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Manu Bennett
New Zealand actor

Manu Bennett

The basics

Quick Facts

Intro
New Zealand actor
Gender
Male
Place of birth
Auckland
Age
55 years
Stats
Height:
1.7907 m
The details (from wikipedia)

Biography

Jonathan Manu Bennett (born 10 October 1969), is a New Zealand actor. He is known for his portrayal as the Gallic gladiator Crixus in the Starz television series Spartacus. He has also appeared as the orc commander Azog the Defiler in Peter Jackson's three-part film adaptation based on The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, as supervillain Slade Wilson/Deathstroke in The CW TV series Arrow. Since January 2016, he plays the role of Allanon in the MTV series The Shannara Chronicles, based on the Shannara novel series by Terry Brooks.

Early life

Bennett was born in New Zealand in 1969. His mother Jean Bennett was an Australian bikini model and father Ted Bennett a New Zealand singer. The family moved to Australia when Bennett was a few months old. Bennett's father is of Māori (specifically Te Arawa and Ngāti Kahungunu) and Irish descent. His mother is of Scottish descent. He was raised mostly between Sydney and Newcastle in Australia, where he attended Merewether High School. In 1986, Bennett returned to New Zealand to attend Te Aute College, where he played for the 1st XV. Upon returning to Australia, Bennett was chosen in the New South Wales Schoolboys Rugby Union Team. Interested in modern dancing, classical ballet, and piano, Bennett quit rugby to attend university to study dance and drama, then traveled to Los Angeles on a scholarship to attend the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. In an audience Q&A in Boston, Bennett talked about the car accident he experienced at a young age that killed his mother and brother and put him in a two-week coma. At that time, his girlfriend was a ballet dancer which got him into acting; he found it to be the medium in which to direct his emotions saying, "Acting was my route to survival."

Career

Bennett's professional acting career began in 1993 in the teen soap Paradise Beach. He then played guest roles in other Australian TV dramas, including Water Rats, All Saints, and Beastmaster. Bennett then starred alongside Claudia Karvan in the miniseries The Violent Earth, produced by French company Gaumont. In 1996, Bennett participated in theatre. In an open-air production of Lady Chatterley's Lover, based on D. H. Lawrence's novel, directed by Australian film/theatre director Robert Chuter, he played the title role, the gamekeeper Oliver Mellors in which he met model/actor Darlene Rada Ford from Bondi Beach who encouraged him to pursue more serious acting roles abroad.

In 1999, Bennett landed his first leading role in a feature film named Tomoko, shot on location in Tokyo, starring opposite Rumiko Koyanagi. In 2000, Bennett starred in Xena: Warrior Princess as Marc Antony, then played a role opposite Without a Trace star Anthony LaPaglia, where Bennett displayed his dancing skills as a salsa dance teacher in the award-winning Australian film, Lantana.

Bennett returned to New Zealand in 2000 to appear in the popular television drama, Shortland Street, then went on to play a cop turned lawyer in Street Legal before working with his director cousin Michael Bennett on the Māori Twilight Zone-styled series Mataku before working with Richard Taylor from the Academy Award-winning firm Weta Workshop on Creature Quest.

In August 2002, Bennett landed a screen test opposite Angelina Jolie for a part in the Tomb Raider sequel, The Cradle of Life. Actor Gerard Butler ended up beating him for the role.

Bennett in 2014

In 2003, Bennett hosted Going Straight, a New Zealand reality show.

In 2006, Bennett was cast in The Marine alongside WWE wrestling star John Cena and Robert Patrick. In 2007, Bennett was cast as one of ten convicts alongside Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vinnie Jones in The Condemned. In 2006, Bennett was cast opposite Josh Hartnett to play Deputy Billy Kitka in the US film 30 Days of Night.

In 2010, Bennett co-starred in the new American television series Spartacus: Blood and Sand, about the defiant gladiator Spartacus. Bennett played the key role of Crixus, Champion of Capua. He was the only cast member of the show who starred on all three seasons, and the prequel Spartacus: Gods of the Arena as well as starring in the most episodes of this series.

In 2012, he played the villain Azog the Defiler in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and continued to portray the character in the sequels. In November 2012, Bennett was cast in the first season of Arrow as Slade Wilson, and in March 2013, he was promoted to series regular for the second season.

In May 2014, Bennett revealed he had lost two roles in Stargate Atlantis and the 2011 film Conan the Barbarian to actor Jason Momoa.

In December 2014, Manu was cast as the druid Allanon in MTV's television series The Shannara Chronicles.

Personal life

Manu Bennett and Israeli Karin Horen have three daughters together.

In September 2015, Bennett was arrested for misdemeanor assault in San Antonio, Texas, after he had punched a man while drunk at a hotel party.

Filmography

Bennett at Wizard World comic con in 2013

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1998The Violent EarthWanatcha Duvalier
2001LantanaSteve Veldez
2006The MarineBennett
2006The BridgeShort Film
Director, Producer
2007The CondemnedPaco
200730 Days of NightDeputy Billy Kitka
2012The Hobbit: An Unexpected JourneyAzog the Defiler
2013The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
2014The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
2016Beta TestOrson Creed
2017Death Race 2050FrankensteinDirect to video

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1993–1994Paradise BeachKirk BarsbyUnknown episodes
1994Blue HeelersMark DaviesEpisode: "The First Stone"
1996–97Water RatsJoseph Lipinski3 episodes
1998All SaintsDarrenEpisode: "Body and Soul"
1999BeastMasterTerron LeaderEpisode: "The Legend Continues"
2000Xena: Warrior PrincessMarc AntonyEpisode: "Antony and Cleopatra"
2000–01Shortland StreetJack Hewitt7 episodes
2001Head StartDomEpisode: "He Ain't Heavy"
2001Street LegalMatt UrlichSeries Regular; 12 episodes
2002MatakuJohnEpisode: "Going to War"
2003Going StraightHimselfHost
2008The StripBrandon BellEpisode: "Episode Thirteen"
2010–13SpartacusCrixusSeries Regular; 37 episodes
2011Sinbad and The MinotaurSinbadTelevision film
2012Bikie Wars: Brothers in ArmsSunshine4 episodes
2013–15ArrowSlade Wilson / Deathstroke31 episodes
Recurring (Season 1)
Series Regular (Season 2)
Guest (Season 3)
2016–PresentThe Shannara ChroniclesAllanonSeries Regular
2016American Dad!PatrucioVoice; Episode: "Roots"

Video games

YearTitleRoleNotes
2014Lego the Hobbit: The Video GameAzog the DefilerVoice

The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
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