Vernon George Wells (born December 31, 1945) is an Australian film and television
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
who has built his career around action-type films, most often cast as a villain. He began appearing on Australian television shows in the mid-1970s, such as
HomicideHomicide was an Australian police procedural television series made by Crawford Productions for the Seven Network between 1964 and 1977....
and
Matlock PoliceMatlock Police was an Australian Police procedural television series made by Crawford Productions for the 0-10 Network between 1971 and 1975....
and
All The Rivers RunAll The Rivers Run is a television miniseries in 1983 and 1989, starring Sigrid Thornton and John Waters. The miniseries is based on the Australian historical novel by Nancy Cato, first published in 1958. The film is marketed with the tagline A sweeping saga of one woman's struggle for survival...
.
He is best known to international audiences for his role of "Wez", in the 1981 science fiction action film
Mad Max 2: The Road WarriorMad Max 2, the second film in the Mad Max , is a 1981 Australian post-apocalyptic action film directed by George Miller. This sequel to Miller's 1979 film Mad Max was a worldwide box office success that launched the career of lead actor Mel Gibson...
.
Vernon George Wells (born December 31, 1945) is an Australian film and television
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
who has built his career around action-type films, most often cast as a villain. He began appearing on Australian television shows in the mid-1970s, such as
HomicideHomicide was an Australian police procedural television series made by Crawford Productions for the Seven Network between 1964 and 1977....
and
Matlock PoliceMatlock Police was an Australian Police procedural television series made by Crawford Productions for the 0-10 Network between 1971 and 1975....
and
All The Rivers RunAll The Rivers Run is a television miniseries in 1983 and 1989, starring Sigrid Thornton and John Waters. The miniseries is based on the Australian historical novel by Nancy Cato, first published in 1958. The film is marketed with the tagline A sweeping saga of one woman's struggle for survival...
.
He is best known to international audiences for his role of "Wez", in the 1981 science fiction action film
Mad Max 2: The Road WarriorMad Max 2, the second film in the Mad Max , is a 1981 Australian post-apocalyptic action film directed by George Miller. This sequel to Miller's 1979 film Mad Max was a worldwide box office success that launched the career of lead actor Mel Gibson...
. After
Mad Max 2, Wells began appearing in Hollywood films, such as the military action film
CommandoCommando is a 1985 American action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The film's use of humor in an action film context became a distinctive element in Schwarzenegger's later roles.-Plot:...
(1985), which starred
Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian American bodybuilder, actor, businessman, and politician, currently serving as the 38th Governor of the state of California....
. In the 2000s, Wells acted in the kids' TV series
Power Rangers: Time ForcePower Rangers: Time Force is the 2001 incarnation of the Power Rangers series, based on the Super Sentai series Mirai Sentai Timeranger, running for 40 half-hour episodes from February to November of 2001. It was the 9th season of Power Rangers...
.
1970s and 1980s
Wells was born in
RushworthRushworth is a township in Victoria, Australia. It is located north of Melbourne and, at the 2006 census, had a population of 2066.-History:...
,
VictoriaVictoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales to the north, South Australia to the west, and Tasmania to the south, across the Bass Strait. Victoria is the most densely populated state, with over 70% of...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
, the son of Eva Maude (
néeA married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage, and in speaking of the many cultures where the practice is traditional for women, the maiden name is the family name that the married name replaces....
Jackson) and Michael Wells.
Wells worked in a quarry, then as a salesman, and then in theatre and rock bands. In the 1970s, he was selected by casting agents to appear in a theatre play, and he started to appear in Australian TV commercials, print ads, local Australian TV shows such as
HomicideHomicide was an Australian police procedural television series made by Crawford Productions for the Seven Network between 1964 and 1977....
and
Matlock PoliceMatlock Police was an Australian Police procedural television series made by Crawford Productions for the 0-10 Network between 1971 and 1975....
and historical TV mini-series like
Against The WindAgainst the Wind can refer to:*Against the Wind , a 1980 album by Bob Seger**"Against the Wind" , a 1980 song*Against the Wind , song and single from Máire Brennan's 1991 album Máire...
,
Sara Dane and
All The Rivers RunAll The Rivers Run is a television miniseries in 1983 and 1989, starring Sigrid Thornton and John Waters. The miniseries is based on the Australian historical novel by Nancy Cato, first published in 1958. The film is marketed with the tagline A sweeping saga of one woman's struggle for survival...
.
His first cinema appearance was a minor role in
Felicity (1979), a low budget, erotic fantasy film. Later Wells was cast as the homicidal biker "Wez", in the big budget
Mad Max 2 (1981) filmed around
SilvertonSilverton has many uses:*Places:** United States*** Silverton, Colorado*** Silverton, New Jersey*** Silverton, Oregon*** Silverton, Ohio*** Silverton, Texas*** Silverton, Washington*** Silverton, Wyoming*** Silverton Township, Minnesota** Elsewhere...
near Broken Hill in outback New South Wales, Australia. It is the role for which he is probably best known to international audiences, as Wells portrays a psychotic, post-apocalyptic gang leader who relentlessly pursues hero
Max Rockatansky"Mad" Max Rockatansky, sometimes referred to as The Road Warrior, is the main character from director George Miller's Mad Max , appearing in the films Mad Max, Mad Max 2, and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome...
(
Mel GibsonMel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American Australian actor, film director and producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in the Mad...
), before meeting a spectacular death at the film's finale.
Hollywood beckoned for Wells, and he spoofed his mad biker role in the popular 1985 teen comedy
Weird ScienceWeird Science is a 1985 teen film written and directed by John Hughes and starring Anthony Michael Hall, Kelly LeBrock and Ilan Mitchell-Smith...
, written and directed by
John HughesJohn Wilden Hughes, Jr. was an American film director, producer and writer. He scripted some of the most successful films of the 1980s and 1990s, including National Lampoon's Vacation; Ferris Bueller's Day Off; Weird Science; The Breakfast Club; Some Kind of Wonderful; Sixteen Candles; Pretty in...
and produced by
Joel SilverJoel Silver is an American Hollywood film producer, director and co-inventor of the sport of Ultimate.-Biography:Silver grew up in South Orange, New Jersey. He attended Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey and Northfield Mount Hermon School, where he is credited with inventing the sport...
. Wells so impressed Silver with his work in that film that he was immediately secured for the role of Bennett, who double-crosses
Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian American bodybuilder, actor, businessman, and politician, currently serving as the 38th Governor of the state of California....
in
CommandoCommando is a 1985 American action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The film's use of humor in an action film context became a distinctive element in Schwarzenegger's later roles.-Plot:...
(1985). When first approached for the role in
Commando, Wells was in Australia working on the feature film,
Fortress based on the real life
Faraday School kidnappingThe Faraday School kidnapping occurred on 6 October 1972 at a one-teacher school in the village of Faraday in Victoria, Australia.- The Kidnapping :...
, in a starring role opposite
Rachel WardRachel Claire Ward, AM is a British actress, columnist, film director and screenwriter who has primarily pursued her career in Australia.-Early life:...
. Wells appeared as Roo Marcus in
Last Man Standing (1987).
1990s and 2000s
In 1992, Wells appeared in one of the few roles in which he is not cast as a villain, in the short-lived 1992 television comedy series
The Amazing Live Sea MonkeysThe Amazing Live Sea Monkeys is a live-action, television series that aired in 1992, running for only 11 episodes before cancellation. The show focused on Sea Monkeys – Dave , Bill , Aquarius – and their creator, The Professor...
. The show was about a professor who accidentally enlarged three Sea Monkeys to human-size, and then had to deal with their comical ineptness in the world. In 1993, Wells starred in the sci-fi film
FortressFortress is a 1993 science fiction film directed by Stuart Gordon and shot at Warner Brothers Movie World in Queensland, Australia. The story takes place in a dystopian future. The main character in the movie, John Henry Brennick and his wife Karen B...
with
Christopher LambertChristophe Guy Denis Lambert , known as Christopher Lambert, is an American-born French actor. He is best known for his role as Connor MacLeod, or simply "The Highlander", from the movie and subsequent movie franchise series of the same name...
.
Many of Wells' roles 1990s and 2000s portrayed villains, as in the films
Circuitry Man (1990),
Kick of Death (1997) and
Starforce (2000), and
Power Rangers: Time ForcePower Rangers: Time Force is the 2001 incarnation of the Power Rangers series, based on the Super Sentai series Mirai Sentai Timeranger, running for 40 half-hour episodes from February to November of 2001. It was the 9th season of Power Rangers...
(2001). In the
Power Rangers episodes, he played the role of Ransik, a mutant crime lord from the year 3000 who travels back in time to take over the world. In 2002, he reprised this role for the Power Rangers Wild Force/Time Force two-part team-up episode entitled
"Reinforcements From the Future."
Wells latest film is
Green Street 2: Stand Your GroundGreen Street 2: Stand Your Ground , is a sequel to the 2005 film Green Street, directed by Lexi Alexander. -Plot:...
which was released in March 2009.
Filmography
- Green Street 2: Stand Your Ground
Green Street 2: Stand Your Ground , is a sequel to the 2005 film Green Street, directed by Lexi Alexander. -Plot:...
(2009)
- Tru Loved
Tru Loved is an independent feature film.-Plot:The title character, Tru , moves from San Francisco with her two lesbian mothers to a conservative suburb in Southern California. She struggles to fit in at her new high school, but finds that difficult...
(principal photography) (2007)
- The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (post-production) (2006)
- Chastity
Chastity is sexual behavior of a man or woman acceptable to the ethical norms and guidelines of a culture, civilization, or religion.In the western world, the term has become closely associated with sexual abstinence, especially before marriage...
(2005)
- King of the Ants
King of the Ants is a 2003 film from director Stuart Gordon. It is based on a novel by writer Charlie Higson, who also wrote the screenplay for the film. The film played at various festivals, but was not released wide theatrically due to its grim nature and content...
(2003)
- Curse of the Forty-Niner (2003)
- Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Looney Tunes: Back in Action is a 2003 live-action/animated hybrid film that tells the story of a hapless stuntman, DJ Drake , who stumbles his way into a plot to possess a mysterious blue diamond in the course of rescuing his famous actor father...
(2003)
- Devil's Knight (2003)
- Power Rangers: Time Force
Power Rangers: Time Force is the 2001 incarnation of the Power Rangers series, based on the Super Sentai series Mirai Sentai Timeranger, running for 40 half-hour episodes from February to November of 2001. It was the 9th season of Power Rangers...
(2001)
- Beneath Loch Ness (2001)
- Space Truckers
Space Truckers, written and directed by Stuart Gordon, is a comedy/sci-fi movie released in the spring of 1996 was filmed at Ardmore Studios, County Wicklow, Ireland.- Synopsis :...
(1996)
- Plughead Rewired: Circuitry Man II (1994)
- Manosaurus (1994)
- Fortress
Fortress is a 1993 science fiction film directed by Stuart Gordon and shot at Warner Brothers Movie World in Queensland, Australia. The story takes place in a dystopian future. The main character in the movie, John Henry Brennick and his wife Karen B...
(1993)
- Circuitry Man (1990)
- The Shrimp on the Barbie
The Shrimp on the Barbie is a 1990 comedy film directed by Michael Gottlieb and starring Cheech Marin. In Australia this movie was released as The Boyfriend From Hell...
(1990)
- American Eagle (1989)
- Innerspace
Innerspace is a 1987 science fiction comedy film directed by Joe Dante and produced by Michael Finnell. Steven Spielberg served as executive producer. The film was inspired by the classic 1966 sci-fi film Fantastic Voyage. It stars Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, Meg Ryan, Robert Picardo, and Kevin...
(1987)
- Fortress
Fortress is a 1986 film directed by Arch Nicholson. The story takes place in an Australian school in a small rural town, where its teacher and students are kidnapped. It was written by Everett De Roche who adapted the based-on-true-events novel by Gabrielle Lord.The movie was shot in Australia. It...
(1986)
- Commando
Commando is a 1985 American action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The film's use of humor in an action film context became a distinctive element in Schwarzenegger's later roles.-Plot:...
(1985)
- Weird Science
Weird Science is a 1985 teen film written and directed by John Hughes and starring Anthony Michael Hall, Kelly LeBrock and Ilan Mitchell-Smith...
(1985)
- Mad Max 2 (1981)
External links