Handsome former Shortland Street actor Karl Urban is making it big overseas.
Karl – best known for his role as paramedic Jamie Forrest in the top-rating soap – has already appeared with XXX heart-throb Vin Diesel and will now star with one of Tinseltown’s most respected actresses Dame Judi Dench in the The Chronicles of Riddick.
Also starring in the thriller is Englishman Linus Roache, son of Coronation Street stalwart William Roache aka Ken Barlow, who has also forged a highly successful acting career in his own right.
The big budget movie is being filmed in Canada with Vin Diesel central to the plot as the hunted Riddick. He finds himself in the middle of two opposing forces in a major crusade.
Pearl Harbor star Colm Feore will play Lord Marshal, a warrior priest who is the leader of a sect that is waging the tenth and perhaps final crusade 500 years in the future. Dame Judi will play Aereon, an ambassador from the Elemental race. She is an ethereal being who helps Riddick unearth his origins.
Karl’s signing comes hard on the heels of his role as Eomer in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.
‘Karl did a great job on those films and has gained the recognition he deserves from Hollywood movie makers,’ says a source.
‘He has rugged good looks that make him hot property in this industry. He has tons of experience and definitely won’t be intimidated by lining up with some of the biggest names in the industry. After all, they are just people and he has spent enough time with influential actors not to go weak at the knees in their presence.’
Karl first hit our screens as a heroin addict in the drama Shark In the Park followed by a role as Tim Johnstone in the short-lived television series Homeward Bound in 1992. That same year he appeared in the highly acclaimed movie Chunk Bair and was snapped up for long-running roles in Shortland Street and as Julius Caesar in Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.
He then starred in two Harry Sinclair movies – The Irrefutable Truth about Demons and The Price of Milk before being cast along with many of his Kiwi acting colleagues in Lord of the Rings.
‘He’s over the moon at the prospect of breaking into Hollywood,’ says the source. ‘Who wouldn’t be? It could mean that his big pay cheque is soon in the mail. He’s waited long enough and done the hard yards.’
For the versatile actor, the chance of filming The Chronicles of Riddick in Canada will cast him into the arena several of his former Shortland Street mates are enjoying.
Martin Henderson – who played Stuart Neilson in the soap – has been enjoying the limelight for the past few years. He’s currently making the Bollywood flick Bride and Prejudice, a very modern spin on Jane Austen’s classic novel Pride and Prejudice. Recently he’s appeared in Windtalkers with Nicholas Cage and The Ring with Naomi Watts.
Daniel Gillies – aka Tom O’Connor from TV series Street Legal – is midway through filming the blockbuster Spider-Man II in which he plays John Jameson. Daniel will also star with Martin in Bride and Prejudice.
And Karl’s Lord of the Rings co-star Marton Csokas – who also got his acting break in Shortland Street playing Dr Leonard Dodds – has recently been named to co-star opposite Natasha Richardson – Liam Neeson’s wife – in the romantic thriller Asylum.
‘Big things are happening for our boys,’ says the source.
‘The industry is taking our Kiwi actors very seriously. They’ve become some of the hottest new talent on earth.’
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