Craig Parker

The island nation of Fiji has a population of less than 900,000, which is likely a major reason why there aren't a lot of Fijians active and prominent in the TV/film business. One exception is Craig Parker, who started a vibrant career after island-hopping to New Zealand. His first appearances were in local productions there, including a small role as a bartender in the 1993 big-budget TV movie adaptation of Stephen King's science-fiction chiller "The Tommyknockers." Not long after that, Parker's profile rose with several guest appearances as various characters in "Xena: Warrior Princess" (1997), the internationally distributed adventure series set in the ancient Greece of myth. It rose even further when the actor was picked to play the elf hero Haldir in the first two films of Peter Jackson's highly lucrative and successful adaption of "The Lord of the Rings" (2001) trilogy. Although his character died in the second of the two, he nevertheless provided various character voices for the third, 2003's "The Return of the King." Following his appearances in those blockbusters, Parker continued to work consistently in the busy New Zealand film and TV industry. He played the murderous wizard Darken Rahl in a Xena-style mythological fantasy series, "The Legend of the Seeker" (2008), among other parts.