Canadian actors and actresses are common in Hollywood. With many Canadian cities providing the location for the filming of different Hollywood projects, the interwoven nature of Canadian actors and American productions is practically a given. The collaboration has given fame to names like , Seth Rogen, , etc. While Canada is not short of popular actors and actresses who have made their name on the other side of the pond, it also has those who haven’t had their time in the spotlight as much as their other Maple Leaf counterparts. Christopher Heyerdahl is one of such names. He has been in Hollywood since 1987, appearing in films like The Twilight Saga’s New Moon and Catwoman. Read below to learn more about him.
Christopher Heyerdahl’s Bio
Christopher Heyerdahl is a British Columbia born Canadian actor. He was born on September 18, 1963, to a Norwegian father and a Scottish mother. His father, who is a cousin to the famous Norwegian adventurer, Thor Heyerdahl relocated to Canada in the ’50s. While a lot of people relocate to new countries with different cultures and abandon their culture in favor of their new culture, Christopher’s father held on to his heritage and passed it along to his son. Christopher, despite being born and raised in Canadian life, speaks Norwegian. He even attended the University of Oslo, Norway.
His originally intended career path was to become a psychologist; acting was never a goal for him. However, when acting came knocking at the door of his heart, he abandoned psychology and pursued acting, spending two years with the Stratford Theatre Festival.
He started his onscreen career in 1987, in a guest appearance on the show, 21 Jump Street. He played the character, Jake and after a few years, where he failed to have any onscreen credit to his name, he was cast as Leonid in the show, Are You Afraid of the Dark? Despite appearing in just two episodes, his performance on the show helped him gain a stronger footing in the film and television industry.
Since his appearance on the show, Heyerdahl has been a regular face on various Hollywood projects, both in film and television. He has starred in over 40 films and television projects in an extensive filmography that includes The Peacekeeper, Lassie, Napoleon, Blade: Trinity, Andromeda, Stargate SG-1, The Chronicles of Riddick, Smallville, Killer Wave, and many others.
In 2011, he started appearing on the highly rated show, Hell on Wheels, playing a character named “the Swede”. In starred in 39 episodes of the show which ran from 2011 to 2016. His performances earned him multiple awards nominations like the Leo Award for Best Supporting Performance (2015), ACTRA Montreal Award and Golden Maple Award.
His tall physique and menacing look when he chooses to appear as such makes him a strong candidate for villain roles, which he delivers well as is seen in his roles as Zor-El and as Marcus, a vampire in the Twilight Saga series.
Since his acting debut, he has featured in a total of 104 film and television projects. He has 10 award nominations to his name.
Is He Married? Wife, Family
Some actors and actresses go to great lengths to keep their private life out of the press. It is their own measure of creating a space for themselves where they can just be without worrying about the public implications of their utterances or actions. It also a means of having a semblance of a normal life for the rest of their family who might not want the extra attention that comes with being a relative of a Hollywood star.
Christopher Heyerdahl has managed to achieve all of this for his family – both his nuclear and extended families. Other than their descent in relation to his ethnicity, his parents’ identities are unknown and despite the rumors of a marital life with children, Christopher has drawn little attention to his marital life. All we know so far is his wife is a high school teacher who introduced him to the Twilight Saga story. There is no factual information about the existence of children in the couple’s life. He currently resides in Montreal with his wife.
Height
Christopher Heyerdahl stands at an intimidating 6 feet 4 inches. His tall lanky physique has helped his regular appearances in villain roles. He also weighs 88.5 kg.
