Christopher Heyerdahl is a Canadian actor. Currently, interested individuals might recognize him because of his role as Sam on Van Helsing. However, this is far from Heyerdahl’s first time in speculative fiction. Here are 10 things that you may or may not have known about Christopher Heyerdahl:
1. Born in British Columbia
Heyerdahl was born in British Columbia, which is the westernmost Canadian province that can be found on the Pacific Coast. Generally speaking, British Columbia is known for its beautiful landscapes. However, it is interesting to note that it is a popular place for people to film both movies and TV shows thanks to Vancouver.
2. Related to Thor Heyerdahl
It is interesting to note that Heyerdahl’s father came to Canada from Norway in the 1950s. In fact, Heyerdahl’s father was a cousin of Thor Heyerdahl, who was a figure of some note. Primarily, said individual was celebrated because of the Kon-Tiki expedition in which he sailed from South America to the Tuamotu Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean, thus proving that people in the distant past could make long sea voyages in spite of their primitive technological capabilities by more modern standards. As such, it is no exaggeration to say that Thor Heyerdahl was one of those adventurer-scientists who were so good at capturing the popular imagination.
3. Speaks Norwegian
Heyerdahl has some connection with the Norwegian side of his heritage, seeing as how he is capable of speaking the Norwegian language. Presumably, this proved to be very useful when he studied at the University of Oslo, which has the distinction of being the single oldest such institution that can be found in the whole of the country.
4. Was on Stargate Atlantis
From 2004 to 2009, Heyerdahl was on Stargate Atlantis, which was a spin-off of Stargate SG-1. In it, Heyerdahl played a Wraith, thus making him a member of the alien species that served as the main antagonist of the show. For those who are curious, the Wraiths were the vampiric species that dominated the Pegasus galaxy, which was rather unfortunate for their neighbors because of their preference for sapient victims as well as their extreme aggressiveness towards other species. Even worse, they existed in huge numbers, so much so that their species couldn’t survive if they didn’t go into collective hibernation from time to time.
5. Was on Smallville
At one point in time, Heyerdahl was on Smallville, which was a show focused on a much younger Clark Kent than the one seen in most Superman media. There, Heyerdahl played Clark Kent’s Kryptonian uncle Zor-El, who tends to be depicted as a benevolent figure with an enormous concern for the well-being of his daughter Kara Zor-El. However, DC Comics experimented with various ways of depicting the character in the mid 2000s, which presumably played a part in Heyerdahl’s Zor-El being a villain.
6. Was on Supernatural
That was far from being the sole incidence of Heyerdahl playing a villain in speculative fiction. For another example, consider how he played Alastair for three episodes on Supernatural. In short, Alastair was a demon who interacted with the show’s co-protagonist Dean Winchester was sent to Hell, with the result that he was both tortured and taught to torture by Alastair. The character was played by not one, not two, but three separate actors because of how demons in Supernatural are capable of possessing different human hosts, with Heyerdahl being one of the three.
7. Played the Swede in Hell on Wheels
From 2011 to 2016, Heyerdahl played a character nicknamed the Swede in a western show called Hell on Wheels about the building of the First Transcontinental Railroad. Amusingly, while the character was nicknamed the Swede in the show, he was actually a Norwegian. As a result, Heyerdahl spoke to his father about his experiences as well as his parents’ experiences in an effort to get a better perspective on how the character might have thought, which was combined with other forms of research to enable him to play the part.
8. Fan of the Vampire Genre
Heyerdahl has stated that he is a fan of the vampire genre, which makes a fair amount of sense considering the number of vampires that he has played on the screen. The Wraith character was mentioned earlier. However, it should be mentioned that Heyerdahl has also played both Marcus Volturi in the Twilight movies and the vampire elder Sam in Van Helsing.
9. Was in The Librarians
In 2017, Heyerdahl showed up in The Librarians where he played the part of Grigori Rasputin. Chances are good that most people will have some measure of familiarity with that name, which is rather surprising considering how long it has been since its owner was prominent. In short, Grigori Rasputin was the Russian mystic who managed to befriend the Russian imperial family thanks to his ability to stop the bleeding of the Tsar’s only son Alexei who suffered from hemophilia. Rasputin’s influence with the Russian imperial family made him very, very unpopular, which wasn’t helped by the fact that the Russian imperial family itself was held in less and less esteem because of its failures. As a result, Rasputin was eventually the victim of a very dramatic assassination, which served to cement him even more firmly in the popular imagination.
10. Has Been in Video Games
Recently, Heyerdahl has voice acted for video games as well. To be exact, he played a role in 2017 and another role in 2018. The first role was in Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, which was centered on the effort to reclaim the United States from a Nazi occupation in a very alt-historical timeline. The second role was in Far Cry 5, which stirred up a fair amount of interest by creating an expectation that it would address contemporary politics before proceeding to dash those expectations by dodging said issue as much as possible. Something that was made even worse by the sheer amount of railroading in the story.
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