Karl Urban
Sign in to saveKarl-Heinz Urban 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 two films of The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2002–2003), Vaako in two films of the Riddick film series (2004–2013), Leonard McCoy in the Star Trek reboot film series (2009–2016), 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. From 2019 to 2026, he has starred as Billy Butcher in Amazon Prime Video's superhero streaming television series The Boys and voiced a character in the 2022 film The Sea Beast.
OverviewAI-generated
Karl Heinz Urban is a New Zealand actor born in Wellington on June 7, 1972. His birth name is Karl-Heinz Urban. He works in film, television, and stage acting, with a career that began in 1990. He is educated at Wellington College and Victoria University of Wellington.
Urban’s notable works include The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Chronicles of Riddick, Star Trek, and Dredd. He speaks and writes in English and German, which are also his native languages. He has two children and was previously in an unmarried partnership with Katee Sackhoff.
Synthesized by Vinony from 19 facts across 2 sources: Wikidata, TMDb. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Film & TV
Wellington, New Zealand
Karl-Heinz Urban (born 7 June 1972) 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 instalments of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Vaako in the second and…
Known for
- I, Object — Frank2026
- Mortal Kombat II — Johnny Cage2026
- The Bluff — Captain Connor2026
- ARK: The Animated Series — Bob (voice)2024
- Gen V — Billy Butcher2023
- The Sea Beast — Jacob Holland (voice)2022
- DC Showcase - Batman: Death in the Family — Sergeant Rock (voice)2020
- Reunited Apart — Self2020
- Prime Rewind: Inside The Boys — Self2020
- DC Showcase: Sgt. Rock — Sgt. Rock (voice)2019
via TMDB
Wikipedia views (30d)
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Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Heinz
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- New Zealand
- Place of birth
- Wellington
- Occupation
- television actor
- Educated at
- Victoria University of Wellington
- Languages spoken
- German
- Native language
- German
- Notable work
- The Chronicles of Riddick
- Image
- Karl Urban at 53rd Saturn Awards 2026.jpg
- Number of children
- 2
Show 8 more facts
- Commons category
- Karl Urban
- date of birth
- 1972-08-07
- unmarried partner
- Katee Sackhoff
- start of work period
- 1990-00-00
- different from
- Karl von Urban
- birth name
- Karl-Heinz Urban
- social media followers
- 376110
- name in native language
- Karl Urban
Sources (9)
via Wikidata · CC0
~7 min read
Encyclopedic overview
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 two films of The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2002–2003), Vaako in two films of the Riddick film series (2004–2013), Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat II (film), Dr Leonard “Bones” McCoy in the Star Trek reboot film series (2009–2016), 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. From 2019 to 2026, he starred as Billy Butcher in Amazon Prime Video's superhero series The Boys and voiced a character in the 2022 film The Sea Beast.
Early life
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Karl Urban” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.