Arnold Vosloo

Arnold Vosloo (born 16 June 1962) is a South African actor, best known for playing Imhotep in The Mummy (1999) and its 2001 sequel The Mummy Returns, as well as the role of the superhero Darkman in the sequel Darkman II: The Return of Durant (1994) and its 1996 sequel, Darkman III: Die Darkman Die. and more recently, a South African Mercenary named Colonel Coetzee (loosely based on Eeben Barlow) in the film Blood Diamond, a Middle Eastern terrorist named Habib Marwan in the television series 24, and Zartan in the film G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and its 2013 sequel, G.I. Joe: Retaliation. --- An Afrikaner of Dutch and German descent, Vosloo was born into a Pretoria acting family, his parents having been stage-actors. They lived in Despatch, where his father ran a drive-in theater, and Alberton. He has one sister. His acting talent was discovered quite early in a school play. After high school and military service (from which he received a medical discharge), he took drama courses at the Pretoria Technikon. Vosloo began his acting career in the South African theatre where he won several Dalro Awards for his performances in such plays as Don Juan, Hamlet, and Môre is 'n Lang Dag (Tomorrow is a Long Day) and he quickly became a regular at Pretoria's State Theatre. He also starred in Torch Song Trilogy and won another award for the TV show, Meisie van Suid-Wes (Girl from South-West-Africa). In 1984, he moved on to film where he continued Dalro Award-winning performances in films such as Boetie gaan Border toe (Little brother goes to the border, a comedy about the Border War) acting alongside fellow South African actor Frank Opperman, and Circles in a Forest (based on the book Kringe in 'n Bos by author Dalene Matthee) in 1990. Vosloo also starred in the "Boetie" sequel,Boetie op maneuvers (Boetie on maneuvers) in 1986. Vosloo also starred in Morenga (1985), Saturday Night at the Palace (based on the play by Paul Slabolepszy about racism in South Africa),Skeleton Coast (1987) and The Rutanga Tapes (1990). Upon arriving in the U.S., Vosloo returned to the theatre where he appeared in Born In The R.S.A. at Chicago's Northlight Theatre and in the NY's Circle In The Square Uptown's short-lived production of Salomé (1992) together with Al Pacino. His American film debut was in 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992). He later appeared in the two less successful sequels to the 1990 film Darkman — Darkman II: The Return of Durant (1994) and Darkman III: Die Darkman Die (1996), filling the shoes of Liam Neeson as the titular character Darkman. --- In 1988, Vosloo became a naturalized United States citizen after marrying his Act of Piracy and Skeleton Coast co-star Nancy Mulford; they divorced three years later. On 16 October 1998, he married Southern California native Silvia Ahí, a Mexican-American marketing director.