
About
Terry Notary
Overview
Terry Notary (born August 14, 1968) is an American actor, stunt coordinator/double, and movement coach. Notary mainly portrays creatures and animals for the film and television industry and is known for his motion capture performances in films like Avatar, The Adventures of Tintin: Secrets of the Unicorn, the Planet of the Apes reboot series, The Hobbit trilogy, and Kong: Skull Island. In 2018, Notary played Cull Obsidian in the Marvel Studios films Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
Born in San Rafael, California, Notary was diagnosed as being severely hyperactive at age 7. His parents enrolled him in gymnastics class to burn off excess energy. He won a gymnastics scholarship at UCLA, where he graduated with a major in theatre.
Notary's first career was as a performer with Cirque du Soleil. His first job as a stunt movement coach was on Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Director Ron Howard was hiring Cirque gymnasts for the film, and after sufficiently impressing Howard, Notary was offered the job of teaching all the actors how to move. Notary followed this new career path to Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes, for which he prepared by studying ape movements at the LA County Zoo. Notary's first motion capture film was Avatar, where he was the movement coach for the Na'vi.
Swedish director Ruben Östlund hired Notary when casting his Palme d'Or-winning 2017 film The Square. For Oleg, a character who acts like an ape, Östlund discovered Notary after running a Google search for "actor imitating monkey" and viewing one of Notary's performances (which was for an audition for Planet of the Apes). His performance in that single scene, in which a performance artist acts like a hostile ape at a fancy dinner, was widely praised, The Independent calling it "the most tense, uncomfortable scene of the year."
Description above from the Wikipedia article Terry Notary, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known for
Acting |
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2025 | The Electric State | Actor | Mr. Peanut / Pop Fly / Sentre Drones / Ice Cream Bot / Skeeve Bot | 63 Fair |
2024 | Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes | Actor | Rocket | 69 Fair |
2022 | Nope | Actor | Gordy | 67 Fair |
2020 | The Call of the Wild | Actor | Rail Worker / Live Action Reference Performance of Buck | 73 Good |
2019 | Avengers: Endgame | Actor | On-Set Groot / Cull Obsidian | 81 Very good |
2018 | Avengers: Infinity War | Actor | Cull Obsidian / On-Set Groot | 81 Very good |
2018 | The Beautiful Escape | Actor | Oleg | 59 Average |
2017 | The Square | Actor | Oleg | 65 Fair |
2017 | War for the Planet of the Apes | Actor | Rocket | 71 Good |
2017 | Kong: Skull Island | Actor | Kong Mo-Cap Services | 64 Fair |
2016 | Warcraft | Actor | Grommash Hellscream | 63 Fair |
2014 | The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies | Actor | Laketown Refugee (uncredited) | 72 Good |
2014 | Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | Actor | Rocket | 72 Good |
2013 | The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug | Actor | Goblin (uncredited) | 75 Good |
2012 | The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey | Actor | Great Goblin / Yazneg (uncredited) | 73 Good |
2012 | The Cabin in the Woods | Actor | The Clown (uncredited) | 65 Fair |
2011 | Rise of the Planet of the Apes | Actor | Rocket / Bright Eyes | 72 Good |
2011 | Attack the Block | Actor | The Creature | 63 Fair |
2009 | The Lost Tribe | Actor | Alpha Male | 57 Average |
2008 | The Forgotten Ones | Actor | Alpha Creature | 57 Average |
Production |
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2008 | The Forgotten Ones | Production | Executive Producer | 57 Average |
Crew |
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2025 | The Electric State | Crew | Other | 63 Fair |
2021 | Space Jam: A New Legacy | Crew | Other | 66 Fair |
2019 | Avengers: Endgame | Crew | Other | 81 Very good |
2019 | Avengers: Endgame | Crew | Motion Capture Artist | 81 Very good |
2016 | Warcraft | Crew | Choreographer | 63 Fair |
2014 | Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | Crew | Motion Capture Artist | 72 Good |
2014 | Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | Crew | Stunt Coordinator | 72 Good |
2012 | The Cabin in the Woods | Crew | Choreographer | 65 Fair |
2011 | The Adventures of Tintin | Crew | Motion Capture Artist | 68 Fair |
2009 | Avatar | Crew | Motion Capture Artist | 75 Good |
2008 | The Forgotten Ones | Crew | Stunt Coordinator | 57 Average |
2008 | The Forgotten Ones | Crew | Choreographer | 57 Average |
2008 | The Incredible Hulk | Crew | Motion Capture Artist | 62 Fair |
2007 | If I Had Known I Was a Genius | Crew | Stunt Coordinator | 58 Average |
2006 | Superman Returns | Crew | Choreographer | 58 Average |
2005 | Me and You and Everyone We Know | Crew | Stunt Coordinator | 63 Fair |
2003 | X2 | Crew | Choreographer | 69 Fair |
2002 | The Hot Chick | Crew | Stunts | 62 Fair |
2001 | Planet of the Apes | Crew | Stunts | 58 Average |
2000 | How the Grinch Stole Christmas | Crew | Stunts | 67 Fair |