a lot of time learning--six to eight weeks, five days a week, two hours a day. He wanted to learn to neck rein, a method of steering a horse using one hand while leaving the other hand free to wield a sword. He wanted to be so at one with the horse that he wasn't conscious or concerned about what the horse was doing. In addition, he also enjoys indoor rock climbing.
• Has a black Lab terrier named Ire (pronounced eye-ree) after a 'Bob Marley (I)' (qv) song (from the album "Uprising").
• Had a beret and coat to perform self-written Frank Spencer skits at the ages of 11 and 12 as school assembly entertainment.
• Was considered for the part of Kainan in _Outlander (2008)_ (qv).
• Primary school classmate of Jack Yan.
• Has played the younger versions of iconic characters in two "prequels." He plays Woodrow Call in the _"Lonesome Dove" (1989)_ (qv) prequel _"Comanche Moon" (2008)_ (qv) and Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in _Star Trek (2009)_ (qv).