Karl Urban

Karl-Heinz Urban was born on June 7, 1972, in Wellington, New Zealand. His father was a leather-goods manufacturer, while his mother worked for Film Facilities, exposing him to New Zealand cinema and sparking his interest in the industry. Urban’s first acting opportunity came at age eight with a single line in the television series “Pioneer Woman.” He continued to participate in school stage productions but did not pursue professional acting again until after high school. He attended Victoria University of Wellington for a year before dedicating himself to his acting career. In the following years, he secured theater roles in Wellington and guest roles on New Zealand television, including playing a heroin addict in “Shark in the Park” and appearing in the film “Chunuk Bair” in 1992.

Urban’s career gained international recognition with his first Hollywood role in the 2002 horror film “Ghost Ship.” He subsequently took on significant roles in high-profile projects. He portrayed Éomer in the second and third installments of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy (“The Two Towers” in 2002 and “The Return of the King” in 2003). Other notable film appearances include Kirill in “The Bourne Supremacy” (2004), John “Reaper” Grimm in “Doom” (2005), and Judge Dredd in “Dredd” (2012). Urban also joined the “Star Trek” reboot film series as Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy, beginning with “Star Trek” in 2009 and reprising the role in “Star Trek Into Darkness” (2013) and “Star Trek Beyond” (2016).

In recent years, Urban has continued to contribute to major film and television productions. He played Skurge in Marvel Studios’ “Thor: Ragnarok” (2017) and had an uncredited cameo as a Stormtrooper in “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” (2019). Since 2019, he has held a lead role as Billy Butcher in Amazon Prime Video’s superhero streaming series “The Boys,” a performance that has garnered critical attention, including nominations for Best Actor in a Superhero Series at the Critics’ Choice Super Awards and Best Actor in a Streaming Series, Drama, at the Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards. He also voiced Jacob Holland in the 2022 animated film “The Sea Beast” and is slated to appear as Johnny Cage in the upcoming “Mortal Kombat II.”