Terry Notary
Terry Notary
Biography
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
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
42
Gender
Male
Birthday
1968-08-14 (56 years old)
Place of Birth
San Rafael, California, USA
Acting

2025

The Electric State as Mr. Peanut / Pop Fly / Sentre Drones / Ice Cream Bot / Skeeve Bot

2022

Nope as Gordy

2020

The Call of the Wild as Rail Worker / Live Action Reference Performance of Buck

2019

Avengers: Endgame as On-Set Groot / Cull Obsidian

2018

Avengers: Infinity War as Cull Obsidian / On-Set Groot

2017

Kong: Skull Island as Kong Mo-Cap Services

2017

The Square as Oleg

2016

Warcraft as Grommash Hellscream

2014

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies as Laketown Refugee (uncredited)

2013

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug as Goblin (uncredited)

2012

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey as Great Goblin / Yazneg (uncredited)

2012

The Cabin in the Woods as The Clown (uncredited)

2011

Rise of the Planet of the Apes as Rocket / Bright Eyes

2011

Attack the Block as The Creature

2009

The Lost Tribe as Alpha Male

2008

The Forgotten Ones as Alpha Creature
Crew

2023

The Last of Us Other

2019

Avengers: Endgame Motion Capture Artist

2016

Warcraft Choreographer

2014

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Motion Capture Artist

2014

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Stunt Coordinator

2012

The Cabin in the Woods Choreographer

2011

The Adventures of Tintin Motion Capture Artist

2009

Avatar Motion Capture Artist

2008

The Forgotten Ones Executive Producer

2008

The Forgotten Ones Stunt Coordinator

2008

The Incredible Hulk Motion Capture Artist

2008

The Forgotten Ones Choreographer

2007

If I Had Known I Was a Genius Stunt Coordinator

2006

Superman Returns Choreographer

2005

Me and You and Everyone We Know Stunt Coordinator

2003

X2 Choreographer

2002

The Hot Chick Stunts

2001

Planet of the Apes Stunts