David Wenham
 David
Wenham is a versatile, red-haired actor whose chameleon-like
ability to disappear into his characters has found him
successful in everything from large-scale epics to intimate
domestic dramas. His success on the stages of his native
Australia eventually led him to international success thanks to
roles in such acclaimed features as Moulin Rouge (2001) and the
final two entries in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The youngest
of seven siblings, Wenham was raised in Merrickville, Australia.
The aspiring actor honed his craft at the University of Western
Australia before making an impression on television audiences
with a role in the popular small-screen drama Sons and Daughters
in the mid-'80s. As the '90s rolled in, so did the film roles,
and after a memorable turn as an embittered ex-convict in the
stage play The Boys, Wenham landed parts in such features as
Greenkeeping (1992) and the Hollywood sci-fi action film No
Escape. In 1996, he found critical acclaim when he transferred
his role as a pyromaniac in Cosi from stage to screen. After
taking on a handful of small film and television parts, Wenham
once again reprised a theater role with the release of The Boys
in 1998. His big-screen portrayal of the explosive ex-convict
who returns home after a short sting in prison found Wenham the
darling of Australian critics.
With a popular role in the 1998 Australian
Broadcasting Company series SeaChange, Wenham earned a
reputation as a reluctant sex symbol, as well as a nomination at
the Australian Film Institute Awards. The following year, he
took on the role of a philanthropic priest attempting to console
lepers in Molokai: The Story of Father Damien, once again
earning an AFI nomination for Best Actor. Though subsequent
performances in Better Than Sex (2000) and Russian Doll (2001)
earned Wenham even more critical acclaim overseas, it was his
role as a transvestite playwright in director Baz Luhrmann's
Moulin Rouge that gave the rising star his first true taste of
international success. By this time, it was clear that Wenham
could carry a film, and with his turn as a mathematics wizard
with an innovative plan for predicting the stock market in The
Bank, he proved this once and for all. In 2002, he followed a
supporting performance in The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course
with a role as a heroin dealer in Pure. Later that same year,
Wenham truly found an international audience when he joined the
hugely successful The Lord of the
Rings franchise as Faramir in its second installment, The
Two Towers. 2003 proved an exhaustive year for the increasingly
busy actor, as he starred in the Australian slice-of-life
miniseries After the Deluge and the crime comedy Gettin' Square,
for which he won the AFI award for Best Actor. Wenham then
returned to the role of Faramir in The Lord of the Rings: The
Return of the King, making an even greater impression with more
emotional scenes and screen time. By then, Wenham was a
recognizable international talent, and following a pair of
Australian television appearances, he turned up alongside Hugh
Jackman in the 2004 action fantasy Van Helsing.
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