Ben Fransham

Ben Fransham is a New Zealand actor with a broad catalogue of energetic performances, albeit with a certain affinity for projects involving the undead. Unusually, he was a professionally trained ballet dancer before turning his focus to acting, and he has imbued his many character roles in theatre, musicals and film with unique physical versatility. Fransham is best known for his turn as the ancient and unnerving vampire Petyr in Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement's internationally renowned What We Do in the Shadows (2014). As well as featuring in Ash vs Evil Dead (2015), Fransham's previous projects for Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi include the horror feature film 30 Days of Night (2007) and fantasy action series Legend of the Seeker (2008), in which he played a variety of roles. Fransham also has a continuing association with Peter Jackson's productions, dating back to Heavenly Creatures (1994), and his proficient motion-capture work can be found in most of Weta Digital's collaboration in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) (and the remaining films in the trilogy), The Adventures of Tintin (2011), I, Robot (2004), District 9 (2009), King Kong (2005) and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) (as well as the rest of the trilogy).