Adrian Paul as Duncan MacLeod in publicity photo for Highlander: The Series.
Adrian Paul Hewett (born 29 May 1959), better known as Adrian Paul, is an actor. He played the Immortal Duncan MacLeod in Highlander : The Series (1992-1998), Highlander : Endgame (2000) and Highlander : The Source (2007). The role of Duncan has brought him the most prominence to date.
During his tenure with Highlander: The Series Paul directed and produced numerous shows which eventually led to his role as producer for the spinoff movies of the series.
Early Life[]
Paul was born in London, England in 1959, the first of three brothers, to an Italian mother and a British father. Paul first became a model, then a dancer and choreographer. In 1985, he left Europe for the United States to pursue a dance and modeling career. Paul has spent time in the theater with numerous plays, the most notable of which being a guest appearance in Beauty and the Beast which he has stated helped shape his acting ability.
Acting Career[]
His first role was on the ABC television series, The Colbys as the Russian ex-patriate ballet dancer, Kolya (1987–1988). This was followed by guest appearances on the television shows Beauty and the Beast (1987), Murder, She Wrote (1984), Tarzan (1991), Relic Hunter (1999), and as himself in WWF SmackDown (1999). He appeared in a January 2003 episode of Charmed and off Broadway in the play Bouncers. He also appeared in the made-for-TV movies Shooter (1988) and The Cover Girl Murder (1993) which starred Lee Majors. He appeared in a regular role in the second season of the television series War of the Worlds (1989–1990) as John Kincaid, three episodes of Dark Shadows (1991) as Jeremiah Collins, and made a pilot for CBS Television for a series called The Owl (1991). He also appeared in Sheena Easton's "Days Like This" music video as her love interest and Duran Duran's "My Own Way" music video as a dancer.
Highlander publicity photo
Landing the starring role in Highlander: The Series, Adrian was able to explore new territory as an actor, he also took the director's chair for the Season Four opener, Homeland, the only episode of the series filmed partly on location in Scotland. Three of the four episodes Adrian directed were voted in the top ten fan favorites. The role encouraged him to study martial arts including: Kung Fu forms Choy Li Fut and Hung Gar, Tae-Kwon-Do, Wing Chun, and boxing. Of necessity, he also did extensive sword training with the Japanese Katana.
Paul's first feature film appearance was in the 1988 film, Last Rites. He starred in the remake of The Masque of the Red Death (1989), a re-telling of the Edgar Allan Poe tale. Other movies include Dance to Win (also known as War Dancing) (1989), Love Potion No. 9 (1992) as Enrico Pazzoli, Dead Men Can't Dance (1997), Susan's Plan (also known as Dying to Get Rich) (1998), Merlin: The Return (1999) as Lancelot, Convergence (also called Premonition) (1999), The Void (2001), The Breed (2001), Code Hunter (2002), Nemesis Game (2003), Throttle (2005), and Phantom Below (also known as Tides of War) (2005). In 2006 he co-starred in the horror film Séance. He also starred as Ananias Dare in the Sci Fi original film Wraiths of Roanoke (2007) and Sir Francis Drake in the Sci Fi original film, The Immortal Voyage of Captain Drake (2009). In 2008 he loaned his voice to the character of Patrick O'Brien in the animated feature, War of the Worlds: Goliath, reuniting with many of his old Highlander co-stars.
Personal Life[]
Since 1997, Paul has worked extensively for his charity organization PEACE (Protect, Educate, Aid Children Everywhere) under the auspices of Athletes and Entertainers for Kids, which puts into action the "School Makes a Difference" program, taking celebrities into schools and community centers to mentor children.