Originally from Wellington, New Zealand, Karl Urban now lives in Auckland. Born on June 7, 1972, he is the son of a leather goods manufacturer (who had hoped hoped that Karl would follow in his footsteps). His first acting role was when he was 8 -- he had a line on a television show. However, he did not act again until after high school. He was offered a role in the NZ drama Shortland Street, as he was preparing to attend Victoria University. After appearing on the show for the 1993-1994 season he attended the university for one year, then left to pursue his acting career. Over the next few years, he landed several theater roles in the Wellington area. Eventually, he moved to Auckland where a number of guest roles in NZ television followed. One of his first roles was that of a heroin addict in the drama _"Shark In the Park" (1989)_ . He was in a movie as well, entitled Once in Chunuck Bay (AKA Chunuk Bair). Other television roles followed, including a guest starring role in the series White Fang. Karl's biggest role yet is Éomer in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Karl is, and has almost always been, very active. He worked on his aunt and uncle's farm for many years doing odd jobs. For filming the Lord of the Ring's movies, he realized that Eomer was a consummate horseman and he was nowhere near that level, so he invested a lot of time learning-six to eight weeks, five days a week, two hours a day. He wanted to get to the point where he could neck reign-hold control of the animal with one hand while leaving the other hand free to wield a sword. He wanted to be so at one with the horse that he wasn't conscious or concerned about what the horse was doing. In addition, Karl also enjoys indoor rock climbing. Has a black lab terrior named Ire (pronounced eye-ree) after a Bob Marley song (from the album Uprising). Hobbies include fishing, surfing, golf, and gardening. Had a beret and coat to perform self-written Frank Spencer skits at the ages of 11 and 12 as school assembly entertainment. Primary school classmate of Jack Yan. Reportedly received a $400,000 bonus for his work on "The Lord of the Rings." [London Daily Mail, December 5, 2003] Has one son, Hunter (born in November 2000), with partner Natalie Did 4 roles on Xena the warrior princess wich were: Cesar the emperor, Kor a caveman, Cupid son of Aphrodite and Mael (biblical character) Isaac's brother. His character of Cupid was originally written into the Xena: Warrior Princess season 5 finale episode "Motherhood" but Urban was unavailable because he was filming The Lord of the Rings elsewhere in New Zealand. As compensation, Rob Tapert wrote the season 6 episode "When Fates Collide" specifically for him, this time for his more popular character of Julius Caesar. Tapert also used this episode as am opportunity to bid farewell to two other fan favorite recurring characters; Alti and Brutus, portrayed by Claire Stansfield and David Franklin. "When Fates Collide" became one of the most popular episodes of the entire series. Was introduced in the second installment of the three big franchises he has appeared in: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), The Bourne Supremacy (2004) and The Chronicles of Riddick (2004).