Joel Edgerton
Australian actor, screenwriter and director who played the fictional mixed martial arts fighter Brendan Conlon in Warrior (2011).
Quick Facts
AustraliaBiography
Joel Edgerton is an Australian actor, screenwriter and director. He was born on 23 June 1974 in Blacktown, New South Wales, and studied at the Nepean Drama School of Western Sydney University. His brother Nash Edgerton is a filmmaker and stuntman.
He is tied to combat sports by the role of the fictional MMA fighter Brendan Conlon in the film Warrior (2011), written and directed by Gavin O'Connor. In the fictional Sparta tournament with a prize of 5 million dollars, the brothers Tommy and Brendan Conlon meet in the final. For his fight with Tom Hardy, Edgerton was nominated for an MTV Movie & TV Award in the Best Fight category. Real fighters also appeared in the film, among them Kurt Angle, Nate Marquardt, Anthony Johnson and Rashad Evans. We have not been able to verify in the sources whether he himself trained in martial arts or how he prepared for the role.
Outside combat films he played Owen Lars in the Star Wars films of 2002 and 2005 and in the series Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022), Gawain in King Arthur (2004) and Tom Buchanan in The Great Gatsby (2013). He directed, wrote and produced the film The Gift (2015), and for the role of Richard Loving in the film Loving (2016) he was nominated for a Golden Globe.
Filmography
A screen role does not mean the person actually practises the art — that is listed above.