Best Christopher Heyerdahl Characters
Christopher Heyerdahl is probably the greatest unsung hero when it comes to modern character acting. He’s carved himself out a nice little niche of character performances across science fiction and horror television and films. From his performance as H.P. Lovecraft in Out of Mind: The Stories of H.P. Lovecraft to his performance as Nazi criminal Ernst Kaltenbrunner to charting the stars as an interstellar vampiric wraith in Stargate: Atlantis.
We’ve put together this list of our favourite Christopher Heyerdahl character performances. Let’s hope you enjoy this list as much as we did curating it.
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H.P. Lovecraft
Christopher Heyerdahl portrayed the titular role of problematic horror author and famously racist, H.P. Lovecraft, in Out of Mind: The Stories of H.P. Lovecraft. In true Heyerdahl form, he inhabited the role so well that it was rather creepy to see his portrayal of the famous horror author in this forgotten made-for-TV film.
Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Ernst Kaltenbrunner was a high ranking S.S Official during World War II. He was also one of the major perpetrators in the Jewish Holocaust. So it makes sense that Christopher Heyerdahl, who is known for portraying morally questionable characters, would portray one of the most hated Nazis of all time in TV docudrama, Nuremberg: Infamy by Trial.
Gaiton
Andromeda was created from the notes that famous Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry, left behind post-humously. One of these was Andromeda, a show which featured many different races in the far off future of the Systems Commonwealth. One of those races was a group of humanoids bred from superhuman DNA and raised on the teachings of Nietzsche. Christopher Heyerdahl played one of these Nietzscheans, who was tasked with relaying a one-worded message to one of the Andromeda crew.
Todd, the Wraith
Appearing on twenty six episodes of Stargate: Atlantis, Christopher Heyerdahl portrayed the wraith known as Todd. Todd first comes into the show as a fellow prisoner of Colonel Shepherd who helps him escape and becomes an on-again, off-again ally of the Stargate: Atlantis team. Todd is easily one of the first characters which began Heyerdahl’s rise to mainstream attention as one of the best character actors in genre television.
Zor-El
Christopher Heyerdahl portrayed Zor-El, the paternal uncle of Superman and the father of Supergirl, in Smallville. The personality traits of Zor-El plays right into the wheelhouse of Heyerdahl’s character acting as he’s cold, calculating and manipulative scientist who was obsessed with Rao’s prophecy and in essence, a fanatic. This is taken to all new heights when Zor-El tries to kill his own daughter, Kara, also known as Supergirl.
Nosferatu
One of Christopher Heyerdahl’s first television roles was in horror anthology series, Are You Afraid Of The Dark?, as none other than Nosferatu. Heyerdahl portrays the evil menacing vampire in the episode entitled “The Tale of the Midnight Menace” which more than portrayed him for the psychopathic murderer turned maniacal vampire in Van Helsing, called “Sam,” whom you’ll find later in this list.
Marcus Volturi
Starring in the Twilight franchise is what catapulted Christopher Heyerdahl into mainstream attention. Heyerdahl plays the role of Marcus Volturi, one of the three leaders of the Volturi clan, a clan of 3000 year old Vampires who are treated like royalty in the Twilight universe. As Marcus, he possesses the bizarre power of relationship identification, in which he can see the emotional ties between individuals in love.
Bigfoot
If you’re familiar with the Canadian science fiction series, Sanctuary, which features all sorts of historical figures and cryptids, then you’re probably familiar with the character known as Bigfoot. Throughout the Sanctuary series, Christopher Heyerdahl portrays the infamous cryptid as the ally of Amanda Tapping’s character, Dr. Helen Magnus. Together, they set out to protect the “santuary,” a zoo enclosure that holds the most unique and endangered species from those who would seek to use them for nefarious ends.
Sam
Christopher Heyerdahl’s portrayal of the character, Sam, in Van Helsing; is easily the most interesting character out of all the other characters on this list. From deaf sociopathic killer to sycophantic vampire to vessel of “The Dark One,” Heyerdahl’s portrayal of Sam ran the full gamut of emotions. Sam made us laugh, made us cry, made us love him, made us hate him – he felt like Christopher Heyerdahl combined the personalities of all his Vampire characters (Nosferatu, Todd, Marcus Volturi) into one character. And we loved every moment of it!
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