Sharlto Copley

Sharlto Copley (born 27 November 1973) is a South African actor. His acting credits include roles in the Academy Award-nominated science fiction film District 9, the 2010 adaptation of The A-Team, the science fiction film Elysium, the science fiction horror film Europa Report and the dark fantasy adventure film Maleficent. He also played the title character in the science fiction film Chappie, Jimmy in Hardcore Henry, and starred in two seasons as Christian Walker of the TV series Powers. Copley is married to fellow South African actress and supermodel Tanit Phoenix.
== Early life ==
Sharlto Copley was born in Johannesburg 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. His brother, Donovan, is the lead singer of the Cape Town band Hot Water.
== Career ==
Shortly after leaving high school, Copley met Neill Blomkamp, who is younger than him. Copley allowed Blomkamp to use computers at his production company to help the company pitch various projects and allow Blomkamp to pursue his passion and talent for 3D animation and design.
In Peter Jackson and Neill Blomkamp's District 9 (2009), Copley played the lead role of Wikus van der Merwe, an Afrikaner bureaucrat assigned to move a race of extraterrestrial creatures 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. At the 2009 IGN Summer Movie awards, Copley won Favorite Hero  and Best Performance.
In 2010 Copley produced, wrote, and directed an insert for the South African Film and Television Awards called "Wikus and Charlize", featuring fellow South African star Charlize Theron. The clip features Copley as Wikus attempting to track down Charlize Theron 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 Cooper and 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. The same year, Copley portrayed the villain Agent Kruger in Elysium, a science fiction film written and directed by Blomkamp, starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster.
Copley played villain Adrian Pryce in Spike Lee's Oldboy, a remake of the 2003 South Korean film of the same name. He also starred opposite Angelina Jolie in the 2014 Disney film Maleficent and played King Stefan, Princess Aurora's father. He also provided the voice, reference work, and interaction with the cast as Chappie, the titular character of the 2015 film Chappie, also directed by Neill Blomkamp.
In 2015, Copley was announced to star as Christian Walker in the superhero TV series Powers. He later provided the voiceover for the e-tron GT concept promotional video by Audi Sport GmbH.
In March 2018, Copley starred in the crime comedy film Gringo as Mitch Rusk. Copley portrayed the titular character of a biographical film about Ted Kaczynski titled Ted K.
== Personal life ==
Copley has been in a relationship with actress and supermodel Tanit Phoenix since January 2012. They wed on 15 February 2016, in Cape Town, South Africa. The couple have a daughter together.
Copley resides in Cape Town and Los Angeles.
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
Year	Title 	Role 	Director 	Notes
2006	Yellow 	Soldier 	Neill Blomkamp 	Short film
2006	Alive in Joburg 	Sniper 	Neill Blomkamp 	Short film
2009	District 9 	Wikus van der Merwe 	Neill Blomkamp 	
2010	Wikus and Charlize 	Wikus van der Merwe 	Himself 	Short film; also producer, writer and editor
2010	The A-Team 	Captain H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock	Joe Carnahan 	
2013	Europa Report 	James Corrigan 	Sebastián Cordero 	
2013	Elysium 	Agent M. Kruger 	Neill Blomkamp 	
2013	Oldboy 	Adrian Pryce 	Spike Lee 	
2013	Open Grave 	John (AKA Jonah Cooke 	Gonzalo López-Gallego 	
2014	Maleficent 	King Stefan 	Robert Stromberg 	
2014	The Snow King 2: The Snow King 	Orm (voice) 	Aleksey Tsitsilin 	English dub
2015	Chappie 	Chappie 	Neill Blomkamp 	
2016	Hardcore Henry 	Jimmy 	Ilya Naishuller 	Also executive producer
2016	The Hollars 	Ron Hollar 	John Krasinski 	
2016	Free Fire 	Vernon 	Ben Wheatley 	
2017	God: Serengeti 	God 	Neill Blomkamp 	Short film
2018	Gringo 	Mitch Rusk 	Nash Edgerton 	
2018	God: City 	God 	Neill Blomkamp 	Short film
2020	The Last Days of American Crime	William Sawyer 	Olivier Megaton 	
2021	Ted K 	Ted Kaczynski 	Tony Stone 	Also producer
2021	Seal Team 	Switch (voice) 	Greig Cameron & Kane Croudace 	
2022	Beast 	Martin Battles 	Baltasar Kormákur 	
2022	Monkey Man 	 	Dev Patel 	Post-production
2023	Boy Kills World 	Glen van der Koy 	Moritz Mohr 	Post-production
2023	Desert Warrior 	 	Rupert Wyatt 	Post-production
2024	Team Umizoomi: The Movie 	Squiddy (voice) 	James Gunn 	
2025	Little Einsteins: The Movie 	Kreisaken (voice) 	Phil Lord and Christopher Miller	
2030	War of the Toons 	Samuel Petersen (voice) 	Mamoru Hosoda 	
=== Television ===
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
2015-16	Powers 	Christian Walker 	Main role; 20 episodes
2022 	Russian Doll 	Chez 	Recurring role (season 2); 3 episodes
2025-27	Star Wars: The Ninth Jedi	Clavris (voice) 	Major role
2026-29	The Adventures of Net 	Kreisaken (voice)	Major role; all 39 episodes
=== Video games ===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
2016	Payday 2	Jimmy	Voice and face, reprising role from Hardcore Henry
=== Web ===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
2016	Rooster Teeth Shorts	Jimmy	Episode: "Hardcore Henry Meets Rooster Teeth"
Category:Living people
Category:1973 births
Category:21st-century South African male actors
Category:Male actors from Johannesburg
Category:South African expatriates in the United States
Category:South African male film actors
Category:South African male television actors
Category:White South African people
Category:Voice actors