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Dean O’Gorman during The Hobbit Q&A at Boston Comicon.
Wikipedia

Top 10 Amazing Facts about Dean O’Gorman

Dean Lance O’Gorman is a New Zealand actor, photographer, and artist. In the Hobbit trilogy, he portrayed the dwarf Fli, and in the fantasy series The Almighty Johnsons, he played the Norse God Bragi/Anders Johnson. In Trumbo, he also played Kirk Douglas (2015).

O’Gorman was born on 1 December 1976 in Auckland, New Zealand, to landscape painter Lance and Christine O’Gorman. Brett, his younger brother, is an actor and comedian as well. He is of Irish and English origin; his maternal grandfather was an  English paratrooper during WWII.  

O’Gorman began karate at the age of ten and attended Rangitoto College in Auckland. He had intended to pursue graphic design at first. In January 2016, he married his long-term girlfriend Sarah Wilson, and his daughter was born in May 2019.

Here are  the top 10 amazing facts about Dean O’Gorman

1. He was discovered by a casting agent during a school speech competition

O’Gorman was spotted by a casting agent at the age of 12 during a school speech competition.  After appearing in a variety of television parts in the Australian film The Rogue Stallion, he landed a starring role in the 1995 teen romance Bonjour Timothy, for which he received a Best Actor nomination at the Giffoni Film Festival in Italy. 

2. From a young age, he demonstrated that he was a natural on screen.

After a casting agent noticed him in a school speech contest, he was cast as one of the heroes in the WWll adventure series Raiders of the South Seas at the age of 13. At the age of 17, O’Gorman found himself in the film Bonjour Timothy, an encounter that featured significantly more joy than tension. “I enjoyed it,” he says. “I just had a great time.” He received Best Actor nominations in both New Zealand and Europe’s largest children’s film festival (Giffoni in Italy).

3. He won the role of Harry Martin in the popular New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street and appeared in locally-shot shows Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess multiple times

Dean O’Gorman during The Hobbit Q&A at Boston Comicon.
Wikipedia

O’Gorman first appeared on television in the early 1990s. His career took off in the middle of the decade, when he landed the part of Harry Martin in the iconic New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street, as well as repeated appearances in locally produced productions Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. O’Gorman also appeared as Iolaus in the short-lived Young Hercules alongside Ryan Gosling and as Luke Morgan, Jodi Fountain McLeod’s love interest, in the Australian hit McLeod’s Daughters.

4. He has made multiple guest appearances on several television shows

He has been on various television shows, including The Cult, Go Girls, and Legend of the Seeker. O’Gorman starred as Anders Johnson in the New Zealand fantasy series The Almighty Johnsons from 2011 to 2013.  In the 2016 miniseries Hillary, he portrayed mountaineer George Lowe.

5. He is into photography and arts

O’Gorman is a photographer and artist in addition to being an actor. During an interview with Tom Cardy, he admitted to having difficulty obtaining a job during his first year in Los Angeles. He was nearly bankrupt until he was found by a friend’s agency and began to receive more employment, dividing his time between painting, photography, and acting.

6. His first exhibition was at the Page Blackie Gallery in Wellington, New Zealand 

Between June 19 and 23, 2012, he exhibited his debut show at the Page Blackie Gallery in Wellington, New Zealand. The show was themed around the Vietnam War. O’Gorman sought the counsel of a New Zealand Vietnam veteran to improve the correctness of his writing. The models for this gallery featured other cast members from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Almighty Johnsons, who preferred to dress and set up photos themselves. The pictures of O’Gorman were shown at the 2015 Berlin B3 Biennial. 

7. He received five awards at the 2001 New Zealand Film and Television Awards

Dean O’Gorman and Aidan Turner during The Hobbit Q&A
at Boston Comicon. Photo by Maria Uminski-Wikimedia

The New Zealand film and television awards have gone by a variety of titles and have been organized by several industry associations. After a five-year absence, New Zealand revived a solo New Zealand Television Awards in 2017. The film awards are still given out on an irregular basis as the Rialto Channel New Zealand Film Awards (Moas).

However,  some Subsequent appearances which won five New Zealand Film and Television Awards in 2001 include the following co-starring as Mark in ensemble drama When Love Comes and starring opposite Melanie Lynskey in road movie Snakeskin.

8.He later made a cameo appearance in an advertisement for Air New Zealand

Dean O’Gorman during The Hobbit Q&A at Boston Comicon.
Wikipedia

Air New Zealand Limited is New Zealand’s flag carrier airline. The airline, based in Auckland, conducts scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 32 international destinations in 18 countries, predominantly in and around the Pacific Rim.  Since 1999, the airline has been a member of the Star Alliance. 

Dean, however, had cameo appearances in two Air New Zealand advertisment: An Unexpected Briefing and Just another day in Middle-earth.

9.He was nominated for Best Actor at the Giffoni Film Festival in Italy

After appearing in a variety of television parts in the Australian film The Rogue Stallion, he landed a starring role in the 1995 teen romance Bonjour Timothy, for which he received a Best Actor nomination at the Giffoni Film Festival in Italy. The Giffoni International Film Festival is one of the world’s most well-known children’s film festivals.

10. He also portrayed Kirk Douglas in Trumbo 

This is a poster for Trumbo.

Kirk Douglas was an actor and director from the United States. After growing up in poverty, he made his film debut with Barbara Stanwyck in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946). Throughout the 1950s, Douglas rose to prominence as a top box-office star recognized for serious dramas such as westerns and war films. He was a however, portrayed by Dean O’gorman in Trumbo in 2015.