Tyler Mane - Actor/Stuntman/Wrestler
Now playing everywhere at a theater near you is Rob Zombie's filmversion of John Carpenter's classic "Halloween". The role of the masked psychopathic knife-wielding stalker known as Michael Myers is played by Tyler Mane.
Mane grew up in Saskatoon, Canada. Reportedly something of an underdog, who suffered from relentless bullying as a child, he took this mistreatment and spun it into determination, with an aggressive immersion into all forms of martial arts - including karate, judo and tae-kwon do. Then wrestling beckoned; Mane trained from the age of 19 on, first in Calgary, Alberta, then in Los Angeles. From 1986 through 1999, this Canuck import assumed the characterization of Big Sky (in a tag team with Kevin Nash) and as Nitron, and competed in professional wrestling tournaments around the world for the WCW and UWF.
Tyler Mane turned to acting in 1994, making appearances in "Bandit: Bandit Goes Country", a syndicated TV-movie based on the 1983 feature film "Smokey and the Bandit", and the Fox drama "Party of Five". That same year, the 6-foot-10, 275-pound Mane, whose real name is Daryl Karolat, also co-starred in a musical comedy about wrestling at San Diego's Lyceum Space, choreographing the hilarious show's "main event".
Mane's enormous size and expertise in karate made him a natural choice to play Wolverine's foe Sabretooth in the big-screen version of the Marvel comic "X-Men". The eagerly anticipated flick was released in the summer of 2000 and had Mane acting opposite the likes of Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen during his feature-film debut.
Indeed, it was for his skills as a former professional wrestler that Mane was first approached by producers at 20th Century Fox and Liberty Productions regarding his availability for stunt work.
Mane explains: “[They] wanted me to come in and discuss doing some stunt work for the film. Bryan Singer (X-Men’s director) had seen my picture and wanted to meet me. So when he did see me he was like, ‘oh my God! It’s Sabretooth!’
“So instead of me going to discuss doing stunts, I ended up playing Sabretooth!
He followed that up with a small role in the David Spade comedy "The Adventures of Joe Dirt" (2001).
"Halloween" film director Rob Zombie actually had Tyler in mind for the part of Michael Myers, when he wrote it. Tyler took the part as an acting challenge. Though it is not his first villain, it his Mane's most purely vicious. "This is the first time I played a psycho killer so the research you do and the whole thought process is totally different than preparing for a comic book character or a period piece like Troy. Everything is a little different. You just want to bring something a little different and hopefully give the people a little something more than they've seen in the last eight."
Tyler's portrayal did not disappoint audiences, as "Halloween" debut broke previous Labor Day weekend theater records with $31 million earnings.
