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).