Sharlto Copley 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 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.
Sharlto resides alternately in Cape Town and Los Angeles. 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. 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.
Personal life Copley has been in a relationship with actress
and fashion model Tanit Phoenix since January 2012.
Filmography Film
Television References
External links Sharlto Copley at the Internet Movie Database