Karl Urban made his debut in the New Zealand television drama series ‘Shark in the Park’ created by Greame Tetley. He played the role of ‘Rohann Murdoch’ and starred in 6 episodes of the series. He went on to make his silver screen debut in the New Zealand film ‘Chunuk Bair’ directed by Dale G. Bradley. He next appeared in ‘White Fang’ (1993), ‘Shortland Street’ (1993-1994), ‘Riding High’ (1995), ‘Hercules: The Legendary Journeys’ (1996), ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’ (1996-2001), ‘Amazon High’ (1997), ‘Hercules: The Legendary Journeys’ (1998), and ‘The Privateers’ (2000). In 2002, he portrayed Éomer in the epic fantasy adventure film ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’ directed by Peter Jackson. The film received universal acclaim upon release and came to be regarded as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. It was also a phenomenal box office hit and grossed over $947.5 million on a budget of $94 million. He reprised his role as ‘Éomer’ in the 2003 ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’ which was also a massive critical and commercial success. In 2004, he starred as ‘Siberius Vaako’ in the American science fiction action film ‘The Chronicles of Riddick’ directed by David Twohy. The film received mostly negative reviews from critics and was a commercial failure. That same year, he portrayed Kirill in the Paul Greengrass-directed action-thriller film ‘The Bourne Supremacy.’ The film was praised by critics and was a commercial success, grossing over $290.6 million on a budget of $75 million.
He next starred in films like ‘Doom’ (2005), ‘Out of the Blue’ (2006), ‘Pathfinder’ (2007), ‘Star Trek’ (2009), ‘Black Water Transit’ (2009), ‘And Soon the Darkness’ (2010), ‘Red’ (2010), ‘Priest’ (2011), ‘Dredd’ (2012), ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ (2013), ‘The Loft’ (2014), ‘Star Trek Beyond’ (2016), ‘Pete's Dragon’ (2016), ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ (2017), ‘Hangman’ (2017), and ‘Bent’ (2018). In 2019, he joined the main cast of the American superhero television series ‘The Boys’ where he grabbed the role of William "Billy" Butcher. The series was renewed for a third season in July 2020 which will premiere in June 2022. He is all set to appear in the upcoming animated fantasy television series, ‘Ark: The Animated Series’ where he will voice ‘Bob.’