Karl Urban

Born: June 7 1972
Where: Wellington, New Zealand

The actor is best known for the dynamic role of Rohan warrior Eomer in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy.

He landed the part after Jackson viewed a rough cut of the critically-acclaimed indie film The Price of Milk.

Urban first appeared on screen as a child and wrote, starred in and directed film and stage productions while at school.

At the age of 11 he used to don and beret and mac to do impressions of British TV comedy character Frank Spencer in front of his schoolmates.

He put off going to Victoria University while he pursued an acting career, appearing on New Zealand television shows, including Xena: Warrior Princess.

He made his big screen debut in the neo-noir thriller Heaven and went on to star in the Kiwi comedy Via Satellite and Amazone High with Selma Blair.

Urban starred as an anthropologist in the horror-thriller The Irrefutable Truth About Demons and went on to make The Price of Milk.

He landed a supporting role in the chiller Ghost Ship with Gabriel Byrne before embarking on the Lord of the Rings series.

Recent work includes the role of a Russian hitman in The Bourne Supremacy and Vaako alongside Vin Diesel in The Chronicles of Riddick.