Jed Brophy
There are few actors on The Lord of the Rings Trilogy project that have worked more closely with Peter Jackson than Jed Brophy. A well-established actor from New Zealand who is also an extremely capable horseman, Brophy began acting in the late 80s. His screen debut was as the policeman who plays negotiator in 1988’s Small War on the Edge of Town, a National Film Unit drama about an outsider (Peter Hambletonwho plays Gloin in The Hobbit movies) living in his housetruck. Brophy followed it with an “enjoyable” lead role in Gaylene Preston relationship drama Married, an hour-long piece for television, then played screen brother to Brit star Robert Powell in World War I Gallipoli tale Chunuk Bair.
His professional acting career began taking off in 1992 when he landed roles in several movies including Peter Jackson’s comedy-horror “Braindead.” Shortly after, in 1994, Brophy acted in another Peter Jackson film, the critically-acclaimed “Heavenly Creatures.” Jed went on to play the character of Dr. Jack Galloway on soap” Shortland Stree”t in 1998 before playing various roles in “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” (Nazgul) and “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” (Sharku/Snaga/Warg Rider). Following appearances in the Lord of the Rings movies, Jed went on to sail the seven seas as a member of the crew of the Venture in Peter Jackson’s remake of “King Kong” (Venture Crew) and police “prawns” and people in “District 9″ (James Hope – police officer).
Factoids: Jed endured hours of full body prosthetics and make-up for his role as Sharku in The Lord of the Rings. Aside from his own acting, Brophy has done stints teaching acting students at Toi Whakaari and Whitireia’s College of Performing Arts.