Vernon Wells (actor)

Vernon Wells (born 31 December 1945)[1] is an Australian character actor.[2] He began appearing on Australian television shows in the mid-1970s, such as Homicide, Matlock Police and All the Rivers Run. He is best known to international audiences for his role of Wez in the 1981 science fiction action film Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior[3] and Bennett in the military action film Commando.[4]

Vernon Wells
Wells in 2015
Born (1945-12-31) 31 December 1945
Rushworth, Victoria, Australia[1]
OccupationActor
Years active1967–present
Spouse
Kymberli Ann Weed
​
​
(m. 1988⁠–⁠1991)​

After Mad Max 2, Wells began appearing in Hollywood films, such as science fiction comedies Weird Science (1985)[2] and Innerspace (1987). In the 2000s, Wells acted in the television series Power Rangers Time Force portraying the series' main villain Ransik.

Career

1970s

Wells worked in a quarry, then as a salesman, and then in theatre and rock bands. In the 1970s, he was selected by casting agents to appear in a theatre play, and he started to appear in Australian TV commercials, print advertisements, local Australian TV shows such as Homicide and Matlock Police and historical TV mini-series like Against The Wind, Sara Dane and All The Rivers Run.

His first cinema appearance was a minor role in Felicity (1979), a low-budget, erotic fantasy film.

1980s

Wells was cast as the homicidal biker Wez, in Mad Max 2 (1981),[3] filmed around Silverton near Broken Hill in outback New South Wales, Australia. It is the role for which he is probably best known to international audiences, as Wells portrays a psychotic, post-apocalyptic henchman who relentlessly pursues hero Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson), before meeting a spectacular death at the film's finale.

Hollywood beckoned for Wells, and he spoofed his mad biker role in the popular 1985 teen comedy Weird Science,[2] written and directed by John Hughes and produced by Joel Silver. Wells so impressed Silver with his work in that film that he was immediately secured for the role of Bennett opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in Commando (1985). When first approached for the role in Commando, Wells was in Australia working on the feature film, Fortress, based on the real-life Faraday School kidnapping, in a starring role opposite Rachel Ward. Wells appeared as Roo Marcus in Last Man Standing (1987).

1990s and 2000s

In 1992, Wells appeared in one of the few roles in which he is not cast as a villain, in the short-lived 1992 television comedy series The Amazing Live Sea Monkeys. The show was about a professor who accidentally enlarged three Sea-Monkeys to human-size, and then had to deal with their comical ineptness in the world. In 1993, Wells starred in the science fiction film Fortress with Christopher Lambert (no connection to the previous movie of the same name).

Many of Wells's roles 1990s and 2000s portrayed villains, as in the films Circuitry Man (1990), Kick of Death (1997), Starforce (2000) and Power Rangers Time Force (2001). In the Power Rangers episodes, he played the role of Ransik, a mutant crime lord from the year 3000 who travels back in time to take over the world. In 2002, he reprised this role for the Power Rangers Wild Force/Time Force two-part team-up episode "Reinforcements from the Future". Wells starred in the 2009 horror film Silent Night, Zombie Night.[5] Vernon Wells also starred in an award-winning role in “Trouble Is My Business”.[6]

Selected filmography

Video games

Awards and nominations
Year Award Category Nominated work Result
2014 The Scare-A-Con Film Festival Best Supporting Actor[7]
Throwback
 Won
2020 NYC Indie Film Awards Best Actor[8]
7th Revelation
 Won
2020 Rome Prisma Independent Film Awards Best Supporting Actor[9]
Frost
 Won
2020 Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival BEST ACTOR (Short Film)[10]
Starspawn: Overture
 Won
2021 Film Invasion L.A. Best Actor in a Lead Role[11]
Kringle Time
Won

References
  1. "Vernon Wells". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  2. "Vernon Wells". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2014. Archived from the original on 28 October 2014.
  3. Robert Firsching (2014). "The Road Warrior". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 29 March 2014.
  4. Bruckner, D. J. R. (4 October 1985). "Commando (1985) FILM: SCHWARZENGGER, 'COMMANDO'". The New York Times.
  5. "Silent Night, Zombie Night's December 19th Screening With Director and Stars". DreadCentral. 25 June 2012.
  6. ""Trouble Is My Business"". kcuniversal.net. 30 June 2018.
  7. "Vernon Wells". IMDb.
  8. "Vernon Wells". IMDb.
  9. "Vernon Wells". IMDb.
  10. "Vernon Wells". IMDb.
  11. "Vernon Wells". IMDb.


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