Cast
Hugh Jackman
as Gabriel Van Helsing
Born on 12 October 1968 in Sydney of English parentage, and the youngest of
5 children, Jackman has a Communications degree with a journalism major from
the University of Technology Sydney. After graduating, he pursued drama at the
Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, immediately after which he was
offered a starring role in the ABC TV prison drama Corelli, opposite his future
wife Deborra-Lee Furness. Several tv guest roles followed, as an actor and variety
compere. An accomplished singer, Jackman has starred as Gaston in the Australian
production of Beauty and the Beast. He appeared as Joe Gillis in the Australian
production of Sunset Boulevard. In 1998 he was cast as Curly in the Royal National
Theatre's production of Trevor Nunn's Oklahoma. Jackman has made two feature
films, the second of which, Erskineville Kings (1999), garnered him an Australian
Film Institute nomination for Best Actor in 1999. Recently he won the part of
Logan/Wolverine in the Bryan Singer- directed comic book movie X-Men (2000).
In his spare time Hugh plays piano, golf and guitar and likes to windsurf. His
feature film credits include Swordfish (2001), Kate & Leopold
(2001) and of course the blockbusters X-Men (2000) and X2 (2003).
Kate
Beckinsale as Anna Valerious
Kate Beckinsale was born 26 July 1973 in England, and has resided in London
for most of her life. After a tumultuous adolescence, she gradually took up
the profession of acting. Kate began attending Oxford University's New College
in the fall of 1991, majoring in French and Russian literature. She had already
decided that she wanted to act, but to broaden her horizons she chose university
over drama school. While in her first year at Oxford, Kate received her big
break in Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About
Nothing. While living alone in France she decided to fully concentrate on
acting. Her and Michael Sheen's daughter Lily was born on 1999. The film that
shot her into internatioal stardom was the war movie Pearl Harbor (2001)
which co-starred Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett. She has since then starred in
productions like Serendipity (2001) alongside John Cusack and most recently
the vampire/werewolf flick Underworld (2003) which will spring a sequence
in 2005. She continues to wear tight clothes in Van Helsing. She recently
got engaged to director Len Wiseman and they are set to walk down the aisle
later this year.
Richard Roxburgh as Count Dracula
The Australian actor was born on 1 January 1962 as the youngest of six siblings
and since graduating in 1986 from the prestigous Australian theatrical school
NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Arts) he has starred in many feature films.
His most recent and most known jobs have included starring roles in the 2000
spy-flick Mission: Impossible II starring Tom Cruise, the Oscar winning
musical Moulin Rouge in 2001 and most recently he starred as Sean Connery's
nemesis in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003). He is engaged
to fellow Van Helsing co-star Silvia Colloca.
David Wenham as Carl
Probably best known as The Lord of the Rings' Faramir the
Australian actor was born on 21 September 1965. Before taking up acting, David
used to call bingo in Sydney's Marrickville Town hall, later he was an insurance
clerk. His daughter Eliza Jane (with Kate Agnew) was born on 10 October 2003.
His feature film credits also include Crocodile Hunter: The Collision Course
(2002) as well as Moulin Rouge (2001).
Will Kemp as Velkan/The Wolf Man
William Kemp entered this world on 29 June 1977 in Hertfordshire, England. Prior
to working in the film industry he was a classically trained dancer and performed
in British and American theatre for seven years. He has starred in two tv movies
and the feature film Mindhunters (2004). His role in Van Helsing is set
to make him known worldwide.
Shuler Hensley as Frankenstein's Monster
The American actor was born in Atlanta on 6 March 1967. At 6' 5" (1.96
m) he still had to wear huge lifts in size 24 shoes to make him appear over
7 feet tall along with padding and a massive amount of make-up, for his role
as Frankenstein's monster in Van Helsing. For his performance in the
Broadway revival of Oklahoma! he won a Tony Award as well as the Laurence
Olivier Theatre Award for Best Supporting Performance.
Elena Anaya as Aleera
Elena hails from Palencia in Spain and was born there on 17 July 1975. She has showed off
most of her acting skills in Spanish productions. She was named as one of European
films' Shooting Stars by European Film Promotion in 2004 and Van Helsing
is set to make her known not only to the Spanish speaking world. She continues to work in both magazines and film productions.
Silvia Colloca as Verona
Apart from her role as one of Darcula's brides in Van Helsing Silvia's
credits include the Swiss Italian tv series L'Avvocato. But she started
out as a stage actress. Acting is not the only thing Silvia is good at - she
is also a trained mezzo soprano. She is engaged to her Van Helsing co-star
Richard Roxburgh whom she had met while filming the movie.
Josie Maran as Marishka
Born Johanna Selhorst Maran, Josie Maran is probably best known from her numerous magazine advertisements. This American model turned actress made her acting debut in the 2002 The Mallory Effect.
Josie was born on 8 May 1978. Apart from Van Helsing she has her next
big release coming up, starring in the much-anticipated The Aviator (2004). She has since launched her own cosmetics line and will be competing in Dancing With The Stars.
Additional Cast:
Kevin J. O'Connor as Igor
Martin Klebba as Dwerger
Allison Queal as Dwerger
Marek Vasut as Villager
Samuel West as Victor Frankenstein
