Peter Mensah (born 27 August 1959) is a Ghanaian-British actor, based in Canada.[1] He is best known for his role as Oenomaus on the Starz television series Spartacus (2010–2013). He has also appeared in such films as Tears of the Sun, Hidalgo, The Incredible Hulk, 300, and Avatar.
Mensah was born in Chiraa, Ghana, and comes from an academic family. He was born to parents from the Brong Ahafo Region,[2] and moved to Hertfordshire, England, with his father, Peter Osei Mensah,[3] an architect engineer, his mother, a writer, and two younger sisters at a young age. Mensah began practising martial arts at the age of six.[4][5][6]
Though he had done drama in school, Mensah originally studied engineering, and arrived in Canada as an engineer for British Gas, developing gas fields at Morecambe Bay
Mensah's film credits include Avatar, 300, Hidalgo, Tears of the Sun, Jason X, Harvard Man, Bless the Child and The Incredible Hulk. He also stars in the short film The Seed, produced and directed by Linkin Park's DJ Joe Hahn. He has made television appearances in Star Trek: Enterprise, Tracker, Witchblade, Blue Murder, Relic Hunter, Earth: Final Conflict, Highlander: The Raven, and La Femme Nikita. He was a member of the repertory cast of the A&E Network series A Nero Wolfe Mystery and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
He voiced and provided his likeness for Sgt. Zach Hammond in EA's video game Dead Space.
Mensah played the character Oenomaus in Spartacus and was on the Spartacus Panel at Comic Con 2009 and 2011.[7] He had a recurring role in the fifth season of True Blood.
He is the voice of Predaking, the dragon-like leader of the Predacons in Transformers: Prime.