Arnold Vosloo facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Arnold Vosloo
Vosloo in 2009
Born	(1962-06-16) 16 June 1962 (age 63) Pretoria, Transvaal Province, South Africa
Citizenship	South Africa United States (since 1988)
Education	Technikon Pretoria
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1983–present
Spouse(s)	Nancy Mulford ​ ​ (m. 1988; div. 1991)​ Sylvia Ahí ​ (m. 1998)​

Arnold Vosloo (born 16 June 1962) is an actor from South Africa and the United States. He started his acting journey on stage and in South African movies like Boetie Gaan Border Toe (1984). After moving to the United States in the late 1980s, he became famous for playing bad guys. His most well-known villain role is Imhotep in The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns (2001).

Vosloo also appeared in movies such as Hard Target (1993), Agent Cody Banks (2003), Blood Diamond (2006), and Silverton Siege (2022). He played Zartan in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) and G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013). On TV, he was the terrorist Habib Marwan in the fourth season of 24 (2005). He also had roles as Amit Hadar on NCIS (2009–10), Robin van Rees on Cape Town (2016), and Rudy Tafero on Bosch (2017).

Early Life and Education

Arnold Vosloo was born in Pretoria, South Africa. His parents were both stage actors, so he grew up in an acting family. His father even managed a drive-in movie theater. Arnold has one sister. After finishing high school, he studied drama at the Technikon Pretoria.

Acting Career Highlights

Arnold Vosloo began his acting career in South African theatre. He won several awards for his performances in plays like Don Juan and Hamlet. He quickly became a regular actor at the State Theatre in Pretoria. He also won an award for his role in the TV show Meisie van Suid-Wes.

Early Films in South Africa

In 1984, Vosloo started acting in films. He continued to win awards for his movie roles. Some of his early films include Boetie gaan Border toe, a comedy about the Border War. He also starred in Circles in a Forest (1990) and the sequel Boetie op Manoeuvres (1986). Other films from this time were Morenga (1985), Saturday Night at the Palace (1987), Skeleton Coast (1987), and The Rutanga Tapes (1990).

Moving to American Roles

When Vosloo moved to the United States, he returned to theatre for a short time. He appeared in a play called Born in the R.S.A. in Chicago. His first American movie was Gor (1987). He later took over the main role of Darkman in the sequels Darkman II: The Return of Durant (1994) and Darkman III: Die Darkman Die (1996), after Liam Neeson played the character in the first film.

Famous Villain Roles

Vosloo is well-known for playing villains. He was the bad guy in the John Woo film Hard Target (1993), which starred Jean-Claude Van Damme. His most famous villain role is Imhotep, an ancient Egyptian high priest, in The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns (2001). In 2003, he played François Molay, a henchman for the main villain, in the movie Agent Cody Banks.

In 2004, The Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride opened at Universal Studios theme parks. Vosloo and Brendan Fraser helped promote these rides, where they both appear.

Television Appearances

Besides his film work, Vosloo has been a guest star in many TV series. These include American Gothic (1995), Nash Bridges (1995), Charmed (2000), Alias (2004), and NCIS (2009). He was a main character in Veritas: The Quest (2003). He also had a big role in the fourth season of 24 (2005) as the terrorist leader Habib Marwan. In 2009, Vosloo appeared in three episodes of Chuck as the agent Vincent.

Recent Projects

In 2004, Vosloo returned to South Africa to film Forgiveness. This movie is about a former policeman who tries to find the family of an anti-Apartheid activist he killed. In 2006, he played Colonel Coetzee, a mercenary, in the film Blood Diamond, which was partly filmed in South Africa.

Vosloo has also lent his voice and likeness to video games. He was the main hero, Saul Myers, in the video game Boiling Point: Road to Hell (2005). He played Zartan, a master of disguise, in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) and again in G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013).

Personal Life

In 1988, Arnold Vosloo became a United States citizen. He married his co-star Nancy Mulford, but they divorced three years later. On October 16, 1998, he married Silvia Ahí, a marketing director. Vosloo and Ahí are spokespersons for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), which helps animals.

Vosloo once joked that people sometimes confused him with actor Billy Zane because they look similar.

Filmography

Film Roles

Television Roles

Video Game Roles

See also

In Spanish: Arnold Vosloo para niños