# Terry Notary

Terry Notary (born August 14, 1968) is an American actor, stunt coordinator /double and movement coach. Notary mainly portrays creatures and animals for the film and television industry, and is known for his motion capture performances in films, including Avatar, The Adventures of Tintin: Secrets of the Unicorn, the Planet of the Apes reboot series, The Hobbit trilogy, and Kong: Skull Island. In 2018, Notary played Cull Obsidian in the Marvel Studios films Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

## Early life

Born in San Rafael, California, Notary was diagnosed as being severely hyperactive at age 7. His parents enrolled him in gymnastics class to burn off excess energy. He won a gymnastics scholarship at the University of California, where he graduated with a major in theatre.

## Career

Notary's first career was as a performer with Cirque du Soleil. His first job as a stunt movement coach was on Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Director Ron Howard was hiring Cirque gymnasts for the film, and after sufficiently impressing Howard, Notary was offered the job of teaching all the actors how to move. Notary followed this new career path to Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes, for which he prepared by studying ape movements at the LA County Zoo. Notary's first motion capture film was Avatar, where he was the movement coach for the Na'vi.
Swedish director Ruben Östlund hired Notary when casting his Palme d'Or-winning 2017 film The Square. For Oleg, a character who acts like an ape, Östlund discovered Notary after running a Google search for "actor imitating monkey" and viewing one of Notary's performances (which was for an audition for Planet of the Apes). His performance in that single scene, in which a performance artist acts like a hostile ape at a fancy dinner, was widely praised, The Independent calling it "the most tense, uncomfortable scene of the year."

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Stunt work | Role |
| 2000 | Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas | Stunt performer / movement coach | — |
| 2001 | The Animal | Stunt performer | — |
| 2001 | Planet of the Apes | Stunt performer / Tim Roth's stunt double (uncredited) / movement coach | Various ape extras |
| 2001 | The Hot Chick | Stunt performer | — |
| 2003 | X2 | Stunt performer / movement coach | — |
| 2003 | Tarzan | Animal movement coach | — |
| 2004 | The Village | Movement coach | — |
| 2005 | Me and You and Everyone We Know | Stunt coordinator | — |
| 2006 | Superman Returns | Stunt performer / movement coach | — |
| 2007 | If I Had Known I Was A Genius | Stunt coordinator | — |
| 2007 | Slipstream | Stunt coordinator (uncredited) | — |
| 2007 | Next | Stunt double (uncredited) / movement coach (uncredited) | — |
| 2007 | Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer | Stunt performer / Silver Surfer MoCap performer / movement coach | — |
| 2008 | The Incredible Hulk | Movement coach / Tim Roth's stunt double (uncredited) / Hulk and Abomination MoCap performers | Soldier (uncredited) |
| 2009 | The Forgotten Ones | Stunt coordinator | Alpha Creature |
| 2009 | Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen | Movement coach | — |
| 2009 | Avatar | Stunts / MoCap performer / movement coach | Banshee (uncredited) |
| 2010 | The Lost Tribe | Executive producer / stunt coordinator / movement coach | Alpha Male |
| 2010 | Primal | Stunt coordinator | — |
| 2011 | Attack the Block | Movement coach | Head Alien |
| 2011 | Rise of the Planet of the Apes | Stunt coordinator / Andy Serkis and Richard Ridings's stunt double / movement coach | Rocket / Bright Eyes |
| 2011 | The Adventures of Tintin | Stunt coordinator / stunt performer / MoCap performer / movement coach | — |
| 2011 | The Cabin in the Woods | Stunt performer / movement coach | Clown |
| 2012 | The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey | MoCap performer / movement coach | Goblin |
| 2013 | The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug | Stunt performer / movement coach | Goblin / Yazneg (pick-up shots) |
| 2014 | Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | Stunt coordinator / movement coach | Rocket |
| 2014 | The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies | Movement coach | Laketown Refugee |
| 2016 | Warcraft | Stunt coordinator / movement coach | Grommash Hellscream |
| 2017 | Kong: Skull Island | MoCap performer | Kong |
| 2017 | War for the Planet of the Apes | Stunt coordinator / movement coach | Rocket |
| 2017 | The Square | Actor | Oleg |
| 2018 | Avengers: Infinity War | Groot MoCap performer | Cull Obsidian (motion capture and voice) |
| 2019 | Avengers: Endgame | Groot MoCap performer | Cull Obsidian (motion capture and voice) |
| 2019 | The Lion King | MoCap performer | — |
| 2019 | Doctor Sleep | Stunt performer / movement coach | — |
| 2020 | The Call of the Wild | MoCap performer | Rail Worker / Buck |
| 2022 | Nope | MoCap performer | Gordy |
| 2022 | Thor: Love and Thunder | Groot MoCap performer | — |
| 2025 | The Electric State | MoCap performer | |
| 2026 | Ramayana: Part 1 | Action Director / MoCap performer |
| 2027 | Ramayana: Part 2 | Action Director / MoCap performer |