About

Known credits:
41
Birthday:
1968-08-14
Place of birth:
San Rafael, California, USA
Website:
N/A

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

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

2008 The Forgotten Ones Production Executive Producer 57
Average

Crew

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