Movies

Rhys Montague Darby (born 21 March 1974) is a New Zealand actor and comedian, known for his energetic physical comedy routines, telling stories accompanied with mime and sound effects of things such as machinery and animals. He was nominated for the Billy T Award in 2001 and 2002. He also won the 2012 Fred (Dagg) award at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival, for best NZ show.

Darby 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, and for playing the boss of Jim Carrey's character in Yes Man, as well as roles in What We Do in the Shadows, The Boat That Rocked, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Voltron: Legendary Defender, Psycho Sam in Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Crash Bandicoot in Skylanders Academy, and Half-Life: Alyx. Starting March 2022, he starred as Stede Bonnet alongside Taika Waititi in the HBO Max period romantic comedy series Our Flag Means Death.

Early life
Darby was born in Auckland and was brought up in the suburb of Pakuranga. He attended Edgewater College. A former soldier (signaller trained in morse code), he left the New Zealand Army in 1994 and began studies at the University of Canterbury. In 1996 he formed a comedy duo, Rhysently Granted, with Grant Lobban. After winning an open mic contest at Southern Blues Bar in Christchurch, they began performing at local venues.