Dean O'Gorman Biography

DEAN O'GORMAN

Date of Birth: December 1, 1976

Born in Auckland, New Zealand to parents Vicky and Lance O’Gorman, Dean O'Gorman began acting at the age of 12 after being discovered by a casting agent at a school speech contest.

Dean's acting career kicked into gear in the year of 1995 with teen romance Bonjour Timothy, as a Kiwi teenager who falls for a French-Canadian exchange student staying at his house. His performance earned him a nomination for Best Actor at the Giffoni Italian Film Festival and the New Zealand Film and Television Awards.

For the next five years, an overload of screen roles detoured Dean's plans to study graphic design. First, he landed a regular role as Iolaus in the TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (which later became Young Hercules), staying with the show for four years, while playing guest roles on shows such as Shortland Street and appearing in a series of TV movies, including Return to Treasure Island, Doom Runners and Fearless.

Over the years, he's appeared in regular roles in several other popular Aussie series such as Serial Killers, McLeod's Daughters and most recently, The Almighty Johnsons. Dean has also worked on stage in productions such as Tape, The Ocean Star, The Rabbit, Ruben Guthrie, and Blood Wedding. In 2001, he made ripples on the silver screen with his third feature, Snakeskin, playing a small-town dreamers. The film received many good reviews and won five awards at the 2001 New Zealand Film and TV Awards, including Best Film.

His biggest break to date, however, was when he was cast by Peter Jackson in the Hobbit trilogy as Fili the dwarf. Fili appears in all three of the films: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014).

Filmography

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
Nights in the Gardens of Spain (2010)
Sabotage (2009)
The Legend of Bloody Mary (2008)
Toy Love (2002)
Snakeskin (2001)
When Love Comes (1998)
Bonjour Timothy (1995)