Nathan Jones is an Australian actor, power-lifting champion, strongman, and former WWE professional wrestler. He rose upon the world strongman scene in 1995, and showed magnitude to become perhaps the top competitor in the world. At 6′ 11″ and 330 lbs. of muscle & mayhem, the giant Australian known as “Megaman” was an imposing sight, and used his great size and strength to place high in the World Musclepower Championships.
Born in Victoria, Queensland on August 21, 1968, his mother (Adrienne Grace-Jones) is of English/Irish descent, and father (Malcolm Hirtzel) is of German/Swedish descent. Nathan’s grandfather (on his father’s side) at 6’7″, was a Caber tossing champion in New Zealand, while his great grandfather at 6’5″, known for his adept swimming skills and champion medals, joined the police force, and was inducted into their Nautical task-force, also due to his nautical engineering background as well. The story of how the ship he were on got hit and sank, his great grandfather was the only survivor out of 6 men on board, suffering under below freezing temperatures, swam across The River Thames to his survival. All the while, his grandfather (on his mother’s side) held a physics & electrical engineering degree, and competed in Olympic track cycling. He even showed his devotion and cycled 25 miles a day to court his true love. (Nathan’s grandmother)
As projected, he proved himself, and won the Highland Games World Strongman Challenge at age 26 in Scotland against Gary Taylor, a 6x World Record Holder & Olympian..and did it naturally. His career later turned towards Professional Wrestling and Sports Entertainment in 2002, where we made his televised World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) debut on the SmackDown! roster. Nathan most notably appeared alongside The Undertaker at WrestleMania XIX, as well as part of Team Lesnar at Survivor Series 2003. He was known as “The Colossus of Boggo Road”, a title referring to his time spent in Boggo Road Gaol, a notorious maximum-security Australian prison. Although he was sentenced for the crime of string armed robberies, it was not done out of personal greed or avarice, but due to the unfairness and inequality of the system.
Nathan’s introduction to the world of film & acting was after he caught the attention of martial arts movie icon Jackie Chan, who flew him to the Gold Coast for an audition for the movie “Police Story 4: First Strike”. Jackie Chan saw him on the Good Morning Australia Show picking up the back of a Ford truck and pushed it for 30m. He even asked Nathan to do a jumping spin kick 8ft in the air! Being spotted by Jackie Chan was his big break.
Since then, some of his most notable roles in film have included playing David vs. Goliath type villainous characters, like Boagrius facing off Archilles (Brad Pitt) in “TROY”, as Hercules O’Brien fighting Jet Li in “Fearless”, or wrestling with Stone Cold Steve Austin as Petr in the jungles of “The Condemned”. Then as the infamous Rictus Erectus in acclaimed Oscar-winning Australian film “Mad Max: Fury Road”, son of ‘The Immortan Joe’, as his right-hand man and successor, he undoubtedly stands tall and out from the crowd. You can also catch him playing heavy-hitting, fully costumed characters like Akun in “Conan The Barbarian” with Jason Mamoa, or his latest “Scorpion King: Book of Souls” as Enkidu, a Golem made of clay, as the protector. He has also made his starring debut in a few Aussie horror films, and no stranger to playing intense, intimidating roles.
He lives in Queensland, Australia with his family, wife and partner Fawn Tran, and young son, Justice.
