Karl Urban
Karl-Heinz Urban (born 7 June 1972) is a New Zealand actor. His career began with appearances in New Zealand films and television series such as Xena: Warrior Princess. His first Hollywood role was in the 2002 horror film Ghost Ship. Since then, he has starred in many high-profile movies, including as Éomer in the second and third installments of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Vaako in the second and third installments of the Riddick film series, Leonard McCoy in the Star Trek reboot film series, Kirill in The Bourne Supremacy (2004), John "Reaper" Grimm in Doom (2005), Judge Dredd in Dredd (2012), Gavin Magary in Pete's Dragon (2016), and Skurge in Marvel Studios' Thor: Ragnarok (2017). In 2013, he starred in the sci-fi series Almost Human. Since 2019, he has starred as Billy Butcher in Amazon Prime Video's superhero streaming television series The Boys.[2]
For other people named Karl Urban, see Karl Urban (disambiguation).
Karl Urban
Early life[edit]
Urban was born in Wellington, New Zealand.[3] His father, a German immigrant,[3] owned a leather goods store, and his mother once worked for Film Facilities in Wellington. Through his mother, the young Urban was exposed to classic New Zealand cinema and developed an interest in the film industry.[4] Urban attended St Mark's Church School,[5] 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.[3] Though continuing to take part in school stage productions, he did not act professionally again until after high school.[3]
He attended Wellington College in 1986–1990.[3] He then enrolled at Victoria University of Wellington in the Bachelor of Arts programme but left after one year to pursue a career in acting.[3] Over the next few years, he appeared in several local TV commercials in addition to theatre roles in the Wellington area. Eventually, he moved to Auckland where he was offered many guest roles in TV shows (one of which was playing a heroin addict in the police drama Shark in the Park). Urban then moved briefly to Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia in 1995 before returning to New Zealand the following year.[3]
Personal life[edit]
In September 2004, Urban married his longtime partner, Natalie Wihongi, who was his makeup artist for the 2000 television film The Privateers.[28] Together they have two sons; Hunter and Indiana. His second son was named for the eponymous hero of the Indiana Jones franchise,[29] which he has stated is one of his favourite movie series.[30] They lived in the affluent Herne Bay section of Auckland, New Zealand.[31] The couple announced their separation in June 2014.[31]
From 2014 to 2018, he was in a relationship with actress Katee Sackhoff.[32]
Philanthropy[edit]
Urban serves as a celebrity ambassador for KidsCan, a charity that currently supports over 16,000 disadvantaged children in New Zealand by providing them with essentials such as food, clothing, and shoes.[33]
In May 2022, UNICEF Aotearoa New Zealand welcomed Urban as an official Ambassador to support in raising awareness on children's rights both in New Zealand and around the world.[34]
On 1 June 2020, Urban, together with Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen, Miranda Otto, John Rhys-Davies, Andy Serkis, Liv Tyler, and Elijah Wood, plus writer Philippa Boyens and director Peter Jackson, joined Josh Gad's YouTube series Reunited Apart which reunites the cast of popular movies through video-conferencing, and promotes donations to non-profit charities.[35]