"I would rather have a scene-stealing bit part than a lead role."
Karl-Heinz Urban (born June 7, 1972 in Wellington, New Zealand) is an actor from New Zealand (his father was a German immigrant, as you can maybe tell from his first name).
He started off in soaps and small-time TV dramas, worked his way up to Xena: Warrior Princess and local film productions, and now co-stars in Hollywood blockbusters with macho men like Bruce Willis, Vin Diesel and The Rock.
Best known for playing Éomer in The Lord of the Rings, Leonard 'Bones' McCoy in Star Trek reboot films, Billy Butcher in The Boys, and being in most of the genre movies you've seen. He also played the title character in Dredd and was one of the leads in Almost Human.
He is married to (but separated from) fellow Kiwi Natalie Wihongi, who was his makeup artist on the 2000 TV movie The Privateers. The couple has two sons, Hunter and Indiana. He also dated Katee Sackhoff for four years.
Film and TV Works:
- Rohann Murdoch in Shark In The Park (1990)
- Jamie Forrest in Shortland Street (1993)
- James Westwood in Riding High (1995)
- Cupid in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1996)
- Cupid and Julius Caesar in Xena: Warrior Princess (1996)
- Sweeper in Heaven (1998)
- Harry Ballard in The Irrefutable Truth About Demons (2000)
- Rob in The Price Of Milk (2000)
- Munder in Ghost Ship (2002)
- Éomer in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
- Éomer in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
- Lord Vaako in The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
- Kirill in The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
- John Grimm in Doom (2005)
- Nick Harvey in Out of the Blue (2006)
- Ghost in Pathfinder (2007)
- Woodrow F. Call in Comanche Moon (2008)
- Leonard McCoy in Star Trek (2009)
- Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
- Star Trek Beyond (2016)
- Earl Pike in Black Water Transit (2009)
- Michael in And Soon the Darkness (2010)
- William Cooper in Red (2010)
- Black Hat in Priest (2011)
- Judge Joseph Dredd in Dredd (2012)
- Lord Vaako in Riddick (2013)
- Uncle Zack in Walking with Dinosaurs (2013)
- John Kennex in Almost Human (2013)
- Vincent Stevens in The Loft (2015)
- Gavin in Pete's Dragon (2016) (2016)
- Skurge the Executioner in Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
- Officer Hank Strode in Acts of Vengeance (2017).
- Billy Butcher in The Boys (2019-)
- Sgt. Rock in DC Showcase: Sgt. Rock And The Creature Commandos (2019) (voice)
- Jacob Holland in The Sea Beast (2022)
- Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat 2 (in production)
This actor and his roles provide examples of:
- Awesome, Dear Boy: Why he accepts most of his movie roles.
- Badass Longcoat: As Black Hat, Kirill, Vincent Stevens and Billy Butcher.
- Celebrity Resemblance: He looks like Enrique Peña Nieto, President of Mexico. Noted here
. - Cool Helmet: As Éomer, Vaako and Dredd.
- Deadpan Snarker: As McCoy, Dredd and John Kennex.
- Even the Guys Want Him: Chris Pine has admitted to having a man crush on his Star Trek co-star.
- Fake American: Quite a few of his roles. McCoy especially has a flawless accent that is uncannily reminiscent of DeForest Kelley.
- Fake Nationality: Fake Russian, fake Viking-raised-by-Native-Americans
- Fan Community Nickname: His fans are known as Urbabes, Urbanites or Urbanologists. Take your pick.
- Fanservice: He once stuck a microphone in his mouth at a Q&A.
- Fascinating Eyebrow: A notable quirk of McCoy which Urban actually possessed in real life before taking on the role. Chris Pine once said that Urban has "the best eyebrow raise in the business".
- Hypothetical Casting: The authors of the Cut & Run series of novels see him as main character Ty Grady. The description in the first book is so obvious that they might as well have used his photo.
- Mistaken Identity: Sometimes mistaken for New Zealand-born country music star Keith Urban. A Singapore newspaper once reported that he had married Nicole Kidman.
- Old Shame: At a convention appearance, he half-joked that his favourite scene from Doom was the end credits. When a fan mentioned that he liked the movie, Urban asked him if he had actually seen it.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: His American accent is pretty good, but he'll occasionally slip into his native Kiwi accent, usually when he's yelling, speaking rapidly or when the word contains the letter 't'.
- Perpetual Frowner: The man pulls a world class frown. Even when he's smiling, he's also frowning. Dredd show that he can do this effectively even without his eyes visible.
- Personal Arcade: He is an avid pinball fan with a sizeable collection of his own machines. He provided the voice recordings for the Star Trek (Stern) pinball game.
- Playing Against Type: Known mostly for action roles, his casting as the comedic and (physically) non-combative Bones in Star Trek (2009) was met with a resounding 'wtf?' Only to succeed at the role so well that he reduced Leonard Nimoy to tears and left fans wondering if he had been possessed by the spirit of DeForest Kelley himself. He was just that good.
- Promoted Fanboy:
- On the set of The Chronicles of Riddick, he passed the time by playing Dungeons & Dragons with Vin Diesel, Judi Dench and Thandiwe Newton.
- He's been a massive fan of Star Trek since childhood and grew up watching reruns religiously. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto even have an anecdote about him playing with a toy Enterprise ship on a plane before being asked to put it away.
- He was a very big fan of Judge Dredd long before donning the iconic helmet, and his performance as the character has received considerable acclaim from fans of the comics. He's even campaigning for a sequel.
- Real Men Wear Pink: In an interview with Women's Health, he revealed that he loves to light scented candles and take long baths.
- Romance on the Set: He met his wife on the set of The Privateers. She was his make up artist.
- Shirtless Scene:
- As Ghost in Pathfinder.
- As Cupid in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess.
- As Harry in The Irrefutable Truth About Demons.
- As Rob in The Price Of Milk.
- And in real life, he always seems to have a few extra buttons undone on his shirt.
- Star-Making Role: As Éomer in The Lord of the Rings or as McCoy in Star Trek (2009).
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He stands at 1.85 meters (6'1").
- Troll:
- He promised fans some footage of the sequel to Star Trek (2009). Instead we got this.
- Then there was the whole "Benedict Cumberbatch is going to be a great Gary Mitchell" wind-up. Well played, sir. Well played.
- And then there's the time he told a group of Spanish journalists that Viggo Mortensen (who would be seeing them to promote a film the following day) had bought a massive goat farm to make goat cheese. As a result, instead of asking about his new film, the journalists were more interested in Viggo's supposed new goat cheese operation.
- He promised fans some footage of the sequel to Star Trek (2009). Instead we got this.
- What Could Have Been:
- He was briefly in the running to replace Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, but was unable to attend the audition due to filming commitments.
- He was the original choice to play Kainan in Outlander. He dropped out when filming was delayed, and went on to make Pathfinder instead.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: After the skinny-dipping scene in The Price Of Milk, he developed such an aversion to milk that he had to go for phobia counseling.
- You Look Familiar: He played Cupid and Julius Caesar in the Hercules and Xena universe. He also played Kor in Amazon High, the pilot movie for a third series in the same universe that was never picked up.
