Rhys Darby

Rhys Darby (born Rhys Montague Darby on 21 March 1974 in Auckland) is a New Zealand actor and comedian, known for his energetic physical comedy routines telling stories accompanied with mime and sound effects, such as machinery and animals. He was nominated for the Billy T Award in 2001 and 2002, and won the 2012 Fred (Dagg) Award for best New Zealand show at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival. He is best known for playing Murray Hewitt, the band manager of Flight of the Conchords in the television series, a role he originally played in the BBC radio series under the name Brian Nesbit.

A former soldier, Darby left the New Zealand Army in 1994 and began studies at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch. In 1996 he formed a comedy duo, Rhysently Granted, with Grant Lobban, and after winning an open mic contest the duo began performing at local venues. After performing his first solo show at the 2002 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Darby moved to the UK to pursue his career, and in 2004 he appeared in the Flight of the Conchords BBC radio series alongside Rob Brydon, Andy Parsons and Jimmy Carr.

Darby's film credits include Yes Man (2008), in which he played Norman, the boss of Jim Carrey's character, The Boat That Rocked (2009), What We Do in the Shadows (2014), Trolls (2016), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017), Guns Akimbo (2019) and Next Goal Wins (2023). From March 2022 to October 2023 he starred as Stede Bonnet alongside Taika Waititi in the HBO Max period romantic comedy series Our Flag Means Death. He wrote a self-described "autobiographical space novel" entitled This Way to Spaceship, released on 12 April 2012, and produced live comedy with his wife through their company, Awesomeness International.