Manu Bennett Movies and Career Information

Manu Bennett (born 10 October 1969) is an actor from New Zealand who has appeared in television series and movies. Born in New Zealand, Bennett's mother was an Australian bikini model, his father a New Zealand singer. The family moved to Australia when Bennett was a few months old. On his father's side, Bennett is of Maori descent (specifically Te Arawa and Ngāti Kahungunu) and Irish stock. There is Scottish and Spanish blood on his mother's side. He was raised mostly between Sydney and Newcastle, Australia. In 1986 Bennett returned to New Zealand to attend Te Aute College, where he played for the 1st XV. Upon returning to Australia, Bennett was chosen in the New South Wales Schoolboys Rugby Union Team. Interested in modern dancing, classical ballet and piano, Bennett quit rugby to attend university to study dance and drama, then travelled to Los Angeles on a scholarship to attend the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. Bennett's professional acting career began in 1993 in the teen soap Paradise Beach. He then played guest roles in other Australian TV dramas, including Water Rats, All Saints, and Beastmaster. Bennett then starred alongside Claudia Karvan in the mini series The Violent