Who is Derek Mears?
Derek Mears was born in Bakersfield, California USA on 29 April 1972 – his zodiac sign is Taurus, and he holds American nationality. He’s an actor and a stuntman, who has been credited with appearing in more than 110 movies and TV series, while he’s perhaps known best for his portrayal of Swamp Thing, in the eponymous 2019 action adventure series. It was created by Gary Dauberman and Mark Verheiden, starred Crystal Reed, Virginia Madsen and Andy Bean, and follows Abby Arcane, who’s investigating a swamp-born virus in Marais, Louisiana; the series was nominated for three awards.
Early life and education
Derek was raised in Bakersfield by his parents, about whom nothing’s known, as he respects their privacy; because he hasn’t spoken of having any siblings, he’s believed to be an only child.
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While he was still very young, Derek suffered from alopecia, an auto-immune disease which caused most of his body hair to fall oot. He didn’t let this discourage him, and found comfort in comedy; he began taking improvisational comedy lessons while attending Highland High School, and performed at various venues around his city, including at ComedySportz.
Upon matriculating in 1990, Derek didn’t enroll at college, but chose to pursue a career in the film industry; he worked various jobs for the following five years, before finally landing his first role.
Roles in movies
Derek made his debut film appearance in 1995, with his portrayal of Chuck X in the action science fiction horror “The Demolitionist”, and a couple of his following roles were in the 1998 drama “Hurricane Festival”, the action science fiction comedy “Wild Wild West”, and the drama “The Wonder Cabinet”, both in 1999.
He gained recognition in 2002, when cast to play Mosh Tendrils in the action adventure comedy “Men in Black II”, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, and which starred Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and Rip Torn. It follows Agent Jay as he’s trying to restore the memory of Agent Kay, which is crucial to beating their present enemy; the movie won four of the 20 awards for which it was nominated.
Derek appeared in several other critically acclaimed movies in the 2000s, with some of the most popular amongst these being the 2002 mystery science fiction “Signs”, the 2005 action adventure comedy “Zathura: A Space Adventure”, and the 2007 action drama “Mr. and Mrs Smith”.
In 2010, he was cast to play Classic Predator in the action science fiction adventure “Predators”, directed by Nimrod Antal, and which starred Adrien Brody, Laurence Fishburne and Topher Grace.
It follows some of the best Earth warriors who have been parachuted into a jungle which is inhabited by an alien race skilled at hunting and killing their prey; the film won two of the six awards for which it was nominated. A couple of Derek’s following notable performances were in the 2011 hit action fantasy adventure “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”, the 2012 action crime thriller “The Aggression Scale”, and the 2013 action fantasy horror “Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters”.
Three of his most recent film roles have been in the 2018 comedy drama “Hunky Boys Go Ding-Dong”, the 2019 action science fiction adventure “Alita: Battle Angel”, and also in 2019 the musical drama “Slayer: The Repentless Killogy”.
Roles in TV series
Derek made his debut TV series appearance in 1999, with his portrayal of Bald Panelist, in the episode “Devil’s Advocate” of the comedy “Malcolm & Eddie”, and the following years saw him make a guest appearance in an episode of numerous series, such as the family comedy “Saved by the Bell: The New Class”, the action crime drama “Nash Bridges”, and the action mystery drama “Alias”.
In 2007, he was cast to play Ace Daniels in two episodes of the short action comedy “Vengeance”, then in 2010 Derek portrayed Kickpuncher in the episode “Romantic Expressionism” of the critically acclaimed comedy “Community”, created by Dan Harmon, and which starred Joel McHale, Donald Glover and Danny Pudi. It follows a lawyer who’s been suspended, and forced to attend a community college; the series aired from 2009 to 2015, and won 20 awards, including a Primetime Emmy, while it was nominated for 71 other awards.
Three of Derek’s most recent roles in TV series have been in the 2019 episode “He ‘oi’o Kuhihewa; He Kaka ola i ‘ike ‘ia e ka Makaula” of the action crime drama “Hawaii Five-0”, the 2020 episode “Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Five” of the action adventure drama “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow”, and later that year in the episode “Third Time’s the Charm” of the fantasy mystery drama “Charmed”.
Other credits
He has three writing and four producing credits – Derek made his producing debut with the 2003 short comedy film “Two Much!’, and the same year saw him write and produce the short action comedy movie “Nightstalkers”. In 2005, he wrote the short comedy film “My Rockstar”, and in 2006 Derek wrote and produced the short action comedy movie “Woria: Queen of Power”; he also produced a 2007 episode of the short action comedy series “Vengeance”.
Derek has performed stunts in close to 20 movies, including in the 2005 sports action “No Rules”, the 2007 sports comedy “Blades of Glory”, and the 2008 action adventure “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”.
He’s made a guest appearance in numerous talk-shows, including “Up Close with Carrie Keagan”, “Cocktails with Stan” and “The Screen Junkies Show”; he’s also been featured in a number of documentaries, such as the 2013 short film “Hatchet III: Behind the Scenes”, the 2015 series “Adam Green’s Scary Sleepover”, and the 2018 film “For the Love of Halloween”.
Derek received special thanks for the movies “The Black Dahlia Hunting” in 2012, “Phantasm: Ravager” in 2016, and “Monday the 16th” in 2019.
Awards and nominations
In 2009, Derek was nominated for an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain, for his performance in “Friday the 13th”, and in the same year, he and his colleagues were nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture, for “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”.
Horror month on @HouseholdFaces continues! John Ross Bowie chats w the brilliant @DerekMears, whom you've mostly seen under layers of prosthetics and make-up, but who brings humanity to even the strangest characters. @DCSwampThing @F13thFranchise
Listen: https://t.co/KBLEbkgzrr pic.twitter.com/iKetaJgZCs— Ben Blacker (@BenBlacker) October 13, 2021
Love life and wife
Derek prefers to keep the details of his love life to himself, and hasn’t spoken of any women (or men) whom he has perhaps been with, however, it’s widely known that he was a married man.
In 2008, Derek exchanged vows with Jennifer Flack, a popular American actress, film writer and director, who has appeared in close to 30 movies and TV series, and is perhaps known best for her portrayal of Heather, in the 2015 short romantic comedy movie “Natural Insemination”. The two were together for four years, before divorcing for unknown reasons in 2012; it’s believed by some that the reason behind was that Jennifer wanted children, while Derek wanted to focus on his career.
Neither has spoken of any other people whom they have perhaps been with, so as of September 2021, Derek appears to be single, was married to Jennifer Flack, and doesn’t have children.
Hobbies and other interests
Derek seems to be enjoying the attention which he’s receiving from his over 16,000 followers on Instagram, which is perhaps why he’s highly active on the network. He’s uploaded over 400 pictures, the majority of which have been taken during his everyday life.
He’s a huge lover of animals, and his pet dog and pet cat can be seen featured in many of his Instagram pictures.
Derek’s physically highly active, mostly because it’s important for his acting career to stay fit; he has multiple training sessions at the gym every week, thus his muscular body.
He has his own favorite actors and actresses, some of whom are Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vin Diesel and Angelina Jolie, and a couple of his favorite movies are “The Terminator”, the franchise “Fast and Furious”, and “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life”.
Derek loves to travel, and his acting career has taken him all around the US, while he’s also been to various European and Asian countries; his dream travel destination is Las Vegas in Nevada.
Age, height and net worth
Derek’s age is 49. He is bald, and has blue eyes, his height is 6ft 5ins (1.96m) and he weighs close to 200lbs (90kgs).
As of September 2021, his net worth has been estimated at over $3.5 million.
