2009 saw Sharlto Copley make his big breakthrough when Neill Blomkamp's feature directorial debut District 9 hit the big screen.
The South African actor, director and producer met Blomkamp when Copley founded his media production company, he was twenty at the time and Blomkamp was just fourteen.
After Copley hired the young wannabe filmmaker as a graphics designer the pair collaborated in 2005 when they shot the short Alive in Joburg, District 9 is based on this short.
Copley produced Alive in Joburg before going on to write and direct 2001: A Space oddity and Hellweek, viral shot film.
Despite all this success it was District 9 that really saw him made his name as he took on the part of Wikus van de Merwe.
Thirty years ago, aliens made first contact with Earth. Humans waited for the hostile attack, or the giant advances in technology. Neither came.
Instead, the aliens were refugees, the last survivors of their home world. The creatures were set up in a makeshift home in South Africa's District 9 as the world's nations argued over what to do with them.
The Multi-National United (MNU)keep a watchful eye on the slum where the aliens now live and the peace between the humans and aliens is beginning to disintegrate.
Wikus Van Der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) leads the MNU into the slums in a bid to re-home them outside of Johannesburg when he ingests a black liquid and begins to transform.
This movie has relentless pace as Bloomkamp mixes sci-fi with action, comedy, political intrigue but it is very human at it's core, and that is thanks to a great lead performance from Sharlto Copley, around whom the whole movie pivots.
His character Wikus goes on a real transformation throughout the movie, and I don't just mean physically, as he comes to accept the aliens that inhabit his home.
It's not just a mindless movie, although there are some great action set pieces, but it's a film that looks at the human condition and what it means to be human, is a study of racial tension while suggesting that humanity, compassion and understanding goes beyond our own race.
The movie was met with great critical acclaim upon it's release and it has gone on to be nominated for Best Picture at this year's Oscars.
Off the back of District 9 and his fabulous performance as Wikus, Copley has seen his career rocket and it's the big budget blockbuster next for the actor.
Copley is all set to team up with Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper and Jessica Biel for this summer's big screen adaptation of hit television series The A-Team.
The actor takes on the role of Capt. 'Howling Mad' Murdock in the movie which follows a group of Iraq War veterans looks to clear their name with the U.S. military, who suspect the four men of committing a crime for which they were framed.
The A-Team is released 30th July
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
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