Oded Fehr

Tall, dark and exotically handsome, actor Oded Fehr has made a career for himself most often playing dashing heroes, mysterious saviors and loyal soldiers. The Israeli-born actor first turned moviegoers' heads as the intimidating Ardeth Bey, keeper of the secret of "The Mummy" (1999), in Stephen Sommers' updating of the classic Universal horror film.

After its worldwide box-office success, Fehr worked steadily in projects like the Rob Schneider comedy, "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo" (1999) and the inevitable sequel, "The Mummy Returns" (2001). He became a staple on television as well, with both guest and starring roles on series like the action-thriller "UC: Undercover" (NBC, 2001-02), the witchcraft soap "Charmed" (The WB, 1998-2006), and the anti-terrorism adventure-drama "Sleeper Cell" (Showtime, 2005-07).

Other film work included a supporting role opposite Milla Jovovich in "Resident Evil: Retribution" (2012) as Carlos Oliveira, a character he first portrayed in the second and third installments of the popular video game movie franchise. Often compared to actors like Omar Sharif or Maximilian Schell, Fehr's innate masculinity and natural charisma made him a go-to actor when casting international men of mystery.

Born Nov. 23, 1970 in Tel Aviv, Israel, Fehr's German father was a scientist who relocated the family to Israel after working in the United States. Fehr's parents split when he was 15, but he remained in Israel with his Dutch-Spanish mother and siblings while his father returned to Germany. He completed his compulsory service with the Israel Defense Force after high school and joined the Israeli Sea Corp from 1989 to 1992, with his specialty reportedly being counter-intelligence, before relocating to Frankfort to spend time with his father.

While there, he worked as security for Israel's El Al Airlines and attended a local college, studying business administration with the intent of joining his father in a marketing and communications company. After a very short time, however, he lost interest in this career path, instead pursuing action as a career after taking a course in English drama while in school. A role in a theatrical production of David Mamet's "Sexual Perversity in Chicago" cemented his decision to become a performer. To his surprise, his scientifically-minded father supported the risky choice.

Fehr journeyed to London to study acting at the Old Vic Theatre School, training there from 1994-97. While in London, he logged time in several stage productions and had supporting roles on U.K. television series like "The Knock" (ITV, 1994-2000), which focused on the lives of custom agents. Eventually, he worked his way up to theatrical films, starting with the UK thriller "Killer Net" in 1998. The following year, he played the international gigolo whom Rob Schneider is mistaken for while minding his house in the crude but successful "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo" (1999). That same year, he landed the role of Bey in "The Mummy," a part which brought him his widest exposure to date. Director Stephen Sommers was so impressed with Fehr's presence and performance that he rewrote the script's conclusion so that the character could return for the inevitable sequel.

Fehr logged time in small Arabic roles in two American TV miniseries - "Cleopatra" (1999) and "Arabian Nights" - before returning to play Bey again in the weak sequel "The Mummy Returns" (2001). Unfortunately, Fehr's movie career stalled after around this time; his turn in the Western "Texas Rangers" (2001) went largely unnoticed due to distribution problems, so he wisely shifted his attention to television, where he worked steadily for the next few years. His first attempt at a network series came with "UC: Undercover," an action-drama program about an elite team of federal agents who pursue criminals from within their operations. However, the series lasted only one season, leaving Fehr to jump over to CBS to co-star with Blythe Danner and Dana Delaney on "Presidio Med" (2002-2003), a medical drama set in a San Francisco hospital. Despite the presence of "ER" (NBC, 1994-2009) producer John Wells on its creative team, the show only aired 11 episodes before folding.

Fehr returned to the movies as a soldier betrayed by his own superiors during a zombie outbreak in "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" (2004), the sequel to "Resident Evil" (2002), which was based on the popular video game. Fehr returned to television in 2004 with a recurring role on "Charmed" (The WB, 1998-2006) as Zankou, a powerful demon that fights with (and later against) the sisterhood of witches (Alyssa Milano, Holly Marie Combs and Rose McGowan). Fehr also lent his deep and distinctive voice to the venerable comic book character Dr. Fate on the animated series "Justice League" (Cartoon Network, 2001-04) and "Justice League Unlimited" (Cartoon Network, 2004-06). He reprised his "Deuce Bigalow" role as a cameo in the staggeringly crude sequel, "Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo" (2005), before taking the role of Faris al-Farik, a Muslim extremist who operates a terror cell in the United States in the critically lauded series "Sleeper Cell." That same year, he also provided a voice for the video game "Champions of Norrath: Realms of EverQuest," and co-starred as a wealthy Arab prince who sponsors the underdog horse in "Dreamer" (2005), a family film starring Dakota Fanning and Kurt Russell. In 2007, Fehr returned to the "Resident Evil" franchise for its third film, "Resident Evil: Extinction," this time helmed by Russell Mulcahy.

Working on a number of smaller, direct-to-DVD productions, Fehr was particularly intimidating as a masked inquisitor in the little-seen thriller, "The Betrayed" (2008), starring Melissa George. Back on television, he played Eli Cohn, leader of a resistance cell group on the second season of the promising, but ultimately doomed sci-fi adventure series "V" (ABC, 2008-2011), a reboot of a similarly short-lived show from the mid-1980s. Fehr returned to the world of animated DC superheroes with recurring voice roles on the Saturday morning series "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" (Cartoon Network, 2008-09) and "Young Justice" (Cartoon Network, 2010-12). Called back to the apocalyptic world of zombies, guns and a seemingly unkillable Milla Jovovich, the actor appeared in "Resident Evil: Retribution" (2012), the fifth entry in the long-running franchise.