Canadian born Tahmoh Penikett studied at the Victoria Motion Picture School and the Lyric School of Acting before trying his hand at a professional career in show business. He began making minor appearances on Canadian television in the late '90s, and eventually transitioned into acting for American audiences, with appearances on The L Word and Losing It. Then in 2003, Penikett was cast in a four-hour mini-series "reimagining" of the '70s science fiction show Battlestar Galactica, which was being filmed in Vancouver. Penikett was cast in the role of Karl "Helo" Agathon, an officer in a fleet of massive spacecraft that serve as the nomadic home for the human race following the nuclear destruction of planet Earth. The mini-series was a big hit with test audiences and earned surprisingly stunning accolades from critics, who were impressed to see such drama and subtext in a Sci-Fi Network production. A full season was commissioned based on the series, and the show instantly garnered a solid core following, coming back for numerous seasons. Meanwhile, Penikett joined the cast of another sci-fi show in 2009, playing FBI agent Paul Ballard on the Joss Whedon project Dollhouse.
Tahmoh Penikett
Active - 1996 - 2022 |
Born - May 20, 1975 in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada |
Genres - Drama, Action, Science Fiction
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- Mother is from the Upper Tanana tribe in the Yukon; father, who became Yukon's premier, moved to Canada when he was 12 and is of British origin.
- Aspired to be an actor from childhood; and has also been interested in the martial arts since his youth, first studying judo and kickboxing.
- Studied at Vancouver's Lyric School of Acting.
- Nominated for a 2004 Canadian LEO Award for the TV series Cold Squad.
- Played Karl Agathon on SYFY's Battlestar Galactica series, an update of the 1970s ABC series; it aired from 2005 to 2009.
- Followed Battlestar with another science-fiction series, Fox's Dollhouse, which aired in 2009 and 2010.
- Has also had success at reaching a different audience, that of video-game enthusiasts. One game with which he's been involved is Need for Speed: Carbon, as Darius.
- Took on a role in the Web series Mortal Combat: Legacy, which debuted in 2011.