1. Jonathan Manu Bennett was born on 10 October 1969 and is an Maori Australian actor.
23 Facts About Manu Bennett
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Manu Bennett's mother Jean Bennett was an Australian bikini model and father Ted Bennett a New Zealand singer.
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The family moved to Australia when Bennett was a few months old.
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Manu Bennett was raised mostly between Sydney and Newcastle in Australia, where he attended Merewether High School.
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In 1986, Manu Bennett returned to New Zealand to attend Te Aute College, where he played for the 1st XV.
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Interested in modern dancing, classical ballet, and piano, Manu Bennett quit rugby to attend university to study dance and drama, then traveled to Los Angeles on a scholarship to attend the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute.
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Manu Bennett's professional acting career began in 1993 in the teen soap Paradise Beach.
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Manu Bennett then played guest roles in other Australian TV dramas, including Water Rats, All Saints, and Beastmaster.
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Manu Bennett then starred alongside Claudia Karvan in the miniseries The Violent Earth, produced by French company Gaumont.
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In 1999, Manu Bennett landed his first leading role in a feature film named Tomoko, shot on location in Tokyo, starring opposite Rumiko Koyanagi.
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In 2000, Manu Bennett guest starred in Xena: Warrior Princess as Marc Antony, then played a role opposite Without a Trace star Anthony LaPaglia, where Manu Bennett displayed his dancing skills as a salsa dance teacher in the award-winning Australian film, Lantana.
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Manu Bennett returned to New Zealand in 2000 to appear in the popular television drama, Shortland Street, then went on to play a cop turned lawyer in Street Legal before working with his director cousin Michael Manu Bennett on the Maori Twilight Zone-styled series Mataku before working with Richard Taylor from the Academy Award-winning firm Weta Workshop on Creature Quest.
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In 2003, Manu Bennett hosted Going Straight, a New Zealand reality show.
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In 2006, Manu Bennett was cast in The Marine alongside WWE wrestling star John Cena and Robert Patrick.
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In 2007, Manu Bennett was cast as one of ten convicts alongside Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vinnie Jones in The Condemned.
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In 2006, Manu Bennett was cast opposite Josh Hartnett to play Deputy Billy Kitka in the US film 30 Days of Night.
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From 2010 to 2013, Manu Bennett co-starred in the new American television series Spartacus, about the defiant gladiator Spartacus.
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Manu Bennett played the key role of Crixus, Champion of Capua.
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Manu Bennett was the only cast member of the series who starred on all four seasons, as well as starring in the most episodes of this series.
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In November 2012, Manu Bennett was cast in the first season of Arrow as Slade Wilson, and in March 2013, he was promoted to series regular for the second season.
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Manu Bennett then made several guest appearances in subsequent seasons.
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In May 2014, Manu Bennett revealed he had lost two roles in Stargate Atlantis and the 2011 film Conan the Barbarian to actor Jason Momoa.
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In December 2014, Manu Bennett was cast as the druid Allanon in MTV's television series The Shannara Chronicles.