David Wenham is an Australian actor who has a well-established career in the film and television industry, along with an active theater career. He is popular for his roles as Faramir in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Carl in Van Helsing, Dilios in 300 and its sequel 300: Rise of an Empire, and Neil Fletcher in Australia. He is also known in Australia for his role as Diver Dan in SeaChange.

Early life
Wenham was born in Sydney to Kath and Bill Wenham and has five older sisters and one older brother. He was raised in the Roman Catholic faith and attended Christian Brothers` High School, Lewisham. He graduated from Theatre Nepean at the University of Western Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts (Performing Arts) in 1987, after which he ventured into the acting business.

Personal life
Wenham has been dating Kate Agnew for a very long time and the couple have two daughters, Eliza Jane and Millie.

Movie Career
David Wenham made his debut in the film industry in 1992 with Greenkeeping, portraying the role of Trevor, followed by another project in the same year, Virginia Rouse`s Seeing Red as Frank. His next movie came after two years - Jackie McKimmie`s Gino as Trevor, and Martin Campbell`s No Escape as Hotel Guard No. 2. He was then seen in Cosi and Idiot Box in 1996, and The Boys and A Little Bit of Soul in 1998. The actor featured in a lead role in the 1999 movie Molokai: The Story of Father Damien as Father Damien. It is a biographical film of Father Damien, a Belgian priest working at the Kalaupapa Leprosy Settlement on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. A complete contrast to this was his role in his next film Better Than Sex co-starring Susie Porter, revolving around two people who have a one-night stand and wonder how to continue their relationship. After a supporting role in the Australian-American pseudo-pastiche film Moulin Rouge! (2001), the actor appeared in the Australian thriller-drama The Bank opposite Anthony LaPaglia as Jim Doyle, a maverick mathematician. John Stainton`s The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course and Gillies MacKinnon`s Pure were his 2002 releases, but his role as Faramir, a prince of the Stewards of Gondor and captain of the Ithilien Rangers, in the epic high fantasy adventure The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), shot him to fame. In the very next year, he reprised the role of Faramir in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Post this, he was seen in Gettin` Square as a small-time criminal Johnny Spitieri.

Wenham`s 2004 release was Van Helsing as Carl, a friar of the Holy Order, but the movie got negative reviews. This followed with Three Dollars as Eddie Harnovey, a man of principles who leads a happy life, and The Proposition as Eden Fletcher starring opposite Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, and Emily Watson. His next popular role was Dilios, a Spartan soldier, in Zack Snyder`s epic fantasy war film 300 in 2007. The movie received a few nominations at the 2008 Saturn Awards and also won awards for Best Director and Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film. The actor then made appearances in movies like Married Life as John O`Brien and The Children of Huang Shi as Barnes in 2008. In the same year, he was seen in the Australian-American-British movie Australia as station manager Neil Fletcher. Subsequent to this, he featured in movies like Public Enemies, Oranges and Sunshine, along with a voice role in Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga`Hoole for the character of Digger.

In 2014, Wenham reprised his popular role of Dilios in the epic historical fantasy 300: Rise of an Empire, a sequel to the 2007 film 300. He then played the role of a golf champion Patrick in Robert Connolly`s Australian 3D children`s drama Paper Planes. The movie performed strongly at the domestic box office in Australia but it was only moderately successful internationally. Wenham then lent his voice to the character of Jacko in the 2015 Blinky Bill the Movie. His 2016 releases include Ivan Sen`s crime thriller Goldstone as Johnny, and Garth Davis` drama film Lion based on the non-fiction book A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley. Lion stars Wenham alongside Dev Patel, Rooney Mara, and Nicole Kidman.

Television career
David Wenham started his television career by appearing in single episodes of television series like A Country Practice as Ambulance man 1, and Sons and Daughters as Debt Collector, both in 1987. In the following year, he was again seen in A Country Practice as Scott Galbraith, for two episodes. Then came the mini-series Come In Spinner as an Australian soldier, and Police Rescue as Ferret. For the third time, he featured in A Country Practice in 1992 but portrayed a different role of David Cornish. In 1994, the actor essayed the role of William Cassidy in Blue Heelers and re-appeared in the show after two years but as Robbie Doyle. He was seen as Dr. Chrobak in the 1994 Australian television series Escape from Jupiter and its follow-up series Return to Jupiter.

Wenham then got the role of Dan Della Bosca in the television series SeaChange (1998-1999), in which he featured for 15 episodes. Post this, his projects include the telemovie The Brush-Off as Murray Whelan, two-part mini-series Answered by Fire as Mark Waldman, Narrator in Deadliest Warrior, and for 10 episodes as Andrew Fraser in Killing Time. The drama series Killing Time is based on the true story of high-profile lawyer Andrew Fraser, in which Wenham starred as the lead protagonist alongside actors like Diana Glenn, Colin Friels, Richard Cawthorne, and Kris McQuade. He then was seen in Top of the Lake as Al Parker, the head of the local police station, and as a Melbourne lawyer Julian McMahon in Better Man, and gained an appreciation for both roles. This followed with The Code as Ian Bradley and Banished as Captain Arthur Phillip, 1st Governor of New South Wales. In 2015, he appeared in the show Who Do You Think You Are? He also featured in 10 episodes of Iron Fist (2017). His other projects include Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017), Peter Rabbit (2018), In Like Flynn (2018), Dirt Music (2019) and Elvis (2021).