Considering his previous experience essaying
the recurring role of Julius Caesar on the popular small screen
fantasy adventure series Xena: Warrior Princess, it seems only
natural that New Zealand born actor Karl Urban would advance to
slay orcs in Peter Jackson's epic Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Appearing as a somewhat more rugged version of screen heartthrob
Leonardo DiCaprio, it's obvious from his work in such films as
The Price of Milk that the handsome young actor has the looks
and the skills to make it on his own. A Wellington native and
son of a leather goods manufacturer, Urban's first acting
experience came with an appearance in a New Zealand television
show at the age of eight. Though he would subsequently eschew an
acting career until after graduating from high school, Urban was
drawn back in front of the cameras when he was offered the
opportunity to appear on an evening soap opera entitled
Shortland Street while preparing to attend Victoria University.
The acting bug was a bit harder to shake the second time around,
and after a mere year at Victoria, Urban abandoned higher
education for a career on the stages of Wellington. A relocation
to Auckland found Urban gaining exposure on New Zealand
television, and after a turn as a heroin addict in Shark in the
Park, he made an impression in the 1998 Scott Reynolds thriller
Heaven. An unaired pilot for a show called Amazon High was
eventually incorporated into an episode of Xena, and Urban would
next take to the screen for the gory horror outing The
Irrefutable Truth About Demons. A turning point of sorts came
when Urban was cast as the lead in the romantic fantasy The
Price of Milk, and his performance as a milk farmer whose
relationship is on the rocks found him gaining increasing
recognition on the international art house circuit. Though
mainstream American audiences would begin to get acquainted with
Urban courtesy of his role in the seafaring horror outing Ghost
Ship, his role in the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers later
that same year ensured that audiences would be seeing plenty
more of him in the future. Following his escapades in Middle
Earth, Urban would take to the stars opposite Vin Diesel in The
Chronicles of Riddick (2004).
Bio info from yahoo movies