Sharlto Copley (born 27 November 1973) is a South African producer, actor, and director who has produced and co-directed short films which have appeared at the Cannes Film Festival, as well as commercials and music videos. He is perhaps best known for playing the roles of Wikus van der Merwe in the Oscar-nominated science fiction film District 9, Howling Mad Murdock in the 2010 adaptation of The A-Team, Agent C.M.Kruger in the science fiction film Elysium and King Stefan in the dark fantasy adventure film Maleficent.
Early life
Sharlto Copley was born in Pretoria and educated at St. Andrew's Preparatory School in Grahamstown and Redhill School in Morningside, Johannesburg. His father is Dr. Bruce Copley, a former university professor, currently a holistic educator/entertainer and multi-instrumentalist. His mother, Linda Stocks-Copley, is a Christian Science Healer living in Cape Town. His brother, Donovan, is the lead-singer of the successful Cape Town band Hotwater, whose music has been featured on BBC World and whose song 'Bushfire' was used in advertisements by the Italian shoe manufacturer Primigi. His sister, Marisa, is a dancer and fashion & costume designer.
Career
A year after leaving high school, Copley met director Neill Blomkamp. Copley was 22 and Blomkamp was 16, and Copley provided Blomkamp with use of computers at his production company to assist the company with pitches for various projects and allow Blomkamp to further pursue his passion and talent for 3D animation and design.
Copley starred in Peter Jackson's and Neill Blomkamp's District 9, where he played the lead role of Wikus van der Merwe, an Afrikaner bureaucrat assigned to relocate a race of extraterrestrial creatures unexpectedly stranded on Earth. In the film, the aliens, popularly and derogatorily referred to as "prawns", must be moved from District 9, a military-guarded slum in Johannesburg, South Africa, to an internment camp outside the city. Copley improvised all of his dialogue in the film.
In 2009 Copley won the Favorite Hero award at the IGN Summer Movie awards and Best Performance of 2009 for his role in District 9.
In 2010 Copley produced, wrote and directed an insert for the South African Music Awards called "Wikus and Charlize", featuring fellow South African star Charlize Theron. The clip features Copley as Wikus attempting to track down Charlize in Hollywood to help him present the Award for Best Afrikaans Pop album.
Copley then starred alongside Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson in the feature film adaptation of The A-Team, which was produced by Ridley Scott and Tony Scott. Copley used a Southern American dialect for his portrayal of A-Team member H. M. Murdock, and employed other dialects, including Scottish, English, Australian, and his native South African, as part of the character's rapid-fire style. Dwight Schultz, who played Murdock in the original TV series, praised Copley's performance and said Copley was the only actor he knew of who was "true to his character."
Copley guest co-hosted WWE Raw on 7 June 2010, along with his A-Team co-stars Bradley Cooper and Quinton Jackson.
In 2013, Copley played fictional astronaut James Corrigan in Europa Report, the story of a crew of international astronauts sent on a private mission to Jupiter's fourth moon. Also in 2013, Copley portrayed Agent Kruger, the secondary antagonist in Elysium, a science fiction film written and directed by Neill Blomkamp, starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster.
Copley appeared as villain Adrian Pryce in Spike Lee's remake of 2003 South Korean film Oldboy. He also starred as the male lead opposite Angelina Jolie in the 2014 Disney film Maleficent.
In 2013 it was announced Copley would play the lead role in the film Chappie, also directed by Neill Blomkamp. Chappie also stars Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman and Sigourney Weaver. Chappie is Copley's first motion capture performance. Copley was announced to star as Christian Walker in the upcoming TV series Powers.
Personal life
Copley has been in a relationship with actress and fashion model Tanit Phoenix since January 2012. Sharlto resides alternately in Cape Town and Los Angeles.
Filmography
Film
Television
References
External links
- Sharlto Copley at the Internet Movie Database
