Karl-Heinz Urban is a New Zealand actor. His career began with appearances in New Zealand films and TV 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’s superhero streaming television series The Boys.
Karl Urban Biography
New Zealand’s Wellington is where Urban was born. His mother used to work for Wellington’s Film Facilities, while his father, a German immigrant, had a leather products business. The young Urban became interested in the film industry after seeing classic New Zealand films with his mother. Urban had an early passion for performing in front of an audience while attending St. Mark’s Church School. At the age of eight, he appeared in one episode of the New Zealand television series Pioneer Woman and had his first line of dialogue. He continued to participate in school plays, but he didn’t start acting professionally again until after graduation.
Wellington College was his school from 1986 to 1990. He then enrolled in the Bachelor of Arts degree at Victoria University of Wellington, but he left after a year to pursue an acting career. In the ensuing years, he performed in Wellington-area theater productions and several regional TV ads. He eventually relocated to Auckland, where he received numerous offers for guest appearances in TV series, including the police drama Shark in the Park, where he played a heroin addict. After that, in 1995, Urban made a quick shift to Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, and returned to New Zealand the following year.
Career
Urban made his Hollywood debut in the horror movie Ghost Ship (2002). Since then, he has contributed to numerous high-profile films, such as The Bourne Supremacy (as Russian Federal Security Service agent Kirill), The Chronicles of Riddick, Star Trek, and Doom, as well as the second and third parts of The Lord of the Rings trilogy (The Two Towers and The Return of the King) as Éomer. According to rumors spread by The Hollywood Reporter, Martin Campbell, a fellow New Zealander, was considering a number of actors to play British secret service agent 007 in his upcoming film Casino Royale. Urban was one of them.
Urban portrayed John “Reaper” Grimm in the October 21, 2005, release of Universal Pictures’ Doom, a film based on the first-person shooter video game of the same name. He played the lead role in the Viking adventure Pathfinder in 2007. A lifelong Western enthusiast, he played the lead role of Woodrow Call in the television miniseries Comanche Moon, which debuted in early 2008 and served as a precursor to the Lonesome Dove miniseries, which was based on the book series of the same name by Larry McMurtry.
He portrayed Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy in the 2009 film Star Trek, which was based on the character played by DeForest Kelley in the original Star Trek television series. Having been an avid follower of the Star Trek series since his youth, Urban actively sought a part in the movie. Because of his performance’s devotion to Kelley’s McCoy, it was warmly welcomed by the Star Trek fan base. In the Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) and Star Trek Beyond (2016) movies, Urban played the same character again.
In Red, which was inspired from the graphic novel of the same name and starred Bruce Willis and Helen Mirren, Urban next made an appearance as CIA agent William Cooper. In the 2011 3-D film adaptation of the Korean manga Priest, he played the evil priest-turned-vampire Black Hat.
In the 2012 motion picture Dredd, Urban played the law-enforcing role of Judge Dredd from the comic books. Urban called it a “high-octane, action-fueled film… about the day in the life of Dredd” in an interview with Shave magazine. Alex Garland wrote the screenplay, which was directed by Pete Travis. Despite its poor box office performance, Dredd garnered positive reviews from reviewers.
Karl Urban Family & Relationship
In September 2004, Urban married his longtime partner, Natalie Wihongi, who was his makeup artist for the 2000 television film The Privateers. Together they have two sons; Hunter and Indiana. His second son was named for the eponymous hero of the Indiana Jones franchise, which he has stated is one of his favourite movie series. They lived in their NZ$5.25 million mansion in the affluent Herne Bay section of Auckland, New Zealand. The couple announced their separation in June 2014.
From 2014 to 2018, he was in a relationship with actress Katee Sackhoff.