Sala Baker

Sala Baker
Born	(1976-09-22) 22 September 1976 (age 48) Wellington, New Zealand
Occupation(s)	Actor, stuntman
Years active	2001–present

Sala Baker (born 22 September 1976) is a New Zealand actor and stuntman. He is best known for portraying the villain Sauron in the Lord of the Rings trilogy by Peter Jackson.

Career

Originally hired as one of several stunt performers for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy,^[citation needed] he ended up landing the part of the Dark Lord Sauron.[1] In addition, he also played several Orcs, a Gondorian, and one of the Rohirrim. Outside of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Baker has performed in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, two Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Deadpool 2, Braven, Sleepless, and Mile 22.

Baker was also a part of the miscellaneous crew in the making of The Last Samurai in 2003.

In 2023, Baker played one of the leads in the Starz feature crime thriller The Last Deal.[2] He followed that with a role in David Fincher's new action film The Killer.[3]

Filmography

Actor

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring	Sauron and Lugdush	Voiced by Alan Howard as Sauron
2002	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers		Haradrim warrior
2003	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	Sauron and Murgash	Voiced by Alan Howard as Sauron
	Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl	Stunts
2005	The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
2006	Potheads: The Movie	Grim
	F8	Bouncer
	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	Stunts
2007	Next
	Epic Movie
	The Kingdom	Kidnapper	Uncredited
	Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End	Pirate
2008	Stiletto	Store Clerk
	The Prince of Venice	Lani
2009	Race to Witch Mountain	Stunts
	Gamer	Mercenary	Uncredited
	Star Trek	Drill Tower Romulan
	Blood and Bone	Jesus
2010	The Expendables	Mercenary	Uncredited
	The Book of Eli	Construction Thug
	The A-Team	Man	Uncredited
2011	Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows	Stunts
2012	Contraband
	Savages	Motorcycle Cop
	Battleship	Soldier	Uncredited
2013	Parker	Ernesto
	Iron Man 3	Extremis Soldier
2014	Falcon Rising	Gang Member 2
	The Equalizer	Teddy's Guy
	Transcendence	Stunts	Uncredited
2015	Ant-Man
2016	Captain America: Civil War
	The Nice Guys	Body Guard
	79 Parts	Gonzo
	Deadpool	Stunts	Uncredited
	Central Intelligence	Body Guard
2017	Fist Fight	Stunts
	Bright	Gang Banger	Uncredited
	Sleepless	Henchmen
2018	Braven	Mercenary
	Deadpool 2	Older Firefist[4]
	Mile 22	Assassin
2021	Jungle Cruise	Body Guard
2023	The Last Deal	The Boss
2023	The Killer	The Brute

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	24	Stunts	2 Episodes - Uncredited
	Prison Break	World	Uncredited
2008	The Unit	Luis	Uncredited
2009	Chuck	Terrorist Bodyguard	Uncredited
2013	NCIS: Los Angeles	Henchman #1	Uncredited
	True Blood	Vampire	2 Episodes - Uncredited
	The Mentalist	Stunts	4 Episodes - Uncredited
2014	The Last Ship	Stunts	Uncredited
	The Mentalist	Stunts	3 Episodes
2015	The Player	Stunts	Uncredited
2016	Power Rangers Dino Super Charge	Lord Arcanon	Uncredited
2017	Iron Fist	Stunts	Uncredited
2018	Mayans M.C.	Stunts	Uncredited
	Westworld	Arno	Uncredited
2019	The Mandalorian	Klatooinian Raider Captain

Stunts

• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001): Stunts
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002): Stunt Performer
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003): Stunts (uncredited)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003): Stunts
• The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005): Stunts
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006): Stunt Native
• Epic Movie (2007): Stunts
• Deadliest Warrior (2009): Weapons Demonstration
• The A-Team (2010): Stunts

Miscellaneous crew

• The Last Samurai (2003): Location Manager: Split Unit
• The Long and Short of It (2003): Traffic Controller/Grip
• Deadliest Warrior: Shaolin Monk vs Māori Warrior (TV) (2009): Himself, demonstrating Māori weapons

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Film	Result
2001	Phoenix Film Critics Society Award	Best Cast Shared with Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Marton Csokas, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Lawrence Makoare, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen, John Rhys-Davies, Martyn Sanderson, Liv Tyler, David Weatherley, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring	Won
2002		Best Cast Shared with Sean Astin, John Bach, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Brad Dourif, Bernard Hill, Bruce Hopkins, Christopher Lee, John Leigh, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen, Miranda Otto, Craig Parker, John Rhys-Davies, Liv Tyler, Karl Urban, Hugo Weaving, David Wenham, Elijah Wood	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers	Won
2003		Best Cast Shared with Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Bernard Hill, Ian Holm, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen, John Noble, Miranda Otto, John Rhys-Davies, Andy Serkis, Liv Tyler, Karl Urban, Hugo Weaving, David Wenham, Elijah Wood	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	Nominated
2008	Taurus Award	Best Fight	The Kingdom	Nominated
	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture		Nominated
2010			Star Trek	Won

References

1. "Sala Baker". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 3 December 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
2. Collinson, Gary (16 May 2023). "Crime thriller The Last Deal sets Starz release in June". Flickering Myth. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
3. "The Killer: On Set Of David Fincher's Most Bruising Action Sequence – Exclusive". Empire. 29 September 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
4. Philip, Tom (22 May 2018). "Deadpool 2's Julian Dennison Isn't in a Hurry to Grow Up". GQ. Archived from the original on 22 May 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2018.

External links

• Sala Baker at IMDb