Ross Mullan (born 5 January 1967) is a Canadian-British actor and

puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object called a puppet to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the ...

, known for portraying

White Walker White Walkers are humanoid creatures from the HBO television series ''Game of Thrones'', and the George R. R. Martin novel series ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' on which it is based. Primarily referred to as the Others in the novels, White Walkers are ...

s on the HBO television series ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American Fantasy television, fantasy Drama (film and television), drama television series created by David Benioff and for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of high fantasy novels by ...

'' in its second to fourth seasons. He has appeared in episodes of ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' and in the 2010 film '' Clash of the Titans''.

Early life

Mullan grew up in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

and attended Children's Theatre in the West End of Montreal. Later he did the theatre program at

John Abbott College John Abbott College ( French: ''Collège John Abbott)'' is an English-language public college located in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, Canada, near the western tip of the Island of Montreal. John Abbott College is one of eight English publ ...

and then

Ryerson University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU, or Toronto Met), formerly Ryerson University, is a public research university located in Toronto, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District in downtown Toronto, although i ...

for their Theatre program.

Career

After completing university, he moved to

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

and worked at the Oddyssey Theatre developing skills in mask and puppet movement theatre. Mullan moved to the UK on a whim after going there on vacation. He immediately started touring with theatre companies all over Europe, the Middle East, and Asia doing musical productions of David Copperfield, Gulliver's Travels, and Sherlock Holmes. He later transitioned to television doing puppet for a show called Dinotopia, the effects department wanted someone to animate this dinosaur and make it emote like a person. Ross also played Orsino in l, Bath Theatre Royal's production of ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...

'', the title role of the Selfish Giant for Leicester Haymarket Theatre and brought the critically acclaimed play ''Thick'' from the Edinburgh festival to New York City with sold-out performances. Ross played the role of the 'Numbertaker' in the children's show,

Numberjacks ''Numberjacks'' is a British animated/live-action children's television series, aimed particularly at children aged two to five, which was formerly shown on CBeebies and occasionally on BBC Two in the United Kingdom. It was also shown on Tiny ...

. The Numbertaker is a live-action character, with an exaggerated top hat and a white robe, who removes numbers, or numbers of things. He also played Nev the Bear as a co-starring actor in

Smile A smile is a facial expression formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a Duchenne smile. Among humans, a smile expresses d ...

in 2002 and again in 2007, alongside

Barney Harwood Barnaby John Harwood (born 7 November 1979) is a British actor and television presenter. He is known for his work with CBBC beginning in 2002. Career Television For CBBC, Harwood presented '' Prank Patrol'' and was a voice-over commentator for ...

, on another show called, Bear Behaving Badly. He played Pemphredo, one of the three blind Stygian witches, in '' Clash of the Titans'' (2010); one of the

werewolves In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (from Ancient Greek ), is an individual who can shapeshift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf–humanlike creature, either purposely or after bei ...

in ''

Howl Howl most often refers to: * Howling, an animal vocalization in many canine species * "Howl" (poem), a 1956 poem by Allen Ginsberg Howl or The Howl may also refer to: Film * '' The Howl'', a 1970 Italian film * ''Howl'' (2010 film), a 2010 Am ...

''; and The Silence and The Teller on ''

''. In June 2012 he played a

in " Valar Morghulis", an episode of the HBO television series ''

''. He would reprise the role in the May 2013 episode "

Second Sons "Second Sons" is the eighth episode of the third season of HBO's medieval fantasy television series ''Game of Thrones.'' The 28th episode of the series overall, it was written by series co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, and directed ...

", in which he is notably killed by

Samwell Tarly Samwell Tarly, or simply Sam, is a fictional character in the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series of fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin, and its television adaptation ''Game of Thrones'', where the character is portrayed by Engli ...

. He would play a different White Walker in the April 2014 episode " Oathkeeper". Ross Mullan also provided the voice of the Narrator in the 2003 video game

Ghost Master ''Ghost Master'' (released as ''Ghost Master: The Gravenville Chronicles'' on the Xbox and PlayStation 2) is a puzzle strategy game developed by British studio Sick Puppies for Windows. The game was later published on Mac OS X by Feral Interacti ...

. As of 2018 he was teaching animation at

University for the Creative Arts The University for the Creative Arts is a specialist art and design university in Southern England. It was formed in 2005 as University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester when the Kent Institu ...

, in

Farnham Farnham is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a tributary of the ...

."Breaking the ice with a White Walker"

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. 5 April 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2019.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mullan, Ross Living people Canadian expatriates in England 21st-century British male actors Academics of the University for the Creative Arts British male television actors British male stage actors British male film actors British male voice actors 21st-century Canadian male actors Canadian male television actors Canadian male stage actors Canadian male film actors Canadian male voice actors Male actors from Montreal 1967 births